Thursday, February 25, 2010

Toasted Butter Pecan Cake

Here's a picture from half a century ago; my 12th birthday party. That's me in the front. This is what we girls used to do all the time. We'd put on 45 rpm records and dance in my cellar. I got a card today from the girl in the red headband. In fact, I got cards from all four of my best childhood friends. I feel blessed that we are still in touch and still friends after lo, these many years.




For my 62nd birthday cake today, we had an old favorite, from my mother's cookbook.




Toasted Butter Pecan Cake

Dot 3 Tablespoons butter over 1 1/3 cups chopped pecans in shallow pan. Toast (bake) in 350º oven for about 15 minutes, stirring occasionally. Put aside.

Cream 2/3 cup soft butter.
Add 1 1/3 cups sugar.
Add 1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla.
Add 2 eggs.
Mix well.

Sift together:
2 cups flour
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt

Add to creamed mixture alternately with with 2/3 cup milk.
Fold in 1 cup of the toasted pecans.

Bake in 9x13 pan in preheated 350º oven for 30-35 minutes or until cake tests done.

For the frosting, mix together:
3 Tablespoons soft butter
3 cups sifted confectioners' sugar
3/4 teaspoon vanilla
and enough milk to make it smooth.
Stir in remaining toasted pecans.

You may use two round cake pans or 24 cupcake cups instead of the 9x13 pan, if you wish.

This is delicious! You may notice I forgot to put the pecans in the frosting, but when I remembered, I just poured them over the top. Worked just fine. :<)



41 comments:

  1. I raise my cup of tea to you!!
    Happy Birthday!
    Have a wonderful night!

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  2. Looks yummy! And....a very happy birthday to you!!!

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  3. What an adorable photograph, and yummy-looking dessert&hearts

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  4. Happy Birthday Nan. I would have another birthday if I could have a cake like this. It looks delicious. I hope you had a good day.

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  5. Happy birthday, Nan! I hope the day has been fantastically enjoyable, filled with people and things you like best.

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  6. Well. Happy Birthday to you! I loved that picture of you dancing the basement. Nice basement, too. (Ours has a dirt floor and looks like something desgined by Hannibal Lecter). I was going to say it is amazing that you have kept up with friends for 50 years but having read your blog for a couple years now I am not really surprised. (You are obviously a very nice friend to have and to hold). Many happy returns.

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  7. Happy Birthday Nan!!! You are a very special person and I hope you had a lovely day!!!

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  8. Oh! That is my favorite cake. My mom always made this recipe for my birthday every year. Except, at my request, she made cream cheese frosting with toasted pecans. Yum! I wish I had a slab of it right now!

    Happy Birthday!

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  9. Happy Birthday Nan. It is so great you are still in touch with old friends.

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  10. Happy Birthday Nan!!!

    I loved that photo!!!! I hope your day was great and you enjoyed that luscious cake!!

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  11. Happy Birthday Nan! I hope you had a fantastic day. That cake sure looks delicious. :)

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  12. YUM!!!!

    And I love my high school girlfriends who are still very much in my life too.

    Happy day!

    Sharon Lovejoy Writes from Sunflower House and a Little Green Island

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  13. Happy Birthday Nan! Sounds like you had a delicious cake to celebrate and I hope you have/had a wonderful day. How lovely that you're still in touch with all those old friends - it's quite rare these days to have friendships last so long. I hope I will be so lucky to have my dearest childhood friends around me on my 62nd birthday!

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  14. Happy, Happy Birthday, Nan!! I'll bet you had a lot of good times in that cellar over the years - it's wonderful that you are still in contact with those old friends. Hope you enjoyed the cake!

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  15. Happy Belated Birthday. That cake looks yummy and I wish I had a piece to go with breakfast! Wait a minute, I meant 'for breakfast'. Enjoy the coming year.

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  16. Happy happy Birthday!!!! What a sweet picture from way back when - we did the very same thing.

    The cake looks yummy - I'm starring your recipe.

