Bourbon Street Praline Cake

I wanted to do something really yummy and really unique for Mads' birthday cake this year! Especially since I am throwing him a "Mardi Gras" themed Cajun Birthday party.... so I poked around the websites of some of my favorite cooks, and used some of their ideas to create my own version of what I am calling the "Bourbon St. Praline Cake".

I made a trial run of this cake a couple of weeks ago for Mads to try..he LOVED it. In fact, he took some of it to the office and 2 of the ladies said it was (and I quote), "the best cake I have ever eaten"! It's not the kind of cake you can eat once a week... but it is definitely something you want to experience at least once!

Ingredients:

• 2 sticks of butter
• 2 cups of sugar
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1/2 cup baker's cocoa
• 1/2 cup of water
• 1/2 cup of bourbon
• 1/2 cup of buttermilk
• 2 eggs
• 2 cups of flour
• 2 tsp baking soda
• 1/2 tsp salt

Grease a Bundt pan and preheat the oven to 350. In a small saucepan heat the butter, cocoa and water, stirring constantly until the butter melts and the cocoa is well-blended. Remove from heat and while it is cooling, add the following ingredients to a large bowl: buttermilk, bourbon, eggs, baking soda, and vanilla. Add the cooled butter/cocoa mixture and mix until well-blended. Add the sugar and mix well. Then gradually add the rest of the dry ingredients, mixing as you go.

Pour into the greased Bundt pan and bake 25 minutes (or until an inserted toothpick is clean). Cool completely on a wire wrack and then remove from pan.

Once the cake is cooled, you are ready to make your Praline Frosting.

Ingredients:

• 1/2 stick of butter
• 1 cup of brown sugar
• 1/2 cup of cream
• 1 1/2 cups of powdered sugar
• 1 tsp of vanilla extract
• 1 1/2 cups of chopped pecans

Place the first three items in a saucepan and bring to a boil, stirring often. Remove from heat and add the vanilla and powdered sugar. Beat until smooth. Stir in pecans and stir for about 2 minutes--be careful that it does not harden too quickly. As soon as your pecans are blended in, you are ready to frost the cake.