Pumpkinadoola in Cakeroola Bippity Boppity Boo!!!

Nothing announces the onset of fall quite like the sudden appearance of autumnal squash in stores everywhere, especially pumpkin. The pumpkin has become a seasonal staple, from jack-o-lanterns to old-fashioned pumpkin pie. While it’s been years since I’ve carved a pumpkin, I have certainly made my share of pumpkin pies, and have explored a number of variations as well (including a Bourbon Pumpkin Pie for a dear Kentucky friend). Yet one context for pumpkin that is often overlooked is cake, where the spiced flavors of the classic meet a whole new realm of texture, not to mention the option of luscious cream cheese frosting! I needed to bake a cake for a Murder Mystery Dinner party I was hosting, and wanted a real show-stopper. Picture this: it's the 1940s, a terrible blizzard is raging outside, the guests are enjoying lavish hors d'oeuvres and drinks, and...oh, did I mention a valet was found dead in the kitchen? Basically it was one HUGE catering/hosting event for me, and the stress meter was at code red! Nonetheless, it was a GREAT party and everyone loved it! The cake HAD to be a centerpiece, naturally, so I chose to employ a decorating technique I had seen a while back in a Taste of Home Halloween special issue – a (literal) Pumpkin Spice Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting.

A hardy plant, pumpkins can be grown on every continent except Antarctica (who'd have thought?). The United States is one of the world’s largest producers, harvesting over 1.5 BILLION pounds of pumpkin every year!!! Halloween and Thanksgiving have made the squash an extremely popular product for the Fall season. Given its versatility, we see the pumpkin as the focus for a number of festival competitions: carving contests, pie competitions, and giant pumpkin weigh-offs (the world record holds at 1,725 pounds!!! Imagine trying to make a jack-o-lantern of that!) All the above according to Wikipedia.

That all being said - this cake was DELICIOUS! I doubled the recipe in order to make the "pumpkin" shape. I omitted the walnuts, and needed a LOT of yellow food coloring to achieve the appropriate hue of "pumpkin" (I had run out of red food coloring thanks to all the red velvet cakes I've made the past 2 years). The best part about this cake is that both the presentation AND the decadent flavor will leave your guests "dying" for more ;-) 


(Literal) Pumpkin Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting
adapted via AllRecipes.com
serves 15-20 


Ingredients

• Cake: 
•    - 4 cups white sugar
•    - 2 1/2 cups vegetable oil
•    - 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
•    - 2 (15-oz cans) canned pumpkin
•    - 8 large eggs
•    - 4 cups all-purpose flour
•    - 6 teaspoons baking powder
•    - 4 teaspoons baking soda
•    - 1/2 teaspoon salt
•    - 4 teaspoons ground cinnamon
•    - 2 cups chopped walnuts (optional)

Cream Cheese Frosting:

   - 4 (8-0z) packages cream cheese frosting

   - 1 cup butter, softened

   - 4 cups sifted confectioners' sugar

   - 2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Directions: 

For cake: Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease and flour two 12x18 inch pans. Sift together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt and cinnamon. Set aside.

In a large bowl combine sugar and oil. Blend in vanilla and pumpkin, then beat in eggs one at a time. Gradually beat in flour mixture. Stir in nuts. Spread batter into prepared 12x18 inch pan. Bake in the preheated oven for 30 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean. Allow to cool.

For frosting: In a medium bowl, cream together the cream cheese and butter until creamy. Mix in the vanilla, then gradually stir in the confectioners' sugar. Remove 1/2 cup of frosting, and dye the remaining frosting orange. The reserved portion should be dyed green. Store in the refrigerator after use.

For assembly: level the bottoms of the cake to make them flat; set aside the extra cake. Place one half, top side down, onto a cake platter - spread 3/4 cup to 1 cup orange frosting across the half. Top with the second half, and spread with the remaining orange frosting. Stuff the cut cake into the stem, ad shape part of it into a stem - frost the stem with the reserved green frosting. 

