As I was on my own and we had friends coming over to play games I thought I would try something for a finer palate than the chocolate marshmallow disaster from last week: Orange Bonbon Cake. It was definitly fancy looking but not very yummy (maybe my palate is not as fine as I imagined). I'm starting to think the people who created boxed cakes knew what they were doing and that we'd better head towards the pie, cheesecake, and cookie sections of this book. I didn't want to post however without leaving a great recipe behind, so here is a pecan-caramel cake that is very easy and always gets high marks. When finished it looks very similar to the layered cake below, but tastes much better!
1 box vanilla cake mix
3 eggs
1/3 cup vegetable oil
3/4 cup finely chopped pecans
20 soft caramel candies
1/2 cup heavy cream
Frosting:
1 pkg. cream cheese,softened
1/2 cup unsalted butter,softened
1 box confectioners sugar (powdered)
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup coarsely chopped pecans
Heat oven to 350 degrees. Coat two 9 inch cake pans with nonstick cooking spray. Prepare cake following package directions using the eggs, 1 1/4 cups water and oil. Stir in the finely chopped pecans. Bake at 350 for 25 to 29 minutes until cakes are brown. Turn out, cool completely. While cakes are cooling, melt caramels and cream in a saucepan over medium-high heat about 5 minutes, stirring constantly, until smooth. Let cool slightly. Using the end of a wooden spoon, poke 12 holes randomly in each layer. Pour sauce evenly over both layers and let stand for 1 hour. For frosting, beat cream cheese, butter, confectioners sugar and vanilla until smooth. Place one layer on a serving plate; frost the top with about 1 cup frosting. Lay down second layer and frost top and side with remaining frosting. Press coarsely chopped pecans onto side of cake. Refrigerate 1 hour before serving and keep in refrigerater at all times.
