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This Pecan Pie Layer Cake is made with moist layers of brown sugar cinnamon cake, homemade pecan pie filling and cinnamon frosting! It’s tastes like eating pecan pie, except you’re eating a delicious cake!
This post is sponsored by Challenge Dairy, but all opinions are my own.
Pecan Pie Meets Layer Cake
Pecan Pie Meets Layer CakeNow that Halloween has come and gone, it’s time to move on to the next holiday – Thanksgiving! The one problem is that I still have plenty of candy sitting in our kitchen. Our house sits at the top of a bit of a hill, so not as many kids come up to our house. Yet I still always get plenty of candy just in case. I just can’t help it.
This year I made the mistake of getting candy that I actually really like. With so many leftovers, I need to get rid of them quickly, otherwise I might eat it all myself! And that’s not good because I need to keep plenty of room for all the other holiday treats that will be coming in the next couple months. After all Thanksgiving is one of the best food holidays of the year!
So I’m kicking off the mad dash to Thanksgiving with this cake. It’s a fun twist on one of the classic pies. If you’re looking for a way to switch up your favorite pie, this cake is for you!
How to Make Pecan Pie Layer Cake
To start, there’s the pecan pie filling. It’s basically a straight pecan pie filling but it’s cooked over the stove, so it really is like eating pecan pie. The eggs serve as the thickener while the flavor is all about that dark brown sugar and pecans. You could use light brown sugar, but I definitely prefer the deeper flavor of the dark brown sugar.
The cake layers are a brown sugar and cinnamon spin on one of my favorite cakes. It’s wonderfully moist and fluffy! Just be sure to not skimp on the creaming of the butter and sugar. It adds air to the batter that helps give it the fluffiness that it needs. Speaking of the butter, I use Challenge butter. Challenge butter is 100% real cream and farm to fridge in two days. It really is so creamy! I always love that when I soften it to room temperature to bake with, I can really tell just how creamy it is and it stays that way, unlike other brands. Makes a wonderful cake! Find where to buy it using Challenge Dairy’s store locator.
And finally the cake is frosted with a cinnamon buttercream frosting. It finishes off the cake perfectly! The final combination is a wonderful twist on the pecan pie! The moist fluffy cake with the pecan pie filling and cinnamon frosting is a wonderful combination! I do recommend cutting the cake at room temperature. It will be a little easier to cut through the sticky filling.
This cake was a big hit for us, so I hope it’s a big hit for you as well!
Watch How To Make It
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Pecan Pie Layer Cake
- Prep Time: 2 hours
- Cook Time: 23 minutes
- Total Time: 2 hours 23 minutes
- Yield: 12-14 Servings
- Category: Dessert
- Method: Oven
- Cuisine: American
Description
This Pecan Pie Layer Cake is made with moist layers of brown sugar cinnamon cake, homemade pecan pie filling and cinnamon frosting! It’s tastes like eating pecan pie, except you’re eating a delicious cake!
Ingredients
PECAN PIE FILLING
- 3 large eggs
- 3/4 cup dark corn syrup
- 3/4 cup (108g) dark brown sugar
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 1/4 cup Challenge unsalted butter, cubed
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 2 cups (200g) chopped pecans
CAKE LAYERS
- 3/4 cup (168g) Challenge unsalted butter, room temperature
- 1 1/2 cups (225g) packed light brown sugar
- 1/2 cup (104g) sugar
- 3/4 cup (173g) sour cream, room temperature
- 2 tsp vanilla extract
- 6 large egg whites, room temperature
- 2 1/2 cups (325g) all purpose flour
- 4 tsp baking powder
- 1 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
- ½ tsp salt
- 3/4 cup (180ml) milk, room temperature
- 1/4 cup (60ml) water, room temperature
FROSTING
- 1 1/4 cup (280g) Challenge salted butter, room temperature
- 1 1/4 cups (237g) shortening
- 10 cups (1150g) powdered sugar
- 1 tbsp vanilla extract
- 1 tsp ground cinnamon
- 5–6 tbsp (75-90ml) water or milk
- Additional pecan halves, for decorating
Instructions
1. To make the pecan pie filling, combine all ingredients except the pecans in a saucepan. Heat over medium until it begins to boil, stirring constantly.