Make Mine Swirled

One can always rely on the fabulous bundt when it comes to last-minute occassions. This particular instance was a friend's birthday and I had a day's notice. As evinced in previous posts, I tend to put a lot of thought and consideration into recipes. Yet when I'm given a matter of hours, I either rely on bundt cakes or cookies. Both require little to no mental preparation, and the ingredients are generally pantry staples. I did have to make a quick run for milk (since I had run out) in the pouring rain, but everything else called for in this recipe I had on hand. I had never made a marble cake before, so I felt this would be the perfect opportunity, and chose to make Dorie Greenspan's Mocha-Walnut Marbled Bundt Cake. 

The recipe is fairly simple, and stores quite well overnight. This cake is Louis Vuitton of pound cakes: while it still has the basic components of a conventional pound cake, the hint of walnut and the richness of mocha blend to make one classy bundt cake. It has a great texture as well, thanks to density of the batter and the walnuts. 

For the coffee profile, I used my newest love and addiction: a Moka pot. It creates amazing coffee in a short amount of time, thus negating any time benefit instant coffee ever provided. Make sure to set out the eggs and butter before beginning any part of the recipe to ensure they reach room temperature. The coffee's temperature (as indicated below) is irrelevant. 

Mocha-Walnut Marbled Bundt Cake
By Dorie Greenspan via PastryBrush
Serves 10-12
j
Ingredients

• 2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/2 cup finely ground walnuts
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1 tsp salt
• 2 sticks plus 2 tbsp (9 oz) unsalted butter, at room temperature
• 3 oz bittersweet chocolate, coarsely chopped
• 1/4 cup coffee, hot or cold
• 1 tsp finely ground instant coffee or instant espresso powder
• 1 3/4 cups sugar
• 4 large eggs, preferably at room temperature
• 2 tsp pure vanilla extract
• 1 cup whole milk, at room temperature

Directions

Center a rack in the oven and preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.  Butter a 9- to 10-inch (12-cup) Bundt pan, dust the inside with flour and tap out the excess. 

Set a heatproof bowl over a saucepan of gently simmering water.  Put 2 tbsp of the butter, cut into 4 pieces, into the bowl, along with the chocolate, coffee and instant coffee.  Heat the mixture, stirring often, until the butter and chocolate are melted and everything is smooth and creamy – keep the heat low so that the butter and chocolate don’t separate.  Remove the bowl from the heat. *Note: if the mixture gets hot too quickly, it will burn. A solution to this is to shut off the heat and continue stirring. The residual heat from the water will continue to melt the chocolate at a more reasonable temperature.

Working with a stand mixer, preferably with a paddle attachment, or with a hand mixer in a large bowl, beat the remaining 2 sticks of butter and the sugar at medium speed for about 3 minutes (more if using a hand mixer) – you’ll have a thick paste that will not be light and fluffy.  Add the eggs one by one, beating well after each addition.  The mixture should look smooth and satiny.  Beat in the vanilla extract. 

Reduce the mixer speed to low and add the dry ingredients and the milk alternately, adding the dry mixture in 3 portions and the milk in 2, beginning and ending with the dry ingredients.  Scrape a little less than half of the batter into the bowl with the melted chocolate and, using a rubber spatula, stir to blend thoroughly.

To achieve a marbled look, alternate spoonfuls of light and dark batter in the pan.  When all the batter is in the pan, swirl a table knife sparingly through the batters to marble them. Bake for 65 to 70 minutes, or until a wooden skewer/toothpick inserted deep into the center of the cake comes out clean.  Transfer the Bundt pan to a rack and let cool for 10 minutes before unmolding, then cool the cake completely on the rack. If storing overnight, wrap in plastic wrap and place in fridge. 


*I made a quick glaze by microwaving approximately 1 cup of semisweet chocolate chips and a splash of heavy cream at 10 second intervals, stirring in between.

Check out those swirls! 

An Effervescent Fix to Blandness

I must admit that I have been quite remiss in my blogging duties as of late, but I can attribute this to having had an extremely fun 2 weeks filled with camping, bowling, and more with a visiting friend. Even so, I still had the time (and the energy) to bake several creations. One of these was for a friend's birthday which, given the events of the week, I almost forgot entirely (oops!) As a result, I needed a recipe that was both fast and had relatively few ingredients. But I wasn't about to go buy a Betty Crocker mix and call it day, so this recipe also needed to live up to my own standards in taste and texture. Solution? A simple pound cake would have done the trick, but I wanted something with a wow factor to it. It was then I remembered a recipe I had always wanted to try due to use of an unconventional ingredient: a 7-Up Cake.

