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By Sarah Condley

Columnist

We were going to visit our daughter’s family with a meal and dessert. And since I like to try out new desserts – and they are great taste testers – this time was no exception. My mom had given me some recipes she tore out of the June 2022 issue of Mature Living Magazine, and I wanted to try a couple of them. I chose the Pecan Pound Cake for that evening.

I turned the oven to preheat while I greased and floured my Bundt pan. The recipe didn’t say to flour the pan, but I was afraid the cake would stick to the pan if I didn’t. Once well-greased and floured, I set the pan aside while I put the cake batter together.

I combined a cup of chopped pecans and a tablespoon of flour in a small bowl. In a little bit larger bowl, I combined the dry ingredients. I used a handheld mixer to combine the butter and sugar in a large bowl. Since I’m so impatient, I used the highest speed on the mixer to get the two ingredients to the “fluffy” stage. I added the eggs one at a time and mixed them until combined. After the fifth egg, I poured in vanilla that my grandson Luke made me for Christmas; then I slowly added the dry ingredients on a lower mixer speed. Once the dry ingredients were incorporated, I stirred in the sour cream by hand – I’m not sure why they want you to do it that way – and then stirred in the floured pecans.

When the batter was in the Bundt pan, I combined the remaining pecans and sugar for the topping and sprinkled the mixture all over the batter.

The cake baked for 55 minutes and then 5 minutes before a cake tester came out clean. When the cake came out of the oven, I sat the cake pan on a cooling rack and set a timer for an hour for it to cool. The timer sounded, and I turned the cake out onto a cooling rack and let it finish cooling.

After our meal with Sarah and family, we sliced into the Pecan Pound Cake. While everyone liked the cake, we thought the best part was the pecan/sugar topping that was now the bottom of the cake since a Bundt cake comes out the way it does. The cake didn’t taste like a pound cake, and it wasn’t all that sweet. Even Brad, who isn’t a huge sweet fan, didn’t think it was that sweet.

So, while this cake was good, and I Nailed the recipe, it’s not good enough for me to make again or to place in my self-made cookbook.

Pecan Pound Cake

Ingredients

• 1 cup chopped pecans

• 2 1/4 cups + 1 tablespoon all-purpose flour

• 1 teaspoon baking powder

• 1/2 teaspoon salt

• 1/cup unsalted butter, room temperature

• 1 1/3 cups sugar

• 5 eggs

• 2 teaspoons vanilla

• 1/2 cup sour cream

• For the topping: 1/4 cup chopped pecans and 1 tablespoon sugar

Instructions

Preheat oven to 325 degrees.  Grease a 12-cup Bundt pan well.  In a small bowl, toss 1 cup chopped pecans with 1 tablespoon flour.  In a medium bowl, whisk together remaining flour, baking powder, and salt.  With a mixer, cream butter and sugar until fluffy.  Add eggs one at a time; then add vanilla.  Slowly add flour mixture.  Stir in sour cream.  By hand, stir in floured pecans.  Pour batter into pan.  Combine pecans and sugar for topping and sprinkle over cake.  Bake 55-65 minutes, until a tester comes out clean.  Cool an hour in pan before turning out onto a serving dish.  Serves 10-12.