Chocolate Pecan Cake
Craving a good slice of cake? Then pull out the pecans and make this Chocolate Pecan Cake! This is a moist chocolate cake covered with pecan frosting…and it’s delicious!
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I’ve loved pecans for as long as I can remember. As a kid, I would pick them up from the ground outside my grandparents’ house and then sit around in the evening shelling them. As an adult, I eat ’em by the handfuls. In fact, when Robbie was born, I packed an overnight bag with some snacks. Guess what I packed? That’s right. Pecans. One of my favorite ways of eating pecans is tossing them with Worcestershire sauce, salt and a bit of dried rosemary. Then just toast ’em lightly, and you’ve got a snack that you can’t stop eating!
While I do enjoy pecans in savory recipes, I must admit that baking desserts with pecans ranks right up there, too. Take this Chocolate Pecan Cake for instance. The frosting for this cake is packed with chopped, toasted pecans…there is so much flavor going on with this frosting! I could eat this frosting with a spoon if it wasn’t socially frowned upon to eat frosting as a meal by itself.
Laura was saying the other day that she was really craving a good chocolate cake. Oftentimes when I make cakes, we’ll wrap individual slices and keep them stored in the freezer. That way we can pull out just one single slice on a Friday or Saturday night. It’s portion control at its best since you can’t get another slice without waiting at least an hour for it to thaw. Well, we went to the freezer recently, but no chocolate cake. I had some other flavors of cake, but no chocolate. I clearly had to fix this problem!
Chocolate Pecan Cake
Chocolate Pecan CakeThis Chocolate Pecan Cake was the answer to the problem. I’ve made this pecan frosting before with a vanilla cake, and it was quite tasty. However, pecan frosting paired with chocolate cake? That’s the cat’s meow right there! The frosting is on the sweeter side thanks to the addition of brown sugar, but it truly is delicious. I had initially planned on topping this cake with a layer of freshly whipped cream, but I had extra pecan frosting left. I called an audible and just skipped the whipped cream topping in favor of more pecan frosting. (However, I do think frosting just the sides of this cake and then topping it with whipped cream would still be quite tasty!)
If you’re looking for a fun cake idea (and come on, everyone loves a good cake idea, right?), then put this Chocolate Pecan Cake on the baking agenda. We really enjoyed this dessert, and now our freezer is restocked with chocolate cake for future Friday and Saturday nights. Cheers, and happy baking!
Did you bake this Chocolate Pecan Cake at home? Leave a comment, or snap a photo and tag me on Instagram (@Spicedblog). I’d love to see your version!
Chocolate Pecan Cake
Ingredients
For the Cake
- 1⅓ cups all-purpose flour
- ½ cup cocoa powder
- 1 tsp baking soda
- ½ tsp baking powder
- ½ cup hot brewed coffee
- ½ cup milk
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- ½ cup unsalted butter room temperature
- 1 cup sugar
- ¼ tsp salt
- 3 large eggs
For the Frosting
- 2½ cups pecan halves
- ½ cup unsalted butter room temperature
- ⅔ cup brown sugar
- 5 cups powdered sugar
- ⅓-½ cup milk
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
Instructions
For the Cake
- Preheat oven to 350°F.
- Grease and flour (2) 8” round cake pans. Line bottom of pans with parchment paper; set pans aside.
- Using a medium mixing bowl, add flour, cocoa powder, baking soda and baking powder; stir until well combined. Set dry mixture aside.
- In a separate bowl, add coffee, milk and vanilla extract; stir until well combined. Set wet mixture aside.
- Using an electric mixer, add butter, sugar and salt; cream together on medium speed for 4-5 minutes, or until light and fluffy.
- Add eggs one at a time, mixing fully after each addition.
- Add ⅓ of the dry mixture to the bowl; mix until well combined.
- Add ½ of the liquid mixture; mix until well combined.
- Repeat process, alternating between dry and liquid mixtures; mix well after each addition.
- Divide batter evenly into the prepared cake pans.
- Bake for 24-26 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center of each cake comes out mostly clean.
- Remove cakes from oven; let cool for 10 minutes before transferring to a cooling rack. Let cakes cool completely before frosting. (Tip: If time allows, refrigerating the cakes will make them easier to frost.)
For the Frosting
- Chop 2 cups of the pecan halves and spread onto one half of a sheet pan. Spread remaining ½ cup of whole pecan halves onto other half of sheet pan. Bake at 350°F for 6-8 minutes, or until pecans are fragrant and lightly toasted. Set pecans aside.
- Meanwhile, using an electric mixer, cream butter and brown sugar together until smooth.
- Add powdered sugar one cup at a time, mixing completely after each addition.
- Add milk and vanilla extract; mix until well combined. (Note: If frosting is too loose, add a couple more tablespoons of powdered sugar. If frosting is too thick, add a tablespoon of milk.)
- Fold chopped pecans into the frosting. (Note: The whole pecan halves will be used later to garnish top of cake.)
- Place one layer of cake on a large serving platter. Using an offset spatula, spread frosting evenly on top of cake.
- Place remaining layer of cake on top of frosting. Using the remaining frosting, frost sides and top of cake.
- Garnish top of cake with the whole toasted pecans.
