The Pralines and Cream Cake made with buttery vanilla cake and praline buttercream
Pralines are simply pecans that have been caramelized with sugar
Then by adding the crushed pralines into my awesome buttercream recipe it is transformed into the most delicious cream you have ever tasted!
Pralines and Cream Cake is a southern classic with a pecan praline nut brittle and caramel sauce dripping from each layer!
Bakery style yellow cake recipe is the perfect canvas to start and American style buttercream with praline paste folded in!
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Notes for Success:
Praline pecan brittle was made while the cakes were baking and then ground to a paste to use in the buttercream recipe
Be sure to reserve ¼ of the brittle for the garnish to go on the top of the cake
The buttercream recipe can be made by adding in 1 cup of that praline paste at the last stage of mixing
Since the addition of that sweet praline paste would increase the sweetness of the buttercream I left out 2 cups of the powdered sugar from the recipe of American Buttercream
The caramel sauce was also prepared the day before, but can be made up to 2 weeks ahead of time!
In fact the longer it sits in the refrigerator, the thicker it gets!
I am in the habit of making 7″ cake layers but if you only have 8″ pans that’s ok, just divide the batter equally between 2-8″ cake pans instead
Soy milk is the only milk that will thicken upon adding vinegar which is what we do to make a mock “buttermilk”
However you can use any plant milk of your choice if you are staying away from soy
But you will still need to add the vinegar as that is also the activator for the baking soda to leaven this recipe
Combining cake flour and all purpose flour is something I often do for the best textured cake
But if you have trouble getting cake flour you may use all ~all purpose flour instead, just take out ¼ cup of the total amount of flour
WATCH THE FULL YOUTUBE VIDEO TUTORIAL FOR HOW TO MAKE THIS CAKE!
Pralines 'n' Cream Cake
Ingredients
For the Cake:
- Plant Milk 1½ cups (355ml) *see notes above
- Vinegar 1½ Tablespoons
- Vegan Butter ½ cup (113g)
- Vegetable oil of your choice ½ cup (117ml)
- Granulated Sugar 1¾ cup (350g)
- Salt ½ teaspoon
- Vanilla Extract 3 teaspoons (15ml)
- All Purpose Flour 2 cups (250g)
- Cake Flour 1 cups (120g) *see notes above
- Baking Soda 2 teaspoons
For the Praline Brittle:
- Sugar 1 cup (200g)
- Light Corn Syrup ½ cup (118ml)
- Water ¼ (60ml)
- Vegan Butter 2 Tablespoons (28g)
- Baking Soda 1 teaspoon
- Salt ¼ teaspoon
- Pecans 1 cup
for the icing
- 1 Recipe American Buttercream
- 1 cup Brittle from the recipe above *see instructions below
For the Caramel: *optional recipe
- Granulated Sugar 1 cup (200g)
- Water ¼ cup (60ml)
- Lemon Juice or Vinegar ½ teaspoon
- Canned coconut Milk *highest fat milk works best ½ cup (118ml)
- Salt *optional ¼ teaspoon
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350°F
- First prepare the cake batter: Combine the vegetable oil with the melted vegan butter add the vanilla extract and set aside
- Combine the soy milk with the vinegar and let stand for 5 minutes to thicken.
- Sift all the dry ingredients together in a large mixing bowl, including the sugar.
- Pour in the plant milk mixture and the butter/oil mixture and whisk smooth
- Pour the batter into the greased and parchment lined pan(s) and bake immediately in the preheated 350°F oven for approximately 25- 30 minutes or when you gently press the centers they are springy to the touch. Or do the toothpick test for moist crumbs.
- Cool in the pan(s) until you can safely touch without burning yourself then turn the cake(s) out onto a cooling rack to cool the rest of the way.
- Next prepare the praline brittle by combining the sugar, corn syrup and water in a heavy sauce pot and bring to a boil.
- Cover the pot for a few minutes as it comes to a boil, to create steam that will ensure that any sugar crystals that may form on the sides of the pot will dissolve
- Once it boils, Insert a candy thermometer and continue to boil without stirring until it is 320°F
- It should just start to turn golden brown to medium amber and it will continue to cook and darken even after you turn off the heat so be wary of that.
- Remove from the heat and add the vegan butter, baking soda, pinch of salt and the pecans
- Stir well to combine and it will get very thick
- While still hot spread mixture onto a lightly oiled sheet pan or a silicone mat and let cool completely
- Once it is cold, reserve ¼ of the nut brittle and then place the rest of it in a food processor and pulverize to a paste
- This may take 3-5 minutes to get to the consistency of nut paste
- Reserve until later
- Crush the remaining brittle into a rough crunchy consistency, this will be the garnish for the finished cake
- Prepare the buttercream recipe according to the instructions on that recipe post but leave out 2 cups of the icing sugar from the recipe.
- At the last stage of mixing add the praline paste and mix well
- Prepare the caramel *optional recipe by combining the sugar, water & acid together in a large heavy bottom sauce pot
- The pot must be larger than you think because once you pour in the plant milk it will bubble up aggressively
- I cannot stress enough to BE CAREFUL when cooking caramel!
- Stir the sugar, acid and water only until is dissolved not after it starts to boil or you will get crystals in your caramel! The acid helps to prevent this, but it can still happen if you stir after it starts boiling
- Watch it carefully as it turns from a light amber to medium amber, take it off the heat when it is medium amber as it will continue to cook and darker even after you remove it from the heat
- Slowly & carefully pour in the plant milk and once the bubbling subsides stir it to a smooth sauce
- Pour into a heat proof container and refrigerate until needed *it will thicken as it sits!
- Build the cake as shown in the video tutorial or decorate as you wish!
Notes
Pralines and Cream cake can be stored at room temperature for up to 3 days.
For longer storage keep refrigerated for up to 1 week, best served at room temperature
Hi Gretchen
Thanks so much for this recipe. How can I incorporate salt in the caramel to make it into salted caramel and how can I add dates to make a caramel date combo.
You are wonderful
Thanks you always.
Hi Daisy! This is actually not the recipe (I have another coming that is specifically dedicated to YOU! So watch for that one next week!~ It’s the SNICKERS CAKE)
But~ for the date caramel, check out the snickers CHEESECAKE Recipe and you can take that recipe from there and pair it up with the chocoalte cake for the Salted Caramel Cake that you asked for!
Hi!
I’m not vegan but I really want to try this recipe, can I substitute the soy milk with actual buttermilk or whole milk?
So happy to see this post.
Much appreciated xx
Thanks Gretchen
Will look out for the next cake.
Daisy xx
Hi Gretchen! Wow! Wonderful cake again…. I was waiting for the recipe… and my husband too! 😅 Just being the two of us and « trying » to be good and watch what we eat… can I slice the cake and freeze it this way… or ? Thank you so much. ❤️
Hey Gretchen, thanks for your wonderful recipes! I would like to bake this next weekend, but I live in Germany and I never used Corn syrup, I don’t think I could get any in the nearby supermarkets. Of course I could buy it very expensive in a big pack on amazon, but if I COULD avoid that I guess I would 😉
So my question: can the corn syrup be substituted by something … else? 🙂
Sending love!
Hey there, so the corn syrup in candy making is sort of an essential ingredient. It is an invert sugar which helps to prevent crystallization. But if you can get Glucose syrup? Golden Syrup? Vegan Hon-ee? Even Maple syrup would work out!
Thank you so much! I think I can get glucose syrup or vegan Honee! I even might have some of the latter in my stash 🙂
Thanks again!