After-Church Cake

Time :3 hours 30 minutes
Yield :12 servings

Recipe Background

After being a part of your community, it's good to share in something sweet and wholesome. That's the promise of After-Church Cake — a simple but gorgeous creamy glaze draped atop a golden, tender cake with a crunchy stripe of brown sugar-sweetened pecans in the center. So many textures, flavors, and joys to discover in this After-Church Cake. It's an experience best shared with others!
After being a part of your community, it's good to share in something sweet and wholesome. That's the promise of After-Church Cake — a simple but gorgeous creamy glaze draped atop a golden, tender cake with a crunchy stripe of brown sugar-sweetened pecans in the center. So many textures, flavors, and joys to discover in this After-Church Cake. It's an experience best shared with others!

Ingredients

  • baking spray with flour to taste
  • 2 sticks salted butter softened
  • 2 1/2 cups granulated sugar
  • 6 large eggs
  • 3 cups all-purpose flour
  • 1/4 teaspoon table salt
  • 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
  • 1 (8-ounce) container sour cream
  • 1 tablespoon plus 1 teaspoon vanilla extract divided
  • 1 cup pecans toasted and chopped, plus more, to taste, for garnish
  • 1/4 cup light brown sugar packed
  • 1 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
  • 2 1/2 cups powdered sugar
  • 3 tablespoons plus 1 teaspoon whole milk

Directions

  • Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F.
  • Using the baking spray with flour, coat a 14-16-cup fluted tube pan.
  • In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, add the butter and beat it on medium speed until creamy, about 2-3 minutes. Stop to scrape the sides and the bottom of the bowl, as needed.
  • With the mixer running on medium speed, gradually add the granulated sugar and beat until light and fluffy, about 3-5 minutes. Stop to scrape the sides and the bottom of the bowl, as needed.
  • Add the eggs, 1 at a time, to the butter mixture and beat after each addition until just combined.
  • In a medium mixing bowl, add the flour, the salt, and the baking soda and whisk to combine.
  • Reduce the mixing speed to low and add the flour mixture and the sour cream to the butter mixture in thirds and alternating between the two, beginning and ending with the flour, and beat until just combined after each addition.
  • Add 1 tablespoon of the vanilla to the batter and beat gently to combine.
  • In the prepared fluted tube pan, add 1/2 of the batter.
  • In a small bowl, add 1 cup of the pecans, the brown sugar, and the cinnamon and stir to combine.
  • Sprinkle the pecan mixture over the batter layer in the prepared tube pan.
  • Spoon the remaining batter over the pecan mixture, carefully spreading it into an even layer.
  • Bake until a long wooden pick inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean, about 1 hour-1 hour 15 minutes.
  • Allow the cake to cool in the pan on a wire rack for 15 minutes.
  • Transfer the cake from the pan and allow it to cool on the wire rack until completely cool, about 2 hours.
  • In a medium bowl, add the powdered sugar, the milk, and the remaining vanilla and whisk until smooth.
  • Spoon the glaze over the cooled cake.
  • Garnish with the extra pecans.
  • Slice and serve.
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