Looking for more tasty pecan recipes? Check out these other favorites, too:
Will be making this soon with few subs i never had chocolate pecan cake before i love chocolate soooooooooooo much perfect for my after office snacks will dm you if i make this and let you know how it goes Thanks Ramya
If you love chocolate, then this cake is a winner, Ramya! It’s my go-to chocolate cake recipe, and this time I paired it with that pecan frosting. The nutty flavor combined with the chocolate cake is quite delicious! 🙂
Sounds delicious, David! I love that you have chopped nuts in the frosting. And brown sugar. I’ve no doubt it’s fantastic with the chocolate.
Oh, the nutty flavor of the frosting combined with the chocolate cake is quite amazing, Jeff. In fact, when I took a bite of this cake, I told Laura, “Now that right there is my kinda dessert!” Plus, I like the texture that comes from the chopped pecans.
Two things – First, I love the idea of freezing individual portions of cake! Second, this cake would never make it to the freezer because it would disappear right away in my house! I love pecans and they pair perfectly with the chocolate cake!
Freezing the individual slices of cake was a game-changer for us, Kathy! Now I don’t eat the entire cake…and it makes clean-up a lot easier, too. As far as this cake, it’s one of my all-time favorites. It’s sweet thanks to the brown sugar in the frosting, but it’s SO good!!
and i didnt got your newsletter for my gmail Thanks Ramya
Interesting – that’s strange. I didn’t get the email this morning either. There’s a chance it might have gotten delayed and it will go out tomorrow morning. We’ll see – but that you for letting me know!
When I was a kid, I didn’t know pecans (Because there were no pecans in Russia! I don’t actually remember many available nuts. Walnuts and peanuts. Maybe occasional hazelnuts). They started to get imported about 20 years ago. Horribly expensive! Luckily, for almost 10 years I haven’t had any issues with pecans – indeed, we’re good friends now!
And this pecan chocolate cake? Absolutely splendid! I love the texture of the layers – so decadent and moist yet light and fluffy at the same time.
Pass me a slice please!
I hear ya on pecans. I’ve heard that pecan prices might go up thanks to a recent storm (hurricane if I recall?) in the South that wiped out a number of mature pecan trees. Fortunately, I haven’t seen prices go up that much. Either way, I love pecans…both for snacking and baking!
This cake is quite delicious. I highly recommend it if you are celebrating anything this weekend – perhaps just the fact that it’s Friday? 🙂
This chocolate cake looks divine, David! I love the addition of the pecans too! Yum! Wish I had a slice in front of me now.
This cake truly is delicious, Michelle! I love the chopped pecans mixed into the frosting. I had to freeze this cake ASAP or else I would’ve eaten the whole thing way too fast!
We do not have pecans here but I love to enjoy walnuts by tossing them in caramelised sugar and spices and then baking them.
And your chocolate pecan cake definitely made me crave a slice.
We are looking ahead at another lockdown in Mumbai, so may be I will bake this cake today and try to cheer my chocoholic daughter with it 🙂
Walnuts would totally work here, too, Taruna. The nuttiness combined with the chocolate cake is a great combo. Sorry to hear that another lockdown is coming your way…I think a chocolate cake will definitely make things a little bit better! 🙂 Stay safe!
me too me too. i love pecans, and i love lots of icing so this sounds like a great combo. and with chocolate cake too. heavenly!
Oh, this cake is one of my favorites, Sherry! I had to freeze the slices ASAP to keep me from eating the whole thing. 🙂
Always looking for a good cake idea! Plus, who doesn’t love chocolate cake? With that pecan frosting, this one sounds absolutely scrumptious, David! Just what I need to make my Monday that much better 😉 Hope you have a wonderful week, my friend!
I hear ya, Dawn! You can never have enough good cake recipes for those times when you’re craving cake. <--- always. 🙂 Thanks so much, my friend!
I’m definitely in the mood for a slice of this beautiful cake! Chocolate and pecans were made for each other and I’m a sucker for desserts with nuts so this one has my name on it! Have a wonderful week, David!
The pecans in the frosting on this cake make such a difference! I love the flavor of the toasted pecans, and the crunch brings a unique twist. Thanks, Marissa!
Interesting, never had tried Worcestershire sauce on Pecan. Now you made me want to try it.
Ah! Just toss pecans in Worcestershire, salt, melted butter and a bit of hot sauce. Then bake ’em in the oven until toasted. The only problem is you won’t be able to stop eating them! 🙂
Have you tried this recipe with cream cheese frosting? Wondering if the flavors would work together
Hey Karina! I haven’t personally tried this cake with cream cheese frosting yet. In my head, cream cheese frosting goes better with pumpkin flavors or maybe red velvet rather than chocolate cake. But that’s me. It could be delicious! Let me know what you think if you try this cake with cream cheese frosting? Happy baking!
Lil S LOVES pecans just as much as you do – she always talks me into using pecans in recipes when I want to use walnuts – and if she saw this cake, she’d probably try to figure out how to program the drone to send it up there to forge through your freezer for ALL the leftover slices of this! Seriously, such a fantastic cake! And I LOVE how y’all freeze slices to enjoy when a cake craving hits. Next time we come to visit, please please teach us your ways of self-control cos I’d be digging into frozen cake slices without a second thought!
Haha! Well Lil S and I share that love of pecans…but you better tell her to send that drone quickly as I’m not sure how long those slices will be safe up here! 🙂