Pecan Cake

This was another one of those baking bites recipes that I've had sitting around for a few weeks now waiting for the right time to make it. Last night seemed as good a time as any so I started the recipe while Chris was working on homemade lasagna (with homemade noodles). In the middle of mixing the ingredients though, Verizon called about the internet problem and I ended up leaving the ingredients half-mixed while I chatted with the support center for about 45 minutes. It didn't seem to hurt the cake batter, so no loss. (not that they actually fixed my internet access at that point, it just randomly started working again a few hours later...)

This was a good cake, especially considering it was a bundt cake which made it fairly easy to mix up. My only real quibble with it is that it just tasted generically sweet to me rather than having a stand-out flavor. Maybe it was just the vanilla... In the oven the top of the cake (what is traditionally the bottom of a bundt cake) got quite crispy. The recipe indicated that the crispy parts, which made an attractive crust, should be the top, but when I flipped the cake out of the pan the crispy bits mostly broke off, leaving an unattractive raggedy mess. No loss, I just made that the bottom of the cake, which looked more "normal" anyway.


Pecan Cake
1 cup butter, room temperature
2 cups sugar
2 cups all purpose flour
1/4 tsp salt
1 cup toasted pecans, finely chopped
2 tsp vanilla extract
pinch nutmeg, freshly grated
5 large eggs, room temperature

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

In a large mixing bowl, cream together butter and sugar until light. Beat in flour, salt and pecans at low speed until completely incorporated. Mix in vanilla and nutmeg.
With the mixer on low, add in the eggs one at a time, waiting until each is fully incorporated to add the next. Turn mixer up to high speed and beat for 5 minutes.

Pour batter into prepared pan. Bake for 60-70 minutes, until a tester inserted into the center comes out clean.

Cool in the pan for about 30 minutes, then slide a knife around the edge to loosen the cake and turn it out onto a wire rack (reinvert so the crunchy top stays on top) to cool completely before slicing.

Serves 16.