a rich butter pecan cake with cream cheese frosting (or a Southern-style pecan praline sheet cake). Here’s a full, from-scratch recipe you can follow:
🍰 Butter Pecan Sheet Cake (with Cream Cheese Frosting)
Ingredients
Cake:
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 ½ cups granulated sugar
- ½ cup brown sugar
- 1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter
- 1 cup buttermilk
- 4 large eggs
- 1 tbsp vanilla extract
- 1 tsp baking soda
- ½ tsp salt
- 1 ½ cups chopped pecans (toasted)
Cream Cheese Frosting:
- 8 oz cream cheese (softened)
- ½ cup (1 stick) butter (softened)
- 3–4 cups powdered sugar
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 2–4 tbsp milk (for consistency)
- 1 cup pecan halves (for topping)
Instructions
1. Prep
- Preheat oven to 350°F (175°C)
- Grease a 9×13-inch baking pan (foil pan works like in your image)
2. Toast Pecans
- Spread pecans on a baking sheet
- Toast at 350°F for 5–7 minutes until fragrant
- Let cool
3. Make the Cake Batter
- In a bowl, whisk flour, baking soda, and salt
- In another bowl, beat butter + sugars until fluffy
- Add eggs one at a time
- Mix in vanilla
- Alternate adding flour mixture and buttermilk
- Fold in toasted pecans
4. Bake
- Pour into pan
- Bake 30–35 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean
- Cool completely before frosting
Frosting
5. Make Cream Cheese Frosting
- Beat cream cheese + butter until smooth
- Add powdered sugar gradually
- Mix in vanilla
- Add milk to get a spreadable consistency
6. Frost & Finish
- Spread frosting over cooled cake
- Top with pecan halves
⭐ Optional (for that glossy look like your photo):
Pour a quick praline glaze over the frosting:
Praline Glaze:
- ½ cup butter
- 1 cup brown sugar
- ¼ cup milk
- 1 tsp vanilla
Heat until smooth, cool slightly, then pour over cake and add pecans.
Tips
- The swirled look comes from spreading frosting while slightly warm
- For extra flavor, brown the butter before mixing
- This cake gets even better the next day