Pumpkin Cake with Candied Pecans

This pumpkin cake is ideal for Fall! Moist and scrumptious pumpkin cake layers with a tangy cream cheese frosting and crunchy candied pecans.

This submit was initially printed on 10/05/18 and was up to date with new content material on 10/22/21.

Joyful Thanksgiving!

I hope you’re celebrating it with family and friends. Ryan and I are internet hosting Thanksgiving dinner once more this 12 months — nothing fancy, simply a big roast rooster utilizing Ina’s recipe (it’s wonderful) and a few sides. We often do a turkey on Thanksgiving, however there are all the time so many (too many) leftovers, and it’s simply my dad and mom coming over so we’re choosing a smaller fowl. And, in fact, this Pumpkin Cake shall be served as dessert.

In true Olivia style (at the very least lately), I meant to get this recipe out weeks in the past so that you simply too might have it for Thanksgiving. Alas, it was not meant to be. An excessive amount of life stuff (aka pet) occurring that has put a severe damper on my baking. It’s all good although, she’s lovable (more often than not), and rising so quick that I wish to soak within the pet time as a lot as doable!

Final 12 months I abstained from inundating you with pumpkin recipes and opted for another Fall flavors like Pecan Pie Cake, Chai Cake, and Candy Potato Cake. This 12 months, I’m again with one other Pumpkin Cake recipe for you!

My Pumpkin Spice Latte Cake is one in every of my hottest Fall recipes (for good motive, I feel) so I needed to take that recipe, tweak it for a bigger model, and check out it with some totally different flavors. Dare I say that the pumpkin cake recipe I carry you in the present day is even higher than that one.

The best way to make this Pumpkin Cake Recipe

That is in all probability one of many best cake recipes I’ve on my weblog. It’s a two bowl (one bowl in case you’re lazy) methodology that doesn’t even require a mixer. All it’s a must to do is:

1. Whisk the dry substances collectively (skip this for one bowl)
2. Whisk the moist substances & sugar
3. Add the dry to the moist and blend till simply mixed

Paired with a easy cream cheese frosting, it doesn’t get any simpler!

Essentially the most difficult a part of this recipe for me, truthfully, was the candied pecans.

The best way to make Candied Pecans

Who knew making candied pecans could be such a ache within the butt?? The recipe I’ve for you under is definitely tremendous simple, however I stumbled a few instances in my experimentation.

I had this imaginative and prescient of what I needed the candied pecans to seem like: shiny and shiny, however not clumped collectively or glued with caramel. Many of the candied pecan recipes on the market present sugary coated nuts, and that was simply not the look I used to be going for.

I opted to attempt a recipe I discovered on-line that appeared to have a method that might work (albeit with some unusual substances – milk??). It had a ton of nice evaluations, so certainly it will not fail me. However fail me it did. I ought to have gone with my intestine! The sugar combination completely burned to the underside of my pot earlier than it was even speculated to be prepared. Fortunately I had the sense to not throw $20 of pecans into it.

For try #2 I tweaked this recipe to see if that might work. The recipe is useless easy, which is a big win-win for me.

You begin with a frying pan over medium warmth, and toss within the pecans to toast for about 3 minutes or so (till they’re aromatic). Within the meantime, combine the remaining substances in a small bowl and when the nuts are prepared, pour the combination into the pan with the nuts and stir repeatedly for 5-10mins. I used two heatproof spatulas for this, which labored completely.

Now, as you’re candying the pecans, they’ll go from a liquid glaze to grainy and crystallized (aka the look I didn’t need), however you simply maintain cooking them and finally they caramelize right into a deep, darkish, superb colour. Besides that mine really burned. SIGH. A few of them, anyhow.

My range is the worst. The oven takes endlessly to bake something, and the burners get WAY too sizzling. You actually can not simmer on it. I ought to have lowered my temperature — famous for the longer term!

Humorous factor although, as I used to be caramelizing the pecans I really actually favored the best way they seemed within the sugared/crystallized state! A lot that I requested Ryan to choose up extra pecans on his means dwelling so I might redo them but once more.

You’ll discover that I really ended up going with the shiny ones anyway, as a result of they only look so fairly. Although at one level I used to be satisfied they seemed like cockroaches on a cake, and panicked and added some chopped ones to attempt to conceal that truth. I could have messaged 5 of my pals with a pic and a query: “Do these seem like cockroaches?” That is my life, for actual.

Right here’s a shot with out all the additional chopped pecans…. you possibly can see the place I bought the thought, proper?

ANYhow. I really want the style and texture of the sugared ones somewhat than the caramelized ones, however each are scrumptious, and the fantastic thing about this recipe is that you may determine the way you need them to prove!

This candied pecans recipe is truthfully a lot simpler and fewer time-consuming than the others recipes on the market, that I ponder why everybody doesn’t make their candied nuts this fashion?? I actually shall be sooner or later. Another kind of nuts ought to work equally properly too, in case you’re not a pecan fan!

I selected to pair this pumpkin cake with a easy cream cheese frosting, however it will go equally properly with a plain vanilla frosting or a cinnamon frosting in case you’re seeking to amp up the spice much more!

In case you’re a pumpkin spice fan or simply searching for one thing scrumptious in your Fall & vacation dinner tables, this Pumpkin Cake with Candied Pecans is not going to disappoint!!

Searching for extra Pumpkin Recipes?

This submit was initially printed on 10/05/18 and was up to date with new content material on 10/22/21.