I imagine you are now having the same reaction as I upon first hearing about this cake. 7-Up in a cake? As silly as it sounds, this cake is one hell of a cake (pardon the French) when one's in a hurry. Who would have thought that the incorporation of carbonated soda into a traditional pound cake batter would create such an amazing texture!? For a recipe with six ingredients, this cake's simplicity is hardly that in taste.

I made a few changes cake based on my own preferences. The original recipe calls for 1 1/2 cups of butter (I imagine your cholesterol was not happy with that last sentence). In my experience, this much butter yields very dense cake. While some do enjoy this texture, it was not quite what I had in mind. As such, I used 1/2 cup shortening + 1 cup butter to achieve a lighter texture but still allow the butter's flavor to be prominent. The second change was to use 2 tablespoons of fresh lemon juice in lieu of the lemon extract (which I don't own, nor plan to). The addition of more liquid was a safe decision thanks to my substitution of shortening for butter. This is because butter is approximately 20% water, 80% fat, while shortening is 100% fat, providing room for additional liquid if need be. I also made a simple glaze for the cake for presentation purposes.

7-Up Cake with Simple Glaze

Adapted from AllRecipes.com

Serves 12

Ingredients

• 1 cup butter, softened
• 1/2 cup shortening
• 3 cups white sugar
• 5 large eggs
• 3 cups all-purpose flour
• 2 tbsp lemon juice
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 3/4 cup lemon-lime flavored carbonated beverages

• 1 1/2 cups powdered sugar
• 4-5 tbsp lemon-lime flavored carbonated beverages

Directions

For cake: Cream together the butter, shortening, and sugar until creamy. Add eggs, one at a time, then the lemon juice and vanilla extract. Gradually add the flour, then fold in the 7-Up beverage.

Pour into a well-greased 12 cup Bundt pan. Bake at 325 degrees F (165 degrees C) for 60 to 75 minutes, checking at 55 minutes to ensure even baking. Cool for at least 30 minutes before removing the cake from the pan.

For glaze: Whisk together the powdered sugar with the 7-Up beverage, adding more or less to reach desired consistency. Pour over cake and allow to set before serving.

Not Just For Breakfast or Tea Parties Anymore

Normally when one hears the title "coffee cake", 2 different varieties seem to be implied: the first being that which actually relies on coffee in its flavor and the second being those cakes we see in the glass cases at Starbucks that are intended to be paired with coffee (early in the day, for the most part). Okay, so yes my recipe is of the latter category but I prefer to view a coffee cake in a different light. While it certainly can be enjoyed as a coffee accoutrement, I believe that their versatility and beautiful presentation allows them to stand quite well on their own. For this blog entry, I will discuss the recipe for a Sour Cream Coffee Cake with Walnut Streusel and a Maple Glaze.

When I was asked to co-host a dinner party for a friend's birthday party, I immediately made a game plan to take it over the top. We certainly did, with a menu that included steamed mussels, spicy avocado soup, scalloped potatoes, beef wellington, and more. The dessert, as usual, was placed in my trusting hands. And yet I went with cake that, based on our Starbucks precedents, might seem in no way comparable up against such an elegant repertoire of dishes. Nonetheless, this cake was the star of the show.

A good coffee cake is one that has a diversity of textures. This can easily be achieved by utilizing the methods of previous posts. We know that sour cream is a pro at adding moisture to any cake recipe, and it certainly proved to do so with this cake. This recipe is from my favorite Food Network guru the Barefoot Contessa, and as is her custom she uses a LOT of butter. Don't underestimate butter, though. Dessert is the one field where I refuse to cut back, because any good pastry chef will tell you butter is the holy grail of a good recipe.

Now we have the moist texture, but how to get the crunch. That's where our streusel comes in. Obviously if you omit the walnuts, as the recipe implies, you will lose that crunch, but of course if you are making this for a friend or family member who is allergic, it won't kill the cake to leave out the crunch. It will still have an unbelievable array of flavors that marry beautifully.

