Caramel Bourbon Pecan Pound Cake

I love taking old recipes and giving them a new twist.  Let’s face it, if it was good twenty years ago, it is probably just as good now.  Good is good!  I also don’t like doing the obvious.  So on Valentine’s Day, when most of us are making everything chocolate, I am taking the opportunity to mix it up.  I’ve taken this bourbon pecan pound cake and topped it with my good friend, Nancie McDermott’s Gigi’s Caramel Icing, from her popular cookbook, Southern Cakes.

Caramel Bourbon Pound Cake Recipe

Ingredients:

3 sticks butter (unsalted

3 cups light brown sugar

3 cups all-purpose flour

1-1/2 teaspoons baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

2 teaspoons cardamom

5 eggs

3/4 cup milk

1/4 cup bourbon

1 cup pecans, chopped

Preparation:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Grease and flour a 12 cup bundt-style pan or a 10-inch tube pan.  

In a large bowl, whisk together flour baking powder, salt and spices.  

Beat butter and sugar until fluffy.  Add eggs one at a time, scraping the bowl after each addition.  Add the flour mixture, one cup at a time, alternately with the milk and bourbon.    Blend in the pecans.  Pour mixture into prepared pan and bake in preheated oven for 75 minutes or until a tester inserted in the center comes our clean.  Remove from oven and let cool in pan for 10 minutes.

Gigi’s Caramel Icing Recipe (Nancie McDermott, Southern Cakes)

2-2/3 cups light brown sugar

1 stick butter

7 tablespoons evaporated milk

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Preparation:

In a heavy medium-sized saucepan combine the brown sugar, butter, evaporated milk and vanilla.  Bring to a boil over medium-high heat.  Stir well and then adjust the heat so that the frosting boils and bubbles gently.  Cook for 7 minutes.  Remove from heat and let cool for 5 minutes.

Beat the warm icing with a wooden spoon until it thickens, 2 to 3 minutes.  Quickly spread the icing over the cake - starting on the top and then over the sides.  If the icing becomes too hard to spread, warm gently over low heat.  Add a spoonful or two of evaporated milk, and then scrape and stir well until the icing softens enough to spread again.  Dip a table knife in very hot water to help soften and smooth out the icing once it is spread.