2. Add the pecans and allow to boil for 30 seconds.
3. Remove mixture from the heat and refrigerate until cool and thickened.
TO MAKE THE CAKE LAYERS:
4. To make the cake layers, prepare three 8-inch cake pans with parchment paper circles in the bottom and grease the sides. Preheat oven to 350°F (176°C).
5. In a large mixing bowl, cream the butter and sugars together until light in color and fluffy, about 3-4 minutes. Do not skimp on the creaming time.
6. Add sour cream and vanilla extract and mix until well combined.
7. Add egg whites in two batches, mixing until well combined after each. Scrape down the sides of the bowl as needed to be sure all ingredients are well incorporated.
8. Combine the dry ingredients in a separate bowl, then combine the milk and water in a small measuring cup.
9. Add half of the dry ingredients to the batter and mix until well combined. Add the milk mixture and mix until well combined. Add remaining dry ingredients and mix until well combined. Scrape down the sides of the bowl as needed to be sure all ingredients are well incorporated.
10. Divide the batter evenly between the cakes pans and bake for about 21-23 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out with a few crumbs.
11. Remove the cakes from the oven and allow to cool for about 2-3 minutes, then remove to cooling racks to cool completely.
TO MAKE THE FROSTING AND ASSEMBLE CAKE:
12. To make the frosting, combine the butter and shortening in a large mixer bowl until smooth.
13. Add about half of the powdered sugar and mix until well combined.
14. Add the vanilla extract, cinnamon and 3-4 tablespoons of water or milk mix until well combined and smooth.
15. Add the remaining powdered sugar and mix until combined.
16. Add additional water or milk as needed to get the right consistency and mix until well combined and smooth.
17. To assemble the cake, use a large serrated knife to remove the domes from the top of the cakes.
18. Place the first layer of cake on a serving plate or a cardboard cake round. Pipe a dam of frosting around the outside of the cake. I use Ateco tip 808 for the dam so that it’s tall.
19. Spread about 1/3 of the pecan pie filling evenly on top of the cake layer, inside the dam, then smooth out the dam of frosting so that it’s all even.
20. Add the second layer of cake and repeat the dam and pecan pie filling.
21. Add the final layer of cake on top, then smooth out the frosting around the sides of the cake.
22. Frost the outside of the cake. Feel free to use my tutorial for frosting a smooth cake.
23. Finish off the cake by piping a border around the top edge of the cake and filling it in with the remaining pecan pie filling. Press pecan halves into the sides of the cake.
24. Refrigerate cake until ready to serve. Cake is best for 2-3 days and best served at room tempe
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1 Slice
- Calories: 1156
- Sugar: 122.9 g
- Sodium: 390.8 mg
- Fat: 62.6 g
- Carbohydrates: 145.8 g
- Protein: 9.6 g
- Cholesterol: 116.4 mg
Categories
Enjoy!
When you say ” Divide the batter evenly between the cakes pans and bake for about 21-23 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out with a few crumbs.”
Maybe this is a silly question, but I’ve never made a cake before. How do you ensure the batter is divided evenly? Is it best to eyeball it? Or should it be weighed on a food scale?
Eyeballing it would be ok, but not as accurate. I tend to use a food scale to weigh them, but you could also measure it out with measuring scoops. The main thing here is to try to get layers that are going to be about the same height. It’ll look better in your cake and they’ll bake more evenly and should be done baking at the same time. I hope that helps!
What tip did you use to make the border?
Ateco 844 tip
Hi I’m baking this scrumptious cake for my sons first birthday and I want to have 4 or more layers using a 10 3/4” pan. Also I’ll make a 8” for the top. Enough to feed 30 people. Should I double the recipe in this case? Also how many pans can I place in my oven at a time. I’m using a regular home oven nothing fancy. Thank you so much for your time and delicious recipe
I haven’t ever made this cake in that size, but I think doubling it would probably be fine. As for how many pans you can make it once, I wouldn’t try to squeeze too many in there. The best place to bake a cake is in the center of the oven so if you start putting cakes towards the top and bottom they may not bake as well. I often bake three cake pans at a time. Two in the middle and one on bottom. The one on the bottom does bake slightly differently but not so much that it bothers me. I probably wouldn’t suggest doing more layers at one time though. Especially in the larger size.
