Caramel Eggnog Pound Cake
This decadent Caramel Eggnog Pound Cake has wonderful flavor from nutmeg, cinnamon, brown sugar, and a simple caramel glaze! It is perfect for winter and Christmas celebrations!
Servings: 15
Ingredients
- 3 sticks (339g) unsalted butter, softened
- 2 cups (400g) sugar
- 1 cup (200g) light brown sugar
- 5 large eggs, room temperature (place in a bowl of warm water for 5 minutes if in a hurry)
- 3 cups (342g) Cake Flour
- ½ teaspoon (2g) salt
- ½ teaspoon (2g) baking powder
- 2 teaspoons (6g) cinnamon
- 1 teaspoon (3g) nutmeg
- 1 cup (235g) Eggnog
- 2 teaspoons (8g) vanilla extract
Caramel Glaze
- ½ stick unsalted butter (57g)
- cup light brown sugar, packed into measuring cup (217g)
- ½ cup heavy cream (126g)
- ½ teaspoon salt (2g)
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract (4g)
- 1 tablespoon light corn syrup (18g)
Instructions
- Grease and flour a bundt pan. Preheat oven to 325 degrees F
- In a separate bowl whisk the cake flour, salt, baking powder, nutmeg, and cinnamon to combine. Set aside for later.
- Using an electric mixer (fitted with a paddle attachment if using a stand mixer) mix the butter on medium speed until smooth. Gradually add the white sugar and brown sugar and mix until lightened in color and fluffy 3 to 5 minutes.
- Add the eggs one at a time, mixing after each until the yellow of the yolk is blended.
- Add the vanilla extract to the cup of eggnog and set aside.
- With the mixer on low speed, add the flour mixture alternately with the eggnog. Begin and end with the dry ingredients. Add the dry ingredients three times and the eggnog twice. Mix just until blended.
- Bake at 325 degrees for 1 hour or until a toothpick comes out clean or with just a few crumbs attached. Baking times can vary and so peek in as it approaches the 1 hour mark. If the top of the cake begins to get too dark, cover loosely with a piece of aluminum foil.
- This recipe makes approximately 8 cups of batter.
- Allow to cool in the pan for about 10 minutes before turning out onto serving plate. All the cake to cool before glazing.
Caramel Glaze
- Using a medium size saucepan (deep enough to prevent boil over) melt the butter over medium heat.
- Add the brown sugar and the remaining ingredients and heat on medium high heat.
- Stir to blend, try to keep mixture off the sides of the pan. Once the mixture begins to boil, reduce the heat to low.
- Simmer for 6 minutes, checking often to make sure that it is not going to boil over. It should still be bubbling. After 6 minutes, remove from heat.
- Keep in mind that the caramel with thicken up a bit as it cools. You can pour it into a long glass casserole dish if you want it to cool more quickly. We often refrigerate to cool it off as well.
- Apply the thickened glaze to the cooled cake either with a spoon, or for more control, spoon it into a disposable piping bag (or ziplock bag) with the tip snipped away.
- Makes about 1 cup caramel sauce. It can be kept in the refrigerator in an airtight container up to 2 weeks.
Notes
This eggnog pound cake can be baked in advance, wrapped tightly in plastic wrap and foil, and frozen for up to three months.
To thaw, move from the freezer to the refrigerator, still wrapped, the day before you need it. Move to the kitchen counter the next morning and continue to warm to room temperature.
We used a bundt pan with a baking capacity of 12 cups (although this recipe makes less than that, at 8 cups of batter).
If you are using a smaller bundt pan, the baking time will likely need to be increased as the amount of batter in the pan will be more deep. Be careful not to overfill-- the general rule of thumb is not to fill the pan more than ¾ full of cake batter. We like to allow at least 1.25 inches from the top of the batter to the top edge of the pan.