High Altitude One Layer Eggnog Pecan Cake
A high altitude recipe for a moist, one layer eggnog pecan cake, with nutty chopped pecans and lots of eggnog in the cake batter, and frosted with sweet eggnog icing.
All recipes on Curly Girl Kitchen are developed for high altitude at 5,280 feet. See FAQs for adjusting to higher or lower elevations.
Ingredients
Cake
- ¾ cup unsalted butter
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- 2 large eggs, room temperature
- 1 ¼ cups eggnog, room temperature
- 1 ½ cups all-purpose flour, fluffed, spooned and leveled
- ½ tsp coarse Kosher salt (if using table salt, use half the amount)
- ¾ tsp baking powder
- ¼ tsp ground cardamom
- ¼ tsp ground nutmeg
- ½ cup pecans, very finely chopped
Icing
- 1 ½ cups powdered sugar
- 1 ½ tbsp meringue powder
- 4-5 tbsp eggnog
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 2 tbsp chopped pecans
- 16 pecan halves
Instructions
Cake
- Preheat the oven to 350 F, and position a rack in the center of the oven. Line a 9-inch square baking dish with parchment paper, or spray it with non-stick baking spray.
- In a saucepan, melt the butter over medium heat. Continue to cook the butter until nutty, golden brown milk solids form at the bottom of the pan. This process might take about 10 minutes. First the butter will hiss and splatter as the water evaporates, then as it quiets down, a layer of foam will form on top of the butter. This means the butter is done. Immediately remove from the heat, and scrape the butter, including the brown milk solids, into a large bowl. Let cool for 10 minutes.
- In a bowl, whisk together the cooled brown butter with the granulated sugar, eggs and eggnog, until combined.
- In a separate bowl, sift together the flour, salt, baking powder, cardamom and nutmeg. Add the dry ingredients and the chopped pecans to the wet ingredients, and whisk just until combined and moistened.
- Pour the batter into the prepared pan, and bake for about 32-35 minutes, until the top springs back when gently touched, or a toothpick or cake tester comes out clean. Set the pan on a cooling rack, covered with a clean kitchen towel, and let cool for several hours. The cake will initially be puffed in the middle, but it will settle and flatten a bit as it cools.
- This cake will have a golden brown crust around the edges, very much like a pound cake, and it's absolutely delicious. If you prefer, you can trim off the dark edge before serving.
Icing
- In a bowl, whisk together the powdered sugar and meringue powder. Stir in the eggnog and vanilla until thick and smooth.
- Spread the icing over the cake while it's still slightly warm. Before the icing sets, sprinkle with the chopped pecans. You can also sprinkle it with a little freshly grated nutmeg, and flaky finishing salt.Once the cake is completely cooled, cut the cake into 16 squares (for small servings) or 9 squares for large servings. If you like, top each square of cake with a pecan half.Note: If you cut the cake while the icing is soft, it will drip over the edges of each piece of cake, as shown in today's photos. If you wait for the icing to fully set (about an hour), it will slice cleanly.
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