The cake is delicious – thank you for the recipe. I’d love to make it again but it is very soft and crumbly, hard to cut and collapsing. What did I do wrong?
It’s hard to say if you necessarily did anything “wrong”. What do you mean by crumbly? Like, the cake has a lot of crumbs? As for being hard to cut – was it cold when you tried to cut it? Because the filling will be firmer when cold, it’s best to cut it at room temperature. And for collapsing – is that due to cutting? Or is it lopsided or something? If it’s more of a lopsided issue, it might be that the dam of frosting that is holding in the filling isn’t quite thick/firm enough. Check out my tutorial for how to fill and stack a layer cake for some help with that. I hope that helps!
Duh! Thanks 🙂
The frosting looks like it has some vanilla bean flecks. Did you add some vanilla bean in addition to the extract?
The flecks are from the ground cinnamon in the frosting.
Thx Lindsay, could I use the browned butter frosting on the pecan pie cake?
Definitely!
Does this cake have to be refrigerated?
It could sit out for a few hours but for storing you’d want to refrigerate.
Can you freeze the cake layers?
Yes, that should be fine. Just wrap them well in clear wrap and then foil and a Ziploc bag and then thaw in the fridge when ready.
Hi this cake looks divine!,I attempted to make and this was my first go at making cake mix from scratch,I used a hand mixer as well,I followed the instructions as such but when it came to adding and the sour cream and vanilla after blending it looked curdled I know sour cream tends to have that texture ,it just did not look like what was presented in the video,was wondering if I did something wrong or is it supposed to look like that ? Did I over mix or perhaps not enough before addding the sour cream.Would love some tips as I really love to bake and want continue improving.Thank You!
I would love to try this recipe again,I love your recipes ! Thanks! 😊
It probably was just the texture of the batter at that point. It’s fairly normal to have it look a little curdled at one point or another, often when adding the milk in the final few steps. Did the cake turn out alright?
I am SUPER stoked to try this and will be doing so this weekend!!
Made this for our Christmas dessert. Turned out great. I love making your cakes because they always look so pretty!! And taste delicious too, of course 🙂
Wonderful! So glad it was a hit! Thanks Louise!
Hi! I’m super excited to make this cake. Do you think it would work to replace the shortening with cream cheese?
That should be fine, the frosting just won’t be as stiff. You could replace it with additional butter.
Can this recipe be used as cupcakes?
It could be. You probably want to double the amount of filling for the number of cupcakes it’d make. I would suggest baking the cupcakes for roughly 15-17 minutes.
I made this cake a few weeks ago and as with all your cake recipes, I had FUN! Even after adjusting the recipe for high altitude, it turned out perfect. It was easy and so very delicious! I bake for my neighbors, so the large size is nice! Your tutorials are so helpful too. I’ve learned so much since discovering your wonderful blog!
Thank you!
Wonderful to hear! So glad you’ve enjoyed everything! Thanks Kaye!
Hi Lindsay! I am so excited to bake this cake! Most of my cake recipes can be baked, cooled, refrigerated, and then leveled/assembled/frosted the next day.
Does that work with this recipe? I just want to make sure the cake stays moist. I know the pecan pie mixture with add some moisture once the cake is assembled…I just want to know your opinion on overnight refrigeration for this recipe.
Thank you so much!
Yes, that’s typically what I do – bake one day and put the cake together the next. I don’t refrigerate the cake layers though. I think leaving them in a well sealed container at room temperature works best, but you can certainly refrigerate it if you prefer. Once it’s all assembled, then I’ll refrigerate it.
Thank you for your reply and for this recipe! It turned out great!
Hi Lindsay,
Could this we done in two 12 in pans as well? If so, how would you adjust the bake time?
12 inch pans would probably be too large. You’d likely want to at least double the recipe.