Yesterday I found I had a craving for cake. To top it off, I was flipping through the most recent issue of Cooking Light when I saw a cake which I thought I had all the ingredients for. It looked easy enough, and it had mixed reviews on the CLBB, so it really needed to be tried. So I started assembling ingredients and then realized that I didn’t have any of the main ingredient- walnuts. I briefly debated a run to the store, but when I saw a nearly full package of pecans, I thought that a pecan cake sounded even better than a walnut cake.
The cake came together in a snap, a little beating, a little folding, and then it baked up in 32 minutes exactly. One of the interesting components about this cake is its frosting. It’s a cooked Praline Frosting that sets up almost like a really soft fudge when you pour it on the cake. As I poured it evenly across the sheet cake and then spread it to the edges it occurred to me that this frosting would probably work fantastic for glazing a bundt cake. I loved the ease of making this cake, so as soon as I felt the frosting was set, I dove in for a small tasting piece. Quality control and all, you know? Someone’s got to do it.
The cake itself was really moist- which is surprising for a lighter cake. It has a nice background vanilla flavor, but then the toasted pecans really came through loud and clear. The frosting, while I thought it was tasty, I thought it would have better served the cake with a touch of maple flavoring or extract added to it. The cake just screamed for some maple flavor. Overall though, I thought it was delicious, and a great busy-day cake. The kids both enjoyed it very much, and Zander especially liked the frosting. (He wanted you to know that.)
Since this is from the newest issue of Cooking Light, and I really didn’t make the exact cake, you know, making a Pecan Cake instead of a Walnut Cake, I’ll just link to the recipe over at Cooking Light. It’s a good one, that Walnut Cake with Praline Frosting. Well, I guess the Pecan variation is really good.