Praline Pound Cake

Greetings fellow bakers! I apologize for the lack of communication for the past months, but no worries, I am posting some recipes that you will love. 

First off, for the Heat vs. Mavericks game, I wanted to do a southern dessert for the party, to go along with our "Go Mavs, boo Heat" theme. After browsing through Paula Deen's repertoire of southern baking, I was inspired to make a praline pound cake. Pralines are a big thing in Texas, so I thought this dessert will suit our Texas-themed party quite well. This dessert ended up being the biggest hit of the night, bigger than the Mavs beating the Heat.

For the recipe, I used a bundt pan but I'm sure you can substitute with a regular cake pan, just adjust the baking times. Make the cake first, then the praline sauce. Read on for the recipe!

Ingredients

• 1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened
• 3 cups sugar
• 6 large eggs
• 3 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup heavy cream
• 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract (you may use lemon or almond flavoring instead)

Directions

Generously grease and flour a 10-inch bundt pan. Do not preheat the oven, you want to slowly bake it. 

Cream the butter and sugar together until fluffy. 

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

Sift together flour, baking powder, and salt. Alternately add flour mixture and heavy cream to butter-sugar mixture, beginning and ending with flour. Stir in flavoring.

 

Pour batter into prepared pan. Put into a cold oven and set the temperature to 325 degrees F. 

Bake for 1 hour 15 minutes without opening the oven door. Bake for an additional 15 minutes if necessary. Remove from the oven and cool in pan for 15 minutes. Invert cake onto cake plate. 

Now here's the real treat, the praline sauce. Here's the recipe for that:

Ingredients:

2 cups of firmly packed light brown sugar 1/2 cup (1 stick) of unsalted butter 1/3 cup of half and half or evaporated milk 1/3 cup of sifted confectioners sugar 1 cup of chopped pecans, toasted 1 tablespoon of vanilla extract

In a heavy saucepan, stir the brown sugar, butter, and half and half over moderate heat for 5 minutes or until the mixture comes to a full boil. Boil for 3 minutes, then remove from the heat and stir in the confectioners sugar, pecans, and vanilla. Immediately drizzle over pound cake. Makes 2 cups.

YUMMY! Enjoy!