Brown Sugar Caramel Pound Cake

This is not your usual pound cake! 

You can find it at this website. (Many thanks to Key Ingredient for this recipe and the photo above.) It is a fabulous recipe, although the ingredient list is a little confusing. (Ignore that heading, "CARAMEL DRIZZLE." The drizzle is only the final four ingredients in that list.) I'll retype the recipe here:

• 1 1/2 cups butter, softened
• 2 cups light brown sugar, packed
• 1 cup granulated sugar
• 5 large eggs
• 3 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup whole milk
• 1 (8-ounce) bag toffee bits
• 1 cup pecans, chopped
• 
  
• 1 (14-ounce) can sweetened condensed milk
• 1 cup brown sugar, packed
• 2 tablespoons butter
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 
  
• *NOTE -- I decided to make a half recipe because we don't need a whole bundt cake in the house, seriously. It was wonderful. I used an 8"x8" cake pan. I also only needed to bake it for about 50 minutes or so.

Preheat oven to 325°F. Spray a 12 cup bundt pan with nonstick baking spray with flour. Set aside.

Beat the butter until creamy. Add sugars, beating until fluffy. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition.

In a medium bowl, combine flour, baking powder, and salt. [I don't bother with this combining because I hate to dirty an extra bowl.] Gradually add flour mixture to butter mixture in thirds, alternately with milk, beginning and ending with flour mixture. Beat until just combined. Stir in toffee bits and pecans. Spoon batter into prepared pan. Bake until a wood pick inserted near the center of cake comes out clean, 75 to 85 minutes.

Spoon caramel drizzle over cooled cake.

Caramel drizzle:
In a medium saucepan, combine condensed milk and brown sugar; bring to a boil over medium-high heat, whisking frequently. Reduce heat, and simmer for 8 minutes [I didn't do it this long.], whisking frequently. Remove from heat; whisk in butter and vanilla. Let cool for 5 minutes before using.

NOTE: Make sure you drizzle the caramel while it’s still hot. When cooled the caramel does somewhat harden.

Here are photos of my cake from today.

Granny Marigold, I thought of you and your love of baking. This cake really tastes like something - the toffee bits and pecans give it real flavor beyond just "sweet." That caramel topping is perfect; it hardened a little, but is not a hard shell. The cake is moist with deep brown/caramel flavor, and the toffee bits make it chewy. Oh my.

Adam is allergic to pecans, so I'm in charge of eating the entire half-cake. So I cut it up and put it into containers for freezing, and will eat it slowly as the days go by and we are all inside from the coronavirus. Methinks humans will grow a bit tubbier during this time of affliction.

But this cake is worth it, believe me. If I'm gonna gain a pound or two during quarantine, I want it to be done while eating something fabulous. Enjoy, friends!