    Happy Weekend!

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  17. Thanks to each of you for your wonderful words! They mean so much to me.

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  18. Happy, happy Birthday you lovely lady! Your cake looks delish.

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  19. Nan, hope you had a lovely birthday, and your celebrations weren't affected by the storm!

    Belated congratulations on marking another year in your remarkable life.

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  20. HAPPY BIRTHDAY, NAN!!!! I made a copy of that recipe.

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  21. Thank you, Tara, Margaret, and Gigi! Margaret we didn't get a storm! Just wind. But didn't lose power. We've had sunshine most every day. Hardly any snow since early January. Amazing.

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  22. Happy Birthday, Nan! I hope you had a lovely day!

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  23. Happy Birthday, Nan! Love the photo - how great that you still know your old gal pals - and the cake looks a lot yummier than the scary thing I made my son last night (will post later in week after he sees it). Enjoy the snow, the day, the celebration, the year!

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  24. Nan,

    Happy birthday one day late.

    I stopped by too early yesterday. But I hope the day was grand -- how I love the idea that you keep up with four childhood friends. What a treasure. Thanks for sharing your birthday cake recipe -- making something for yourself out of your mother's cookbook connects the day with birthdays past.


    Janell

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  25. Happy Birthday. That cake sounds delicious! I've been meaning to tell you that I am deep in the Irish Doctor/Village books. LOVE THEM and now I want to move to the British Isles :)

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  26. This sounded soooo good I ran into the kitchen and whipped it up. I made a cream cheese frosting.

    Hubby said, "Man, this is really good! You've never made this before; I would remember this!"

    So we're celebrating with you ~ thanks so much for sharing. You're a peach!

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  27. Belated birthday greetings from a chilly (but not snowy) Devon, England!
    Margaret P

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  28. A toast to you!

    I hope you had a wonderful Birthday and celebration!

    Happy, Happy Birthday!

    The photo was wonderful In Jr.High we were taught to dance the box step and boys taught the "appropriate" way to dance with a girl. We learned fox trot and waltz - even though they were not the dances of the day.

    With the wealth of music we grew up, it is true that while boys did the do-wopping - the girls did the dancing - often in rollers or pin curls.

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  29. Happy birthday! What sweet memories -- including the cake! Karen

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  30. That cake looks and sounds wonderful. I hope your birthday was a happy one.

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  31. And I continue to say thank you for all your nice words. I can't tell you how much I appreciate you all taking the time to write. Janell, I liked that about the connections. And Mindy, I'm thrilled you already made the cake! And what a great thing your fella said! Linda, I never did those formal dance classes. Tom did, though. Sarah, so very glad you're liking the books.

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  32. Kristi, this will probably be the last cake on the blog for a while, but oh, was it good!

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  33. Nan, a very happy, albeit belated, birthday to you! May your new year be filled with joy and peace, many books and visits with friends. The picture made me smile; I so remember the 60's like that! They were good days, were they not? As are these...

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  34. The recipe looks just too good not to try! A glass of milk with a slice of this would be pure yum!

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  35. Happy Birthday.
    Love that picture of you and your friends dancing.. and that rec room. Well that's what we called them'back then.'
    Yes how very special you are friends with your friends from the past...
    The cake I will surely make as we love pecans in this house.

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  36. Belated Happy Birthday. Love the photo.

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  37. Bellezza, definitely more innocent days. We stayed younger longer.

    Under the Willow, it's a great cake!

    Mim, I think 'rec room' was a more suburban term. In our rural area, it was just a cellar, and in fact, I was the only one I knew who had a finished one except for my cousins.

    Thanks Jodi!

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  38. Belated "Happy Birthday". The cake looks delicious. You brought back memories with the dancing.
    We use to do that in our basement recreation room. I miss dancing.
    Guess I could dance away in this small great room and dream.

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  39. Of course you could dance there! I dance around the kitchen alone all the time. :<) And I'm quite sure you would love this cake.

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