2 Easy Cake Recipes: Louisiana Praline Toffee Bundt Cake, Southern Livings Popular Praline Cake

Photo by Arthur D. Lauck

From Denny: I love this time of year when I can bake something heavenly with fresh pecans! They are wonderful in cakes, cookies and even as a coating for pan-frying your favorite fish. This last weekend I went downtown to the local farmers' market and purchased some awesome locally grown roasted pecans.

Don't live in Louisiana but want to buy some local pecans? Not to worry: to purchase these Louisiana pecans from a friendly farmer by the name of Buddy Miller I always enjoy visiting, go to his site called Plantation Pecan Company, go here.

This is a recipe I found in my files from a newspaper food section from a few years ago, coming from a regional church cookbook. The only other praline cake recipe I found online was from Southern Living. That one is good and quite popular and I'm always a player for cream cheese in a cake; this one is even better because of the Heath toffee bits! Your choice; you decide which one you prefer - or both. :)

This cookbook can be purchased, go here.

Praline Bundt Cake

From: St. Isidore Catholic Church cookbook, by Paula Gebhart

Ingredients:

Cake:

1 package Betty Crocker Supermoist yellow cake mix (or other brand)
1 1/4 cups water
1/3 cup vegetable oil (canola oil is good as its flavor is neutral)
3 eggs, large
1/2 cup chopped pecans
1/2 cup Heath toffee bits

Directions:

Heat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease and flour a Bundt pan. In large bowl, beat cake mix, water, oil and eggs with electric mixer on low speed 30 seconds.

Beat on medium 2 minutes, scraping bowl. Fold in pecans and toffee bits.

Bake 35 to 40 minutes or until toothpick inserted comes out clean.

Cool 30 minutes in the pan and then remove from the pan. Cool completely.

Glaze:

Ingredients:

1/4 cup butter (not margarine)
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
2 Tablespoons corn syrup
2 Tablespoons milk
1 cup powdered sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/4 cup Heath toffee bits

Directions:

In quart-size pan, melt butter. Stir in brown sugar, corn syrup and milk. Heat to roiling boil, stirring frequently; remove from heat.

Immediately beat in powdered sugar and vanilla with wire whisk until smooth.

Drizzle over cake and sprinkle with Heath toffee bits.

Here's the Southern Living recipe too:



Photo by Jennifer Davick


Praline Bundt Cake

From: Southern Living, December 2007

Prep: 30 min.
Bake: 1 hr., 22 min.
Cool: 1 hr.
Yield: Makes 12 servings

Ingredients:

1 cup chopped pecans
1 cup butter, softened
1 (8-oz.) package cream cheese, softened
1 (16-oz.) package dark brown sugar
4 large eggs
2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 (8-oz.) container sour cream
2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Praline Icing, recipe follows
Sugared Pecans, recipe follows

Directions:

1. Arrange 1 cup pecans in a single layer on a baking sheet. Bake at 350° for 5 to 7 minutes or until toasted. Cool on a wire rack 15 minutes or until completely cool. Reduce oven temperature to 325°.

2. Beat butter and cream cheese at medium speed with an electric mixer until creamy. Gradually add brown sugar, beating until well blended. Add eggs, 1 at a time, beating just until blended after each addition.

3. Sift together 2 1/2 cups flour and next 3 ingredients. Add to butter mixture alternately with sour cream, beginning and ending with flour mixture. Beat batter at low speed just until blended after each addition. Stir in toasted pecans and vanilla. Spoon batter into a greased and floured 12-cup Bundt pan.

4. Bake at 325° for 1 hour and 15 minutes or until a long wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool cake in pan on a wire rack 15 minutes; remove from pan to wire rack, and let cool 30 minutes or until completely cool.

