I have no idea why this isn’t as well-liked as it once was.
| Servings: | 12 |
| Yield: | 1 to 9 – inch layer cake |
Ingredients
- 2 cups graham cracker crumbs
- ¾ cup ground pecans
- ½ cup cake flour
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- 1 cup unsalted butter, softened
- 1 cup packed light brown sugar
- 3 egg yolks, room temperature
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 1 cup milk, lukewarm
- 3 egg whites, room temperature
- ¼ cup white sugar
- 2 tablespoons white sugar
- 1 ½ cups unsalted butter, softened
- ½ cup packed dark brown sugar
- ½ cup heavy whipping cream
- ¾ cup confectioners’ sugar
- ½ cup chopped pecans
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease and line with parchment two 9 inch round pans.
- Combine the crumbs, 1/2 cup pecans, flour, baking powder, and salt.
- In a large bowl, cream the butter and the light brown sugar until fluffy. Slowly beat in the egg yolks, one at a time. Stir in the vanilla. Alternately add the milk and the crumb mixture while beating on low.
- Beat the egg whites in a bowl until foamy. Add the sugar slowly, and beat to soft peaks. Fold into the crumb batter, and pour into the pans.
- Bake for 25 minutes, or until a tester comes out clean. Cool in the pans on a rack about 10 minutes, then invert and cool completely.
- To Make Frosting: In a saucepan over medium heat, melt the 2 tablespoon sugar until it turns golden. Remove from heat, and add 4 tablespoons of the butter; swirl. Whisk in the dark brown sugar, and place back on the heat. Bring to a boil, stirring all the time. Add the cream, and bring back to a boil. Boil 1 minute, and remove caramel from heat.
- Place the confectioners’ sugar in a large bowl, and mixing on medium speed, slowly drizzle in the caramel. Beat until the bottom of the bowl is just barely warm, about 5 minutes. Add the remaining 1 1/4 cups butter, 1 tablespoon at a time. Beat until smooth, and chill frosting until ready to ice the cake. Frost the cake, and press the pecans into the sides.
Nutrition Facts
| Calories | 709 kcal |
| Carbohydrate | 59 g |
| Cholesterol | 168 mg |
| Dietary Fiber | 1 g |
| Protein | 5 g |
| Saturated Fat | 28 g |
| Sodium | 256 mg |
| Sugars | 46 g |
| Fat | 52 g |
| Unsaturated Fat | 0 g |
Reviews
Absolutely loved the cake but not the frosting. All of my family agreed that the frosting was like eating flavored butter. We will make the cake again with a different frosting.
I made a s’more cake using this recipe to represent the graham crackers… chocolate center layer as well as Italian meringue for frosting. Big hit. The tender graham cracker cake was moist and delicious!
I did not add in the nuts, I will make this ggaing so many times i loved it
I have not made this cake, but my Mim was the pro. She made this cake for special occasions. I do know that due to the small amount of flour this cake is VERY fragile and does not like temp changes or being jarred. Once, while looking in oven window at it’s progress during baking, my brother started to pound on his drums and the cake fell. So, very fragile!!
This cake is pretty awesome. I added hershey kisses and made a marshmallow buttercream frosting to make a smore cake. Actually it was a smore sandcastle cake.
I am a decent cook, but I found this recipe super complicated without positive results. This cake just crumbled apart as I attempted to get it out of the pan. I decided I would make the icing and make cake pops out of it, but the icing didn’t turn out well either. I ended up adding quite a bit more powdered sugar in order to get an icing consistency. Super disappointed and I will not attempt it again.
This is my new favorite cake!! I did not try the caramel icing because I was afraid it would be too sweet so I opted for a butter cream cheese frosting instead. It was DELICIOUS!!!
AMAZING RECIPE AND CAKE!!! We followed the directions to the tee. Took 45 min to bake, but turned out perfectly!! Make sure to have all your ingredients ready to go and refrigerated items at room temperature.
I made the cake part of this recipe and it turned out perfect. I made it in a 13×9 inch dish – it took about 35 mins bake time. This is a keeper for me – thank you!. I used the cake in a cake shooter with a caramel cream cheese filling. The graham cracker cake was exactly what I needed to make these wonderful. Thank you for sharing. I look forward to making this cake again with the icing!
This cake was AMAZING!!! It was so light & moist, my most favourite cake now. It’s not so hard to make, just need everything at room temp, & follow directions. So very worth it. Tips for icing the cake: Yes the cake is very delicate, so you want to make sure that your cake is cold before you ice it. Stick it in the fridge for a few hours, it will make the cake so much easier to work with. Also, if using a butter cream icing, make sure you whip it lots & that it’s warm. Whip the icing every few minutes if needed, so it doesn’t start to set on you.
Okay, WOW. I’m not a ‘sweet’ person by most standards (salt & cheese are my vices) by this recipe is amazing! I made cupcakes instead of a cake, which may have helped the rising / fluffy factor. When this recipe asks you to add sugar to egg whites and fluff, it’s asking you to make a proper meringue. And you MUST make a proper meringue, or your cake won’t rise at all – the air inside the meringue expands as you bake your cake, giving it rise and fluffiness. And the icing? Is ridiculous, caramel-y goodness. Not your traditional icing in the slightest. Yum! I took these to one of my classes and they just about died – have never gotten so many over-the-moon compliments as I did with this recipe! Thanks for sharing
Great recipe, just like my grandmother’s. In reading some of the reviews, I noticed some folks wondered about the amount of flour. Not sure why the cake fell apart for one reviewer, but the flour amount is correct. I’m a pastry chef, and can say that the graham takes the place of flour, both providing gluten and tenderizing. The whites must be prepped as instructed, because they provide structure and lift to the cake. If they’re not properly whipped and carefully folded in, the result will be a dense cake with the wrong texture. The yolks and all the sugar also tenderize, so you’ve got to really adhere to the recipe.
Broke apart on me – it tasted amazing but fell completely apart. I think that it may be too much graham cracker in it and that it’s destabilizing the ‘glue’ of the cake. I can’t remember the last time I saw a cake calling for .5 cups of a flour
Unexpectedly good. It’s a dense cake – not light and fluffy, but the flavor is yummy. I made them as part of a s’mores cupcake. I’m not sure it was the right cake for a s’more. But, it would be amazing with a cream cheese icing and crunchy toffee or pecan garnish.
People thought it tasted fine but no rave reviews. I don’t have any better reviews towards making it either. The list of little steps didn’t bother me, but it was so delicate, it was so difficult to frost or handle.
I’ve had graham cracker cake only once before, at a bakery in Asheville, NC. I was looking for a similar recipe, and I’m happy to say that this is it! There are a lot of steps to make the cake, but they’re not hard and they’re well worth it. The frosting is a change from the buttercream my palate expects; the high butter ratio almost tastes like something is wrong at first, but once I adjust my expectations I realize it’s the perfect complement to the cake.
This cake is rather tedious to make. Although I received rave reviews from my guests who tried it, I don’t think I’ll try this recipe again. I’ve made it twice now and both times the cake itself literally falls apart as I try to frost it. The frosting tastes really good, but all that butter scares me!
I’ve never heard of or had a graham cracker cake before finding this recipe, I really enjoyed it, a very rich cake. I will make it again. Thanks for sharing this recipe