Here's an Award-Winning Pecan Praline Pound Cake

It's delicious.

Technically, the award was my daughter winning 2nd place in a local 4-H competition but she nailed it. We came up with the idea and she did everything but handle the oven work (she is still a bit nervous around the oven). It was a wonderful bonding time in the kitchen.

If you’ve read this newsletter for a while, you’ve already got the two key recipes (my pound cake and my praline recipes), and we did some minimal tweaking to make this cake idea work. Plenty of folks on social media asked for the recipe, so here it is. There is one variation I want to try soon. I want to make the praline mixture here closer to the original in terms of thickness and pour a layer into the cake pan to make a nutty, sugary middle.

For the pound cake:

• 1 cup butter, softened

• 1/2 cup vegetable shortening

• 3 cups sugar

• 5 eggs

• 3 cups sifted all-purpose flour

• 1/2 tsp. baking powder

• 1/2 tsp. salt

• 1 cup milk

• 1 tbsp. vanilla extract

• 1/3 cup vegetable oil

• 0.5 to 1 cup crushed pecans

  1. Pre-heat oven to 325 degrees.

  2. Cream butter, shortening, and sugar together in your mixer until smooth.

  3. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition.

  4. Sift flour, baking powder, and salt together.

  5. Alternate adding dry ingredients and milk in small batches to the creamed mixture, then stir in vanilla and oil.

  6. Add the pecans.

  7. Pour batter into 10-inch or bundt pan tube pan and bake for 90 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.

For the praline icing:

• 2 cups granulated sugar

• 1/2 cup light corn syrup

• 1/2 cup water

• 1/2 can (4 oz.) condensed milk

• 1/2 cup (1 stick) butter, melted

• 1 tsp. salt

• 2 tsp. vanilla extract

• 1 1/2 to 2 cups chopped pecans

  1. Mix together the sugar, corn syrup, water, and condensed milk in a heavy pan. Turn the heat to medium-high.

  2. Bring the mixture to a boil and stir before reducing the heat to about medium.

  3. Using a candy thermometer, track the mixture’s heat until it hits at least 245, but don’t let it go higher than 255.

  4. Take the mixture off the heat and add the butter and vanilla. Stir until the butter is completely incorporated.

  5. Add the pecans and beat the mixture with a wooden or rubber spoon/spatula until the mixture is thick.

Once the cake is baked and cooled on a rack, and the praline mixture has cooled a little, gently pour it out over the cake. When the icing has hardened over the cake a bit, transfer to a cake plate and allow to cool.

Slice and serve with milk, as God intended.