Pecan Cream Cake (Gluten-Free Optional)

Easy Gluten-Free Pecan Cream Cake is a rich, creamy dessert that look fancy but it’s actually very simple to make with everyday pantry ingredients. This depression-era recipe will make you feel like a tried and true baker, but trust me it’s easy!

This delicious Pecan Cream Cake is a depression-era recipe that has been passed down in our family over the years. It uses pantry-style ingredients to make the cake from scratch along with a cream cheese frosting and it’s full of fresh pecans. This recipe can easily be made gluten-free with a simple swap of flour as well if that is a need.

Try these Mini Egg Cookie Bars for a festive cookie bar for Easter. These go well with your Pecan Cream Cake on the dessert table!

What you’ll love about Pecan Cream Cake:

• Made completely gluten-free with simple ingredients!
• Great for special occasions or just a weeknight dessert.
• Creamy and soft texture.
• Depression-era recipe!
• Easy to make in advance.

Ingredients for Pecan Cream Cake:

• Butter
• Granulated Sugar
• All Purpose Flour or Gluten Free All Purpose Flour
• Baking Soda
• Buttermilk
• Vanilla Extract
• Eggs
• Shaved Coconut
• Chopped Pecans
• Cream Cheese
• Powdered Sugar
• Vanilla Extract

Step-by-Step Instructions:

Cake:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
2. Cream together the butter and sugar, beating well.
3. Add in the flour and baking soda, continue mixing.
4. Add buttermilk and vanilla, continue mixing.
5. Add each egg one at a time.
6. Stir in the coconut and pecans.
7. Pour into 2 greased 9 inch cake pans.
8. Bake in the oven at 350 degrees F for 30 minutes or until when poked with a toothpick in the deepest part of the cake, the toothpick comes out clean.
9. Let cool for 5 minutes before carefully releasing from the pan.
10. Fully cool on a wire