Happy Birthday to Me!

In honor of the holiday, I will be sharing the recipe to Sarah's Amazing Birthday Cake, as stolen adapted from Southern Living magazine). It is the best cake I've ever had, and I would consider myself a cake connoisseur, for sure. You don't get a bootie like this from eating lettuce, friends!  We did change a few things from the SL recipe, like more pecans and dark chocolate chips instead of semi-sweet.  I'm a dark chocolate girl.  Love it, love it, gotta have it daily.


Chocolate Chip Pecan Pound Cake

Prep Time: 25 minutes
Other Time: 2 hours
Serves: 12 (yeah right)


Ingredients

1 cup chopped pecans
1/4 cup butter, softened
2 tablespoons granulated sugar
2 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
1 cup butter, softened
1 cup firmly packed dark brown sugar
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
4 large eggs
1 cup buttermilk
1 (12-oz.) package dark chocolate mini-morsels

Preparation

1. Preheat oven to 350°. Stir together first 3 ingredients in a small bowl, using a fork. Sprinkle in a greased and floured 12-cup Bundt pan.

2. Whisk together flour, baking soda, and salt.

3. Beat butter, brown sugar, granulated sugar, and vanilla at medium speed with a heavy-duty electric stand mixer 3 to 5 minutes or until fluffy. Add eggs, 1 at a time, beating just until blended. Add flour mixture alternately with buttermilk, beginning and ending with flour mixture. Beat at low speed just until blended after each addition, stopping to scrape bowl as needed. Beat in chocolate mini-morsels. (Mixture will be thick.) Spoon batter into prepared pan.

4. Bake at 350° for 50 to 55 minutes or until a long wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool in pan on a wire rack 10 minutes; remove from pan to wire rack, and cool completely (about 1 hour).

Here is the one tip I can give you:  it's really good just a few minutes out of the oven because it's hot and the chocolate just melts all over you.  It's also good as a coffee cake, if you're into sweets in the a.m.  I don't discriminate.  However, it is best a full 24 hours after you make it... if you can make it that long.

Enjoy your day :)  I know I will!

xoxo
- sarah