New Orleans Praline Pound Cake
1 cup butter, softened to room temperature
1/2 cup vegetable shortening
1 pound light brown sugar, (press out all the lumps)
1 cup granulated sugar
5 eggs
3 cups sifted all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup milk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup finely minced pecans
Cream the butter and shortening hard until very fluffy; add the brown sugar gradually, creaming all the while until light, then add the granulated sugar the same way. Beat the eggs in, one at a time.
Sift the flour with the baking powder and salt. Combine the milk and vanilla. Add the sifted dry ingredients to the mixture alternately with the milk, beginning and ending with the dry ingredients and mixing only enough to blend. Fold in the pecans.
Pour batter into a well-greased-and-floured 10-inch tube pan and bake at 350ºF. for about 1 hour and 15 minutes or until cake pulls from sides of pan and when it is pressed lightly with a finger, the imprint vanishes slowly.
Remove the cake from oven and cool upright in its own pan on a wire rack for 15 minutes. Loosen cake from sides of pan and around central tube with a thin-bladed spatula, then invert pan on a large round plate and turn cake out.
Praline Sauce:
1/3 cup evaporated milk
2 1/2 Tablespoons brown sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 Tablespoon pecans, finely minced
For sauce, bring milk, brown sugar and vanilla to a boil, reduce heat and cook one to one and a half minutes, stirring constantly. Remove from heat, stir in pecans and let cool slightly. To serve, drizzle sauce over poundcake.
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