In an earlier blog I told you about a client who requested a butter pecan cake with a caramel buttercream frosting (yummy!) for her daughter’s first birthday. To make things even more fun, she wanted the cake covered in an ice blue fondant with a giant penguin on top! Her daughter LOVES big, stuffed animals and penguins are her favorite so it made the perfect centerpiece. This was one of the most challenging projects I’ve worked on, as it was my first butter pecan cake and I’m just starting to learn how to make 3D characters.
I began by researching butter pecan cakes in my cookbooks and online, but was very disappointed by the lack of info. Even Southern Living had the same recipe as
Allrecipes.com. Reviewers on All Recipes criticized the recipe for creating a cake that was dry and heavy. To fix this problem, some bakers reduced the flour while others added sour cream. I decided to reduce the flour and add cornstarch to make a cake flour (see note below) to create a lighter cake. I also used some sour cream to add moistness.
The recipe instructed you to toast the pecans with the butter in a pan. I am not sure if my pan was too small but I ended up burning the pecans. I decided to take a few extra steps and do it all separately. I toasted the pecans in the oven first and then browned the butter in a pan by itself to give it a nutty flavor. Next, I mixed the butter with the pecans off the heat. This was a few more steps but it worked perfectly and I think the brown butter added some extra depth in flavor. The end result was great and I received a happy approval from a real Southerner!
This cake would be perfect for a dinner party if it was made into a simple bundt cake and drizzled with caramel (you may see this on the holiday 2012 menu :). Since this was a birthday party, it was made into a layer cake with a rich caramel buttercream. I simply added the caramel sauce to my go-to swiss buttercream was thrilled with the fabulous results!
Creating the penguin was great fun! The internet is full of instructions for building small penguins but I was on my own building the perfect large penguin. My first try was with all fondant, but the base was too large and the body kept shrinking lower until it looked like a VERY fat penguin:) I decided to next try making her out of Rice Krispies, as I had successfully done for my Thomas the Train topper. I recently learned a trick from a TV cake show suggesting you cover the Rice Krispies with buttercream BEFORE putting the fondant on to make it smoother. It definitely worked! It was slightly harder to handle but came out smoother than the truck had. After I figured out her body, the rest was fairly simple and I loved the way she came out:)
1 1/4 cups butter
2 cups chopped pecans
2 1/2 cups sifted all-purpose flour
1/4 cup corn starch
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 cups white sugar
4 eggs
1 cup milk
1/4 cup sour cream
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
Directions
- Grease two 8 or 9 inch round pans and line them with parchment paper. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
- Spread pecans on a parchment lined baking sheet and toast the pecans for 10 minutes, let cool and chop finely in food processor.
- Melt 1/4 cup butter in heavy skillet over medium heat and cook until it starts turning a light brown color and spelling nutty. Watch closely because the butter can burn fast. Add the pecans to the butter and fold them together. Make sure the pecans are fully coated with butter
- Sift flour with baking powder and salt into a bowl.
- Cream the remaining butter (1 cup) with the sugar in your mixer with the paddle attachment. Beat at medium speed until light and fluffy (3-5 mins).
- At medium speed blend in eggs, one at a time, beating well after each.
- At low speed add sifted dry ingredients alternately with milk and vanilla extract.
- Stir in the buttered pecans and make sure to fully incorporate.
- Bake for 20 to 25 minutes, until cake springs back when lightly touched in center.
- Let cool 10 minutes and then flip your cakes onto parchment paper to cool
- To assemble your cake start with leveling your layers. Place each layer on a cake stand and cut off the domed top of the cake with a serrated knife. (I recently bought these rings and they are my life saver).
- Next place the first layer (flat side down) on your cake stand and fill with a layer of buttercream (about 1/4 cup - it is really personal preference).
- Next place your second layer on top with the flat side up
- Cover the entire cake with a thin layer of your buttercream and place in the refrigerator for 20 minutes (this is what is called the crumb coat, it does not have to be perfect it just holds in the crumbs that form from leveling the cake and creates a base to cover the cake.
- After the 20 minutes are finished you finish frosting your cake with your desired look
Caramel Swiss Buttercream
4 large egg whites
1 cup of sugar
2 1/2 sticks of butter (20 tablespoons)
1/2 tablespoon vanilla extract
1 cup caramel sauce
- Whisk egg whites and sugar together in a large glass bowl over a pot of simmering water.
- Whisk occasionally until you cannot feel the sugar granules when you rub the mixture between your fingers.
- Transfer the mixture into the your mixer and whip until it turns white and about doubles in size (10 minutes). Make sure no water gets into the egg whites!
- Add the vanilla
- Turn the mixer down slightly and add the butter in small pieces on a medium to high speed, work quickly and continue to whip. Once all the butter is in turn the speed up to high and continue to whip until it comes together. THe mixture will curdle first but do not stop, continue to whip and I promise it will come together (could take up to 10 minutes)!
- Once it is all together, add the caramel and blend until fully incorporated.
Note:
To make cake flour you can replace two tablespoons of flour with cornstarch for every cup of flour.
Monday, February 27, 2012 at 1:57PM 
