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Brown Sugar Walnut Pound Cake


  • Total Time: 1 hour 40 minutes
  • Yield: 16 1x

Ingredients

Scale
  • Cake
  • 3 ¼ cups all-purpose flour
  • 1 teaspoon kosher salt
  • 4 sticks unsalted butter, room temperature, plus more for pans
  • 2 cups packed dark brown sugar
  • 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
  • 9 large eggs, room temperature (about 30 minutes out of refrigerator) and lightly beaten
  • 2 cups walnuts, toasted and coarsely chopped
  • Sauce
  • 1 cup pure maple syrup (I used Blis and it was AMAZING!)
  • 1 cup packed light brown sugar
  • 1 stick unsalted butter
  • ½ teaspoon kosher salt
  • ¼ cup heavy cream (optional, I would leave it out)
  • 23 sliced peaches

Instructions

  1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees F. Butter 2 5 by 9 inch loaf pans.
  2. Make the cake. In a medium bowl stir together flour and salt.
  3. In a large bowl, cream butter and sugar using a hand or stand mixer on high until pale and fluffy, about 8 minutes. Scrape down bowl as necessary. Reduce speed to medium before adding vanilla. With mixer continuing to run on medium, add eggs in 4 installments, mixing after each addition. Reduce speed to low before adding flour in 4 installments. Mix until just incorporated. Finishing mixing by hand will likely be necessary. Fold in walnuts by hand.
  4. Divide batter between prepared pans. Smooth with a spatula to make sure they are even on top. Bake about 70-80 minutes, until a toothpick comes out with only a few moist crumbs, rotating halfway through if necessary. It took a full 80 minutes for my cakes to cook. Cool in pans about 30 minutes. Remove from pans to cool on wire racks completely.
  5. Make the sauce. In a medium saucepan combine maple syrup, sugar, butter, and salt. Cook over medium-high, stirring frequently until the sugar dissolves and the mixture comes to a boil. Boil for 2 minutes. If using cream stir it in and bring back to a boil. Remove the mixture from the heat and add the peaches. Allow to cool and thicken for 5 minutes.
  6. Cake may be stored at room temperature for 1 day or frozen, wrapped in parchment and foil and placed in a zipper bag for up to 4 months. Thaw at room temperature for several hours for a whole cake, or 1 hour for a slice. Thaw whole cakes in 325 degree F oven for about 30 minutes, or slices, wrapped in parchment for 10 minutes. The sauce should not be stored or frozen, but that’s just an excuse to make it again.

Notes

Recipe adapted from Martha Stewart Living, July 2009

  • Prep Time: 30 mins
  • Cook Time: 70 mins