So a confession - this recipe calls for cake flour...I have never used and probably never will use cake flour. There are some recipes online that call for a mixture of flour and cornstarch, etc., but all-purpose works just as well. When measuring, just make sure to se a little less than called for, and NEVER pack the flour. This should be the case with any recipe, even those that call for all-purpose. Packed flour will only result in a dense cake that will sink under its own weight. Lighter, fluffier cakes result from loosely packed and measured flour, trust me :) One other variation on this recipe I made was rather than using a 10-inch tube pan, I used a regular bundt pan. As such, rather than place the streusel in last, I place it in first since that would be the top of the cake when inverted onto a plate.

Sour Cream Coffee Cake with Walnut Streusel and a Maple Glaze

adapted from the Barefoot Contessa

Serves 8 to 10

Ingredients

For Coffee Cake:

• 12 tablespoons (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter at room temperature
• 1 1/2 cups granulated sugar
• 3 extra-large eggs at room temperature (I used regular large eggs, little difference)
• 1 1/2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
• 1 1/4 cups sour cream
• 2 1/2 cups cake flour, not self-rising (I used all-purpose, loosely measured)
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt

For Walnut Streusel:

• 1/4 cup light brown sugar, packed (dark could work too, but it might be a little denser)
• 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
• 1 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
• 1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
• 3 tablespoons cold unsalted butter, cut into pieces
• 3/4 cup chopped walnuts, optional (or any type of nut, pecans would be nice!)

For Maple Glaze:

• 1/2 cup confectioners' sugar
• 2 tablespoons real maple syrup (no Aunt Jemima folks!)

Directions

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Grease and flour a 10-inch tube pan.

For Cake: Cream the butter and sugar in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment for 4 to 5 minutes, until light. Add the eggs 1 at a time, then add the vanilla and sour cream. In a separate bowl, sift together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. With the mixer on low, add the flour mixture to the batter until just combined. Finish stirring with a spatula to be sure the batter is completely mixed.

For Streusel: Place the brown sugar, flour, cinnamon, salt, and butter in a bowl and pinch together with your fingers until it forms a crumble. Mix in the walnuts, if desired.Spoon half the batter into the pan and spread it out with a knife. Sprinkle with 3/4 cup streusel. Spoon the rest of the batter in the pan, spread it out, and scatter the remaining streusel on top.

Bake for 50 to 60 minutes, until a cake tester comes out clean.Let cool on a wire rack for at least 30 minutes. Carefully transfer the cake, streusel side up, onto a serving plate.

For Glaze: Whisk the confectioners' sugar and maple syrup together, adding a few drops of water if necessary, to make the glaze runny. Drizzle as much as you like over the cake with a fork or spoon.

Going Patriotic for Memorial Day

Memorial Day is a day of remembrance and reverence for those who gave their lives to give us our freedom. My own family has been fortunate enough to have not lost anyone in service, but we nonetheless honor those who have fallen. At the same time, the day is a celebration of our freedom. Memorial Day parties have become an inherent part of our culture, and what better way to celebrate then with a cake that pays homage to the Red, the White, and the Blue?

I've moved to a small apartment that I'm subletting for the summer, so this cake was the test-run on using the new kitchen. I'm going to take a small tangent to talk about ovens - for the past 12 months, I was using an electric oven and stove. This apartment I'm subletting has a gas oven and stove. Basically I am in LOVE with gas. The overall efficiency is ten times better than electric. I was always having to worry about the outside of my cakes burning, but not with this new oven!

I was looking for a "summery" cake as the weather has been (as of late) absolutely gorgeous! For Boston, that's quite a feat. Whenever I think of summer desserts, berries is almost always my go-to. I had just bought a whole crate of fresh blueberries and figured that would be perfect. I didn't want to make a pie, and shortcake felt too Betty Crocker for me. When I came across this recipe, I knew that not only was it exactly what I wanted but it was also perfect for Memorial Day.

Based on the photo, you can't tell that melted white chocolate is also incorporated into the dough. And let me tell you, any time a recipe calls for melted chocolate to be added you can 9 times out of 10 bet it will be a winner. This recipe came from a website a frequent quite often called Very Best Baking. It has a collection of recipes sponsored by Nestle, Carnation, and Libby's - three companies whose ingredients any baker should be more than familiar with.

