Christmas Praline Pecan Cake
Of course you can go with fruitcake or sugar plums or even old-fashioned Figgie Pudding, but when it comes to the ultimate dessert for Christmas dinner this one ranks as one of my all time favorites! For some reason it just exemplifies the spirit of the holiday season. . . and it's so Southern too!
2 Tbsp. shortening or softened margarine
3/4 cup pecan meal or graham cracker crumbs
1 box Duncan Hines Deluxe Yellow Cake Mix
1 box Jell-O Vanilla Instant Pudding (3-3/4 oz.)
4 large whole eggs at room temperature
1/2 cup Crisco Oil
1/4 cup Domino Liquid Brown Sugar
3/4 cup Praline Liqueur
3/4 cup Heath's Bits'O Brickle Almond Brickle Chips
3/4 cup chopped pecans
2 cups Domino Confectioners 10X Powdered Sugar
2 Tbsp. softened butter
3-6 tablespoons Praline Liqueur
First, preheat your oven to 350 degrees. Then grease a 10-inch tube or Bundt pan with either shortening or margarine. Liberally coat the insides and bottom with the pecan meal or graham cracker crumbs.
Next, combine and blend the cake mix and the pudding mix in a large bowl and add to it the eggs, oil, liquid brown sugar, and Praline Liqueur. Then, with an electric mixer, start beating the ingredients at low speed until they are thoroughly blended (this should take about a minute or two). Then immediately increase the beater's rpm's and whip the mixture at medium speed 3 or 4 additional minutes--this serves to bring the consistency to its proper stage.
Finally, when the mixture is silky smooth, fold in the chopped pecans and the Bits of Brickle until they are uniformly dispersed in the batter. Then pour the batter into your prepared pan and place the pan on the middle rack of the oven. Bake for 45-50 minutes (or until a tester inserted into the cake comes out clean).
When it's done, cool the cake first in the pan on a rack for about 20 minutes; then remove it from the pan and cool it for another 20 minutes or so before you glaze and garnish it.
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Chef's Notes:
To make the glaze, simply combine the sugar and the butter in a small bowl. Then beat with an electric mixer until velvety smooth, adding Praline Liqueur gradually to achieve the desired consistency. When it's ready, pour it over the cake in a drizzle and garnish with a few chopped pecans and some extra brickle. Oh--be sure to leave a slice out for Santa!
To make graham cracker crumbs or pecan meal, simply put either graham crackers or pecan halves (or a combination of the two!) into a food processor and chop them with the steel cutting blade until you get a fine consistency.