5. Prepare Praline Icing, and spoon immediately over cake. Sprinkle top of cake with Sugared Pecans.

***

Praline Icing

Prep: 10 min.
Cook: 5 min.
Yield: Makes about 1 1/2 cups

Ingredients:

1 cup firmly packed light brown sugar
1/2 cup butter
1/4 cup milk
1 cup powdered sugar, sifted
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Directions:

Bring first 3 ingredients to a boil in a 2-qt. saucepan over medium heat, whisking constantly; boil 1 minute. Remove from heat; whisk in powdered sugar and vanilla until smooth.

Stir gently 3 to 5 minutes or until mixture begins to cool and thickens slightly. Use immediately.

***

Sugared Pecans

Prep: 10 min.
Bake: 20 min.
Cool: 30 min.
Yield: Makes about 5 cups

Ingredients:

1 egg white
4 cups pecan halves (about 1 lb.)
1/3 cup granulated sugar
1/3 cup firmly packed light brown sugar

Directions:

1. Whisk egg white until foamy; add pecans, and stir until evenly coated.

2. Stir together sugars; sprinkle over pecans. Stir gently until pecans are evenly coated. Spread pecans in a single layer in a lightly greased aluminum foil-lined 15- x 10-inch jelly-roll pan.

3. Bake at 350° for 18 to 20 minutes or until pecans are toasted and dry, stirring once after 10 minutes. Remove from oven, and let cool 30 minutes or until completely cool.

Note: Store pecans in a zip-top plastic freezer bag at room temperature up to 3 days or freeze up to 3 weeks.

*** Thanks for visiting, everyone, and have a great day!

Recipe: Chocolate Peanut Butter Nirvana Cake

From Denny: While I must admit the title had me curious, I just had to take a look at this delightful recipe over at the Jif site - and then laugh. Someone really knew what they were doing by giving it this title with the idea of dessert nirvana! :)

What are its awesome ingredients? Chocolate pudding, chocolate chips, Devils Food Cake and peanut butter are the winners combined to create dessert nirvana.

You might want to try out this easy recipe as a trial baking run before the holidays begin. After all, we do need to make sure it really is that good, right?! :) And practice makes perfect...

Chocolate Peanut Butter Nirvana Cake

Yield: 12 servings

Prep Time: 15 min

Cook Time: 55 min

Ingredients:

CAKE

• Crisco® Flour No-Stick Spray

• 1 (18.25 oz.) box Pillsbury® Devils Food Cake

• 1/2 cup Crisco® Pure Vegetable Oil

• 1 1/4 cups water

• 4 large eggs

• 1 (3.9 oz.) package instant chocolate pudding and pie filling mix

• 2 cups (12 oz. pkg.) semi-sweet chocolate chips

FROSTING

• 1/2 cup Pillsbury® Whipped Supreme® Vanilla Frosting

• 1/2 cup Jif® Creamy Peanut Butter

• 1/4 teaspoon almond extract

• 1/2 cup milk

• Chocolate curls or shavings for garnish (optional)

Directions:

1. HEAT oven to 350°F. Spray a 12-cup fluted pan with flour no-stick cooking spray.

2. COMBINE cake mix, oil, water, eggs and pudding mix in a large bowl with an electric mixer at low speed until moistened. Beat 2 minutes at medium speed. Stir in chocolate chips. Pour batter into prepared pan.

3. BAKE 50 to 55 minutes or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool in pan 20 minutes. Invert onto serving plate. Cool completely.

4. BEAT frosting, peanut butter, almond extract and milk in medium bowl with electric mixer until well combined. Spoon frosting over cooled cake. Garnish with chocolate shavings, if desired.

Recipe: Easy Black Russian Cake

From Denny: Want an easy impressive cake to make for your gathering? Want to try a new recipe for the upcoming holidays? This one is too easy as you can use a cake mix. You might want to keep this lush cake for adults only! :) For variations try it out with a devils food cake mix or even a German chocolate!

From: Marion “Mike” Bristol

Serves: 12 - She usually serves it with whipped cream.

