A beautiful brown butter pound cake that’s packed with pecans and made extra delicious with a brown butter caramel sauce drizzled all over!
Every time I bake or eat cake, I think of the amazing Julia Child’s quote “A party without cake is just a meeting.” So very true!
This cake I’m sharing with you today is party perfect! Just baking it makes me want to invite all my friends and family over to enjoy it with me.
It all starts with butter that’s browned to that irresistible nutty flavor. Combined with chopped pecans and baked into a dense moist cake that’s then drizzled with a brown butter caramel sauce. You’ll think you’ve died and gone to Heaven when you taste how delicious this cake is!
This cake is simple to make and obviously sweet to eat…
The extra effort it takes to brown the butter for both the cake and the sauce, is so worth it not only for the deliciousness of the cake but also the smell that will fill your home. It’s hard to beat the aroma that butter gives off as it’s browning. Incredible and intoxicating!
Whether it’s the upcoming Holidays, a special celebration or just a Sunday family gathering, this cake is party perfect!
Enjoy!
~Maegan
This recipe was created as part of my partnership with Gold Medal Flour however thoughts and opinions are certainly my own!
- Cake:
- 1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened
- 3 cups granulated sugar
- 6 large eggs
- 1 cup heavy cream
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- 3 cups Gold Medal™ all-purpose flour
- ½ teaspoon baking powder
- 2 cups chopped pecans
- Brown Butter Caramel Sauce:
- ½ cup (1 stick) unsalted butter
- 1 cup sugar
- ⅓ cup heavy cream
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- Preheat oven to 350°F. Lightly grease and flour a round tube pan and set aside.
- To make the cake:
- Place the butter in a light-colored pan over medium heat and whisk constantly as it melts. The butter will start to bubble and foam and then subside as the water evaporates and the milk solids start to turn a light brown color. Just as it starts to turn light brown and you smell that nutty aroma, remove it from the heat to let cool for about 10 minutes. (Once the butter starts to brown, it will race into burnt, so watch it carefully and remove from the heat as soon as it starts to brown.)
- In the bowl of an electric mixer, beat the brown butter and sugar until smooth. Beat in the eggs, one at a time, until well combined. Stir in the heavy cream and vanilla. Add the flour and baking powder and beat until just combined. Stir in the chopped pecans.
- Pour the batter into the prepared tube pan. Bake for 75-90 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the cake comes out clean. Let cake cool in pan for 20 minutes before inverting onto a wire rack to cool completely.
- To make the sauce, brown the butter the same way you did the butter for the cake. Once butter is browned, whisk in the sugar, heavy cream and vanilla. Let simmer over medium-low heat for about 5 minutes and then pour into a bowl to cool completely. The sauce will thicken as it cools.
- Once cake is cooled, place it on a serving plate or stand and pour half of the sauce over the top of it, letting it drizzle down the sides. Reserve the remaining sauce to drizzle over individual slices.
This is the BEST. If you ask me, brown butter, pecans, and caramel are some of the finest flavors in the world. And since it’s a bundt shape, for some reason it feels breakfast appropriate for me 🙂
When I make the Brown Butter Caramel Sauce, it comes out really thick and hardens. What am I doing wrong? I added more heavy cream the second time and it came out much better.
Hi Carissa! Does it harden immediately or over time? It will harden over time, but it takes a while. I usually pour it over the cake initially as a glaze and then serve some on the side. You could reheat it over low heat on the stove or in the microwave to thin it out or add more heavy cream, as you did. Hope this helps! Enjoy!
Girllllll…..I tried this cake last night at a church gathering, and it was thee best tasting cake I’ve ever had!!! I had to Google the recipe, so glad I found you—- I am making this cake! <3
Hi Kristina! I love hearing that! So happy someone made it and that you now have the recipe too! Enjoy! 🙂
Hi! I gotta tell you I tried this recipe (so delicious!) but I did 2 things to bump it up! I used some golden brown sugar for half the sugar & I made 2 batches of the caramel sauce. I swirled some all through the cake in the beginning (letting it cool quite a bit before swirling it through) & I also toasted extra pecans & mixed them into the remaining sauce covering the cake it made kind of a sticky toffee cake! I always cook my sugar first then add my browned butter mixed with my warmed heavy cream when my sugar has turned a golden color so my sugar isn’t shocked. Then I let it bubble away for a couple of minutes to thicken up and remove from heat & add my vanilla. It’s a great recipe and really the smells alone are worth it!