A few suggestions with this cake - use fresh lemon. I used packaged lemon juice, and the taste was tangible in the finished product, but I imagine it would have added an extra kick with the zest. if you plan to use fresh blueberries, toss them in a bowl with about a tablespoon of flour - this will guarantee they don't sink during the baking process. I omitted the lemon extract in the glaze - it just seemed superfluous. This is a great recipe, and you will certainly wow your guests with both the taste and presentation of this cake!

Lemon Blueberry Bundt Cake with White Chocolate Glaze and Strawberries

Adapted from VeryBestBaking.com

Serves 12 - 14

Ingredients

• 2 cups (12-oz. pkg.) white chocolate chips, divided
• 2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 1/2 cups granulated sugar
• 1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 3 large eggs
• 3 tablespoons grated lemon peel (about 4 medium lemons; I used 2 tbsp juice)
• 1 1/3 cups buttermilk (or 1 1/3 cups whole milk + 1 tbsp vinegar or lemon juice)
• 1 cup fresh or frozen blueberries
• 1/4 teaspoon lemon extract (optional; I omitted this)
• 2 cups fresh whole strawberries (one crate will suffice for decoration)

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350° F. Grease and flour 10-cup Bundt pan.


2. Melt 1 cup morsels in medium, uncovered, microwave-safe bowl on MEDIUM-HIGH (70%) power for 1 minute, checking every 20 seconds to prevent burning. If necessary, microwave at additional 10- to 15-second intervals, stirring just until morsels are melted. Cool slightly.


3. Sift flour, baking powder and salt in small bowl. Beat sugar, butter and vanilla extract in large mixer bowl until creamy. Beat in eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition. Beat in lemon peel (or lemon juice) and melted morsels. Gradually beat in flour mixture alternately with buttermilk just until combined, beginning and ending with the flour. Pour half of batter into prepared Bundt pan. Toss blueberries with 1 tbsp flour and sprinkle over batter; top with remaining batter and smooth down top.


4. Bake for 60 to 65 minutes or until wooden pick inserted in cake comes out clean. Cool in pan on wire rack for 30 minutes. Invert onto wire rack to cool completely. Transfer to serving platter.


5. Melt remaining 1 cup morsels in medium, uncovered, microwave-safe bowl on MEDIUM-HIGH (70%) power for 1 minute; STIR. Morsels may retain some of their original shape. If necessary, microwave at additional 10- to 15-second intervals, stirring just until morsels are melted. Drizzle over cake; allow to set for a few minutes. Place strawberries in center of cake before serving.


"Boont? Bundt... Boont? Bundt. BOONT? BUNDT......OH ITS A CAKE"

The visual aesthetic of a Bundt cake removes the need for frosting. As such, this cake has a variety of contexts, whether it be a pound cake or a crumb coffee cake. It is also a cake that is notorious for not coming out of the pan, which is why you have to make sure you oil the pan with a solid vegetable shortening COMPLETELY (all nooks and crannies) then flour. Let it cool completely before removing it from the pan. The two cakes I'm including in this entry are a Chocolate Stout Cake with Chocolate Ganache and a Praline Bundt Cake with Sugared Pecans.

This Cake means business! There are three power ingredients in the recipe. One: CHOCOLATE. Who can ever deny a chocolate cake. Two: STOUT. This gives the cake a greater depth of flavor, and really compliments the chocolate. I used Guinness Extra Stout to really up the game on this one. Three: SOUR CREAM. This provides the cake with an irresistibly moist texture.

I baked this cake for my friend Luke's birthday grill party. The theme of the meal was recipes that incorporate beer, from beer bread to beer barbeque sauce, as Luke is a true beer connoisseur. As such, a stout cake was a seemingly appropriate choice. It was quite the feast!

The original recipe was from Bon Appetit and created a HUGE layer cake. This grill party wasn't expecting that many people, so I had to find an alternative. Thankfully, one of my favorite blogs, Smitten Kitchen, had seen the problem as well and created a reduced version. It was the perfect amount! Not a single guest complained, and people even went back for seconds.

