Ingredients
1 pecan sponge cake:
1/2 cup pecan pieces
1/4 cup all-purpose flour
8 egg yolks, room temperature
1/4 cup sugar
6 egg whites, room temperature
1/3 cup sugar
1/4 cup butter, melted
1 syrup:
3/4 cup sugar
1/2 cup water
2 tsp praline liqueur
1 pecan crust:
1 cup pecan pieces
1 cup pastry flour
1 cup butter, room temperature
1/2 cup light brown sugar, firmly p cked
1 egg, room temperature
1 praline panache:
1 cup whipping cream
12 oz bittersweet or semi-sweet ch colate, , coarsely chop
2 tsp praline liqueur
1 buttercream:
1 3/4 cup butter, room temperature
1/4 cup powdered sugar, sifted
1 tsp solid vegetable shortening
2 tsp praline liqueur
1/2 cup egg whites
1 cup sugar
Directions
For cake: Preheat over to 375 degrees. Grease 9" round cake pan; line
with parchment. Finely grind pecans with flour in food processor
using on/off turns. Using electric mixer, beat yolks with 1/4 cup
sugar until slowly dissolving ribbons form when beaters are lifted.
Using clean dry beaters, beat whites with 1/3 cup sugar until soft
peaks form. Fold half of whites into yolk mixture. Fold in pecans.
Fold in remaining whites. Fold 3/4 cup batter into butter. Fold back
into batter. Pour into prepared pan. Bake until cake is springy to
touch, about 25 minutes. Cool 10 minutes in pan. Invert cake onto
rack and cool completely. Wrap tightly. Refrigerate at least 2 hours.
For Syrup: Cook sugar and water in heavy sauce pan until sugar
dissolves, swirling pan occasionally. Bring to boil. Cool. Stir in
liqueur. For Crust: Finely grind pecans with flour in processor.
Using electric mixer, beat butter with sugar until light and fluffy.
Beat in egg. Gently fold in pecan mixture. Gather into ball. Wrap in
plastic. Refrigerate at least 3 hours. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Butter baking sheet. Roll dough out on lightly floured surface to
thickness of 1/8". Cut out one 9" round. Using cactus or leaf shaped
cutter, cut out cookies from remaining dough. Transfer to prepared
sheet. Pierce round. Bake until golden, 20 minutes for round and 10
minutes for cookies. For Panache: Bring cream to boil in heavy
saucepan. Remove from heat. Add chocolate and stir until melted and
smooth. Blend in liqueur. Cool to room temperature. For Buttercream:
Using electric mixer, beat butter, powdered sugar, shortening and
liqueur until light and fluffy. Heat whites and sugar in double
boiler over gently simmering water until sugar dissolves and candy
thermometer registers 100 degrees. Remove from over water. Using
clean dry beaters, beat until whites are stiff but not dry. Blend
whites into butter mixture. To Assemble: Split cake into 3 layers.
Set pecan crust on platter. Using spatula, beat panache until
slightly thickened. Spread 1/4 onto crust. Top with 1 cake layer.
Brush with syrup. Cover with about 3/4 cup buttercream. Top with
second cake layer. Brush with syrup. Spread with 1/4 of panache. Top
with third layer. Brush with syrup. Spread with 1/4 of panache. Frost
top and sides of cake with remaining buttercream. Spoon remaining 1/4
of panache into pastry bag fitted with star tip. Pipe 12 rosettes
around edge of cake. Top each with cookie. Serve at room temperature.
Servings: 10 servings
Praline Pecan Cake Recipe brought to you by Recipe Ideas
Categories: Cake; Candy; Dessert; Nut; Pecan
The History of Recipes
Transcribed cooking instructions as a concept can be tracked back into the far past, certainly as far back as pharonic Egypt, and possibly even further than that. Interesting though that maybe, in the main part, these old records were just simple hieroglyphic instructions for preparing food.
In an interesting twist, the oldest recipe in existence, according to experts are a few tablets in ancient Sumerian which describe the making of bread which is then used to make a drink, quite possibly a form of beer as it is recorded as making people feel exhilarated and blissful. Later on, in The time of the romans 25BC a man called Apicius created a few documents describing recipes cooked by wealthy Romans. In his scrolls, he tells us how the meals of wealthy Romans were separated into appetizers, main course and dessert, something that is very familiar to us today. Aspicius describes how the Roman chefs used many spices and herbs, including a few that are still present in modern kitchens such as bay, mint and parsley. Over the succeeding few centuries, the rich families of Wesstern Europe competed with each other to serve the most extravagent meals, and as a consequence, cooks and their collection of recipes became highly prized. Even so, it was during the nineteenth century that haute cuisine and recipe publications really came of age. The Famous Mrs Beeton in the UK, and the equally famous Fannie Merritt Farmer in the US, dedicated their lives to collating, testing, and recording the recipes that were being prepared for the better households. The TV revolution brings us cooking programs and the demand for the accompanying recipe books. And that pretty much brings us to the present day and the internet revolution, allowing us all to search through thousands of recipes like the ones you can find on this recipe site. |
We hope you enjoy this Praline Pecan Cake recipe.
