Available for holiday giving, Cake: Layered, Frosted, Sliced & Shared by Brooke Bell is a 250-page visual masterpiece that features 114 of the author’s favorite cake recipes. Bell, who lives in Birmingham, Alabama, is also the author of Fall Baking and the Southern Cast Iron Cookbook. An essential cake baking companion, Cake explores a different kind of cake in each chapter—bundt, layer, one-layer, sheet, skillet and pound—and offers readers a guide to creating the best of each.
“From birthdays to holidays and every celebration in between, I’ve been baking with and for my family and friends for as long as I can remember,” says Bell. “With Cake, I’ve taken my favorite classic scratch-made recipes and put them alongside new flavors I’ve discovered along my culinary journey. The result is a wide variety of cakes that can be tackled by bakers of any skill level.”
This holiday season, add a new twist on traditional pecan pie with her recipe for Pecan Pie Bundt Cake.
3 Tbsp. all-vegetable shortening
1 2⁄3 cups finely chopped pecans, divided
1 cup unsalted butter, softened
1 1⁄2 cups granulated sugar
1 Tbsp. vanilla extract
4 large eggs
2 1⁄3 cups all-purpose flour
1 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. kosher salt, divided
3⁄4 cup dark corn syrup
1⁄2 cup whole buttermilk
1⁄4 cup firmly packed light brown sugar
1 Tbsp. ground cinnamon
1⁄2 tsp. ground black pepper
Brown Sugar Glaze (recipe follows)
Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Grease a 15-cup Bundt pan with shortening. Sprinkle 1 cup pecans in pan, shaking pan to coat. In a large bowl, beat butter, granulated sugar and vanilla with a mixer at medium speed until fluffy, 3 to 4 minutes, stopping to scrape sides of bowl. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder and 1⁄2 teaspoon salt. In a small bowl, stir together corn syrup and buttermilk. With mixer on low speed, gradually add flour mixture to butter mixture alternately with corn syrup mixture, beginning and ending with flour mixture, beating just until combined after each addition.
In a small bowl, whisk together brown sugar, cinnamon, pepper, remaining 2⁄3 cup pecans and remaining 1⁄2 teaspoon salt. Stir in 1⁄2 cup cake batter. Dollop half of remaining batter into prepared pan. Spoon brown sugar mixture over batter in pan. Top with remaining batter. Bake until a wooden pick inserted near center comes out with a few moist crumbs, about 1 hour. Let cool in pan for 10 minutes. Invert cake onto wire rack and let cool for 30 minutes. Pour Brown Sugar Glaze over warm cake.
Brown Sugar Glaze
1⁄2 cup firmly packed light brown sugar
1⁄4 cup unsalted butter
2 Tbsp. heavy whipping cream
In a small saucepan, bring brown sugar, butter and cream to a boil over medium heat. Remove from heat. Use immediately. Makes about 1/2 cup.
Photo taken from Cake: Layered, Frosted, Sliced & Shared by 83 Press.
