Butter Pecan Pound Cake Recipe with Brown Butter Glaze
This butter pecan pound cake bakes up in a bundt pan with a moist, tender crumb from butter and buttermilk. Once it's out of the oven, it gets soaked in a brown butter glaze made by browning the butter first, which gives the glaze a nutty, toffee-like depth you don't get from a plain powdered sugar glaze. It's all from scratch, no cake mix involved.
Servings 16
Calories 528kcal
Equipment
Ingredients
- 1 ½ cups unsalted butter room temperature
- 2 cups granulated sugar
- 4 eggs room temperature
- 1 tablespoon vanilla
- 3 cups cake flour
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 cup buttermilk room temperature
- ½ cup pecans finely chopped
Frosting:
- ½ cup unsalted butter
- 1 14-ounce can sweetened condensed milk
- 1 cup powdered sugar sifted
- 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
- 1 ½ cups pecans finely chopped
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350º. Generously butter and flour a 12 cup bundt pan.
Cake:
- In the bowl of an electric mixer, beat the butter on medium-high speed until light and creamy, about 5 minutes. Add sugar and continue to beat for 2 minutes, it should be light and fluffy. Add eggs one at a time, beating well after each. Add in the vanilla.
- In a separate bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, soda and salt.
- Turn the mixer to low and add the flour mixture in three additions, alternating with buttermilk, starting and ending with the flour. Don’t over mix. Stir in the pecans and pour into the prepared pan.
- Bake for 52-55 minutes until a wooden skewer comes out with only a few crumbs. Let it cool on a wire rack for 20 minutes. Use a small offset spatula, or knife to go around the edges of the pan to make sure it doesn’t stick to the pan. Invert onto a wire rack to cool.
- While it is cooling, make the frosting.
Frosting:
- In a light colored saucepan, heat butter over medium heat until it begins to turn brown. Remove from the heat and pour it into a glass bowl. (If you leave it in the saucepan, it will continue to cook and burn)
- Add the sweetened condensed milk, powdered sugar and vanilla and whisk until smooth. While the glaze is still warm, pour it over the cake and immediately sprinkle the pecans over the frosting.
- If the frosting is too thick to pour, add a tablespoon of milk.
- Let the frosting set before cutting, about 30 minutes.
Notes
- Make sure that you generously butter and flour the bundt pan. You can use the wrapper from the butter to get in all the crevices.
- You can use all-purpose flour instead of cake flour.
- Make sure to chop the pecans very small.
- Store the cooled cake covered on the counter for 3-4 days, or in the fridge for up to a week. To freeze, wrap individual slices in plastic wrap and foil and freeze for up to 3 months, then thaw on the counter before eating.