Chocolate Stout Cake with Chocolate Ganache

Smitten Kitchen, adapted from Bon Appetit

Serves 10 - 12

Ingredients

• 1 cup stout (such as Guinness)

• 1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter

• 3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder (preferably Dutch-process)

• 2 cups all purpose flour

• 2 cups sugar

• 1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda

• 3/4 teaspoon salt

• 2 large eggs

• 2/3 cup sour cream

• 6 ounces good semisweet chocolate chips

• 6 tablespoons heavy cream

• 3/4 teaspoon instant coffee granules

Directions

Cake:
Preheat oven to 350°F. Butter or spray a bundt pan well; make sure you get in all of the nooks and crannies. (Some people even go so far as to brush the inside of their bundt pans with melted butter–you cannot be too careful!). Bring 1 cup stout and 1 cup butter to simmer in heavy large saucepan over medium heat. Add cocoa powder and whisk until mixture is smooth. Cool slightly.

Whisk flour, sugar, baking soda, and 3/4 teaspoon salt in large bowl to blend. Using electric mixer, beat eggs and sour cream in another large bowl to blend. Add stout-chocolate mixture to egg mixture and beat just to combine. Add flour mixture and beat briefly on slow speed. Using rubber spatula, fold batter until completely combined. Pour batter into prepared pan. Bake cake until tester inserted into center comes out clean, about 35 minutes. Transfer cake to rack; cool completely in the pan, then turn cake out onto rack for drizzling ganache.*

Ganache: 
For the ganache, melt the chocolate, heavy cream, and coffee in the top of a double boiler over simmering water until smooth and warm, stirring occasionally. Drizzle over the top of cooled cake.

This second bundt cake had been on my to-bake list for quite some time. When a dinner party was scheduled at my friend Tom's house, I was finally given my chance to bake this cake! As always, he made an AMAZING meal! As for the cake? Praline + sugared pecans = delicious!!! Like the previous cake, we have sour cream as a component to create a moist texture, but added to the mix: cream cheese!!! Talk about soft consistency.

I made literally no changes to this recipe and suggest you do the same - Southern Living knows desserts, especially ones with flavors reminiscent of the South.

Praline Bundt Cake with Praline Icing and Sugared Pecans

Southern Living

Serves 12

Ingredients

Cake

• 1 cup chopped pecans
• 1 cup butter, softened
• 1 (8-oz.) package cream cheese, softened
• 1 (16-oz.) package dark brown sugar
• 4 large eggs
• 2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 (8-oz.) container sour cream
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Praline Icing

• 1 cup firmly packed light brown sugar
• 1/2 cup butter
• 1/4 cup milk
• 1 cup powdered sugar, sifted
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Sugared Pecans

• 1 egg white
• 4 cups pecan halves (about 1 lb.)
• 1/3 cup granulated sugar
• 1/3 cup firmly packed light brown sugar

Directions

Sugared Pecans: Whisk egg white until foamy; add pecans, and stir until evenly coated. Stir together sugars; sprinkle over pecans. Stir gently until pecans are evenly coated. Spread pecans in a single layer in a lightly greased aluminum foil-lined 15- x 10-inch jelly-roll pan.

Bake at 350° for 18 to 20 minutes or until pecans are toasted and dry, stirring once after 10 minutes. Remove from oven, and let cool 30 minutes or until completely cool.

Cake: Arrange 1 cup pecans in a single layer on a baking sheet. Bake at 350° for 5 to 7 minutes or until toasted. Cool on a wire rack 15 minutes or until completely cool. Reduce oven temperature to 325°.

Beat butter and cream cheese at medium speed with an electric mixer until creamy. Gradually add brown sugar, beating until well blended. Add eggs, 1 at a time, beating just until blended after each addition.

Sift together 2 1/2 cups flour and next 3 ingredients. Add to butter mixture alternately with sour cream, beginning and ending with flour mixture. Beat batter at low speed just until blended after each addition. Stir in toasted pecans and vanilla. Spoon batter into a greased and floured 12-cup Bundt pan.

Bake at 325° for 1 hour and 15 minutes or until a long wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool cake in pan on a wire rack 15 minutes; remove from pan to wire rack, and let cool 30 minutes or until completely cool.

Praline Icing: Bring first 3 ingredients to a boil in a 2-qt. saucepan over medium heat, whisking constantly; boil 1 minute. Remove from heat; whisk in powdered sugar and vanilla until smooth. Stir gently 3 to 5 minutes or until mixture begins to cool and thickens slightly. Spoon immediately over cooled cake.

Sprinkle top with sugared pecans and enjoy!