Ingredients:

1 box basic yellow cake mix (without pudding)

1/4 cup, plus 3 Tablespoons, Kahlúa liqueur (or coffee), divided

1/4 cup vodka

1 small (3.9 ounce) box instant chocolate pudding

4 eggs

1 cup oil (canola oil is great for a neutral taste)

3/4 cup water

1/4 to 1/2 cup chopped pecans

Directions:

1. In an electric mixer, mix all ingredients except the 3 tablespoons of Kahlúa and the chopped pecans for 2 minutes at medium speed.

2. Spray or grease a Bundt pan with shortening.

3. Sprinkle the bottom of the pan with 1/4 to 1/2 cup chopped pecans. Pour batter over nuts.

4. Bake at 325 degrees for 55 minutes if pan has a dark, non-stick interior.

5. Remove cake and put on a cooling rack for 5 to 10 minutes. Pour remaining 3 tablespoons of Kahlúa over cake while still warm. After cake is cooled, turn over onto a plate or cake stand.

6. Serve with whipped cream, if desired. Cover cake with plastic wrap to keep moist.

Note: Devil’s food or chocolate cake mix can be substituted for the yellow cake mix.

Recipe: Southern Louisiana Molasses Cake & Cookies From Scratch

Louisiana Brand Of Molasses STEEN'S Image by scottpartee via Flickr

Southern Louisiana Molasses Cake & Cookies From Scratch:

An excerpt from the article:

"Cakes from scratch - Back to basics

Not that long ago, molasses was a common kitchen staple in the well-stocked pantry. Today, many people would not know what it is.

Molasses Spice Cookies Image by ilmungo via Flickr

Additionally, even if someone has heard of molasses -- it isn't the first ingredient most of us today would think about, if we were going to make a cake.



Therefore, if you've never heard of molasses, it is a thick syrup by-product obtained by making sugarcane or sugar beet into sugar.

Basically, there are three main types of molasses: Unsulphured, sculptured, and black strap molasses:
Unsulphured molasses is considered molasses of top quality. It has only the smallest amount of sugar has been removed. It is made from the juices of sun-ripened sugar cane that has been refined and concentrated."

By Jerilee Wei @ HubPages

From Denny: Jerilee lives in Califonia now but was born and steeped in the Louisiana culture. This thorough well-written article has several recipes, a bit of culture and three videos. Just click on the title link to take you there, enjoy!

Recipe: Low-Fat Lemon Bundt Cake

From Denny: Looks like I will be exploring and downright plundering this wonderful recipe database over at PastryWiz.com! Wonderful array of recipes over here at this extensive database.

Repeat after me: Louisiana LOVES lemon! Louisiana people LOVE lemon recipes! We even planted a lemon tree in our back yard a couple of years ago. Of course, we named "him": Lemoncello (how original)

This lower fat version of a Lemon Bundt Cake sounded really good. OK, I'll probably not go for the margarine which I find a revolting taste but at least those with special diets who adjusted their tastebuds could enjoy this recipe. I'll just use clarified butter (or ghee when I can find it on the grocery shelves).

Cooking spray: substitute your own like placing canola oil in a spray bottle to get the same "less is more" effect. Canola oil is a thinner oil than most and can be sprayed.

By using egg whites they eliminate the extra fat and calories, same with using skim milk over low fat or whole milk.

And icing, well, I'd probably use half to none at all as I've never been a huge fan of sugar icing (now chocolate ganache is another matter...).

Better yet I would prefer to serve the icing as a puddle on the side of the sliced cake so you could dip a piece of cake in it or take your fork and lightly drizzle the icing over your slice of cake.

Louisiana people LOVE their sugar icings and call them "Cream Cakes" when used like the one below.

Lemon Cream Cheese Streusel Bundt Cake Image by pirate johnny via Flickr - why couldn't they put a recipe with this yummy photo? :)Of course, this is the fattening version. That's why it looks so appealing, right?! All right, everyone, get your eyes peeled back on to the prize goal: low calorie for today! ;)

***

Low Fat Lemon Bundt Cake

From: PastryWiz.com

Yield: Serves 14

Ingredients for the Cake:

Butter flavored cooking spray

8 oz. plain nonfat yogurt

1/2 cup light corn syrup

3 cups sugar

1 tsp. vanilla extract

8 egg whites

2 Tbs. fresh lemon juice

rind from 1/2 lemon, grated

3 cups flour

1/3 cup powdered sugar

1/2 tsp. baking powder

1 tsp. salt


Ingredients for the Icing:

1 Tbs. fat-free margarine

2 Tbs. fresh lemon juice

rind from 1/2 lemon, grated

1/2 tsp. vanilla extract

1/8 tsp. salt

2 cups powdered sugar

1 Tbs. skim milk


Directions: Preheat oven to 300 degrees F. Spray a bundt pan with cooking spray.

In a large bowl, combine yogurt, corn syrup, sugar, vanilla, egg whites, lemon juice, and lemon rind and mix well. In a medium bowl, combine flour, powdered sugar, baking powder, and salt. Mix well.

Add a the dry mixture to the wet mixture and mix well. Pour batter into pan. Bake for about 1 hour and 20 minutes.

Let cake cool for about 10 minutes before removing from pan. Remove cake from pan and cool in the refrigerator for about 15 minutes before icing.

Combine icing ingredients and mix well. Pour or spread icing over cake until it's completely covered. Cool completely before serving.

Nutritional Info:
Cal: 386
Fat: less than 1 gram

Following are some more lemon cake recipes to enjoy!

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• How to Bake an Easy Lemon Drizzle Cake (recipes.suite101.com)

Recipe: Espresso Fudge Cake with Kahlua Glaze

Espresso Fudge Cake with Kahlua Glaze

From: Bon Appétit May 2001

Yield: One 10” tube cake

Difficulty: Easy

Preparation: 30 minutes plus baking and cooling times

This simple Bundt cake is a stunner: The sour cream and eggs make it ultra-moist and rich, while the espresso ups the intensity of the chocolate and downplays its sweetness.


Cake:

4 ounces semisweet chocolate, chopped

One 18.25-ounce box Betty Crocker Super Moist Devil’s Food Cake Mix with Pudding

1 cup sour cream

½ cup vegetable/canola oil

3 large eggs

1/3 cup Kahlua liqueur

3 Tablespoons instant espresso powder, such as Medaglia D’Oro


Kahlua glaze:

3 Tablespoons unsalted butter, melted

1 cup confectioners’ sugar, sifted

3 Tablespoons Kahlua liqueur


Make cake: Position rack in center of oven and preheat to 350° F. Coat inside of 10” Bundt pan with nonstick cooking spray.

Two methods to melt chocolate, your choice

Melt chocolate: In a microwave place coarsely chopped chocolate in a proper container and microwave at medium (50%) for 1 ½ to 4 minutes, stopping and stirring often until chocolate is shiny and melted. If overheated chocolate can become grainy.

Melt chocolate: On top of the stove place coarsely chopped chocolate in top of a double boiler over hot, not simmering, water. As the chocolate melts, stir until melted and smooth.

Let melted chocolate cool to room temperature.

Place cake mix in bowl of electric mixer fitted with whisk attachment. Add sour cream, vegetable oil, eggs, Kahlua, espresso powder and cooled chocolate. Mix on low speed for 2 minutes, or until just combined. Remove bowl from mixer and scrape down sides with rubber spatula, folding in any remaining unincorporated ingredients.

Pour batter into prepared pan and smooth top. Bake for 45-5-0 minutes, or until skewer inserted in center comes out clean. Cool cake on wire rack for 5 minutes, and then turn cake out of pan onto wire rack. Allow to cool completely.

Make glaze: Combine melted butter, confectioners’ sugar and Kahlua in small bowl; whisk until smooth. Pour glaze over top of cake, allowing it to run down sides and center of cake.