The embodiment of the South: Pecan Praline Bourbon Cake

Pecans. Bourbon. Soft yellow cake. Light and creamy cream cheese frosting.

I don't know what else to say in introduction to this cake. Other than that it was "so f***ing good!!" as commented by more than one person who ate this cake at a party for which the theme was a celebration of the American Southern culture. The only thing I could have done to make this MORE Southern was to add some peach jam or liqueur, but I had neither on hand, but in any case, the cake certainly was more than sufficiently yummy without it.

The cake layers were soft and moist but sturdy enough to allow for easy manipulation when I was building the cake. The frosting I lightened up from the original recipe in two ways: 1) less powdered sugar than was called for in ratio to the cream cheese, and 2) folding in a container of Cool Whip, a tip borrowed from my mom's chocolate cream cheese frosting recipe. Although this made the frosting more prone to get oozy at room temperature, it sets up and keeps well in the fridge. The praline pecans were buttery, crunchy, and darkly delicious. Add all those together along with a good dose of bourbon in the frosting and soaked into the cake, and you have a dessert decadent enough for a special occasion yet light enough to go back for a second slice!

Pecan Praline Bourbon Cake (adapted from Epicurious, originally published in Bon Appetit, 2000)

Ingredients:

For the cake:
2 & 1/2 cups cake flour
1 & 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature
2 cups sugar
4 eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 cup milk (preferably whole; I used low-fat)

For the soaking syrup:
3 tablespoons water
3 tablespoons sugar
1 tablespoon (or more) bourbon
2 tablespoons peach jam or schnapps (optional)

For the praline pecans:
1 large egg white
1 tablespoon water
1/2 cup (packed) golden brown sugar
1 & 1/2 cups pecan halves

For the cream cheese frosting:
16 ounces (2 packages) cream cheese (regular or low-fat is fine)
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, room temperature
2 teaspoons (or more) vanilla extract
~2 & 3/4 cups powdered sugar (or to taste)
1 container of Cool-Whip (regular or Lite is fine)
splash of bourbon (to taste)

(above: click to view enlarged picture)

Instructions:

For the praline pecans:
Preheat oven to 300 degrees. Line a baking sheet with foil or silpat, grease. In a medium bowl, beat together the egg white and water until foamy. Add brown sugar and mix until sugar dissolves. Add the pecans and toss to coat. Pour the whole mixture out onto the baking sheet. The egg-sugar mixture will run everywhere, but as it bakes, it'll stiffen up and you'll be able to fold it back over the nuts. Bake the nuts for 25 minutes at 300 degrees, stirring every 5-10 minutes. They will be ready when the coating on the nuts is stiff and dry and the nuts are deep brown. Once removed from oven, stir the nuts with a spatula to loosen from bottom of pan and cool completely. You can prepare this up to 3 days before assembly of cake; store in airtight container.

For the cake:
Place oven rack in center position and preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease and line either two 2-inch height or three 1.5-inch height, 9-inch diameter pans.

In a bowl, sift and mix together the flour, baking powder, and salt.

Using an electric mixer, beat together the butter and sugar until fluffy, a couple of minutes. Beat in 1 egg at a time, fully incorporating each egg before adding the next one. Then mix in the vanilla. Mix the dry ingredients into the batter in 3 additions, alternating with the milk in two additions (start and end with dry ingredients).

You will end up with approximately 48 ounces of batter, so 16 ounces per pan if dividing amongst three pans, or 24 ounces per pan if using two 9x2 round pans. I used a weight scale to measure and divide the batter.

Bake cakes until center of cake is set and springs back to a light poke, and a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. For batter divided between 2 pans, baking time is approx 35 minutes. For 3 pans, it took about 20-25 minutes.

Cool in pans for 10 minutes. Take a plastic knife and run it around the edge of the pan, flip the cakes out on to a cooling rack to cool down completely. Remove parchment lining from bottom of the cakes. You can make this cake up to one day before assembly, just store at room temperature wrapped up in foil.

For the syrup:
Combine sugar and water (and peach jam, if using) in a small saucepan over medium heat and stir until sugar is dissolved. Take pan off heat and add bourbon (and peach schnapps if using).

For the frosting:
With an electric mixer, beat together the cream cheese, butter, vanilla, and bourbon until smooth. Pour in the powdered sugar one cup at a time until smooth. Using the lowest setting possible, mix in half the container of Cool Whip. Taste to check for desired sweetness and alcohol content, and adjust if necessary. Using a rubber spatula, fold the remaining half container of Cool Whip into the frosting. This will be enough to frost the 3-layer cake, probably too much for the 2-layer cake. You can save extra frosting and use it as a spread on toast; store in fridge for up to a week or two, or freeze for long term storage.

(above: click to view enlarged picture)

To assemble:
Place first cake layer down on serving platter. Brush 1/2 or 1/3 of syrup on the surface of cake, then scoop about a cup of frosting on top and spread over surface of cake. I sprinkled about 1/8 cup of chopped praline pecans over each frosting layer and spread just a little more frosting on top of the pecans so the next cake layer would stick properly. Repeat once or twice. For the top layer, make sure the flat side of the cake is oriented upwards. If the middle is doming up, press gently on the entire cake to make some of the displaced frosting from the middle ooze out the sides. This should help alleviate some of the doming. Otherwise you can level off each cake layer before assembly too. Once all layers are assembled, pile a good amount of frosting on top of the cake. Spread the frosting across the whole surface, then start pushing the frosting down the sides, spreading all the way to the bottom. You can use a pastry cutter or serrated knife to smooth out the sides of the cake in a smooth or rippled manner. Arrange or pile the rest of the praline pecans on top of the cake. You can store in fridge for up to a day before serving.

(above: click to view enlarged picture)

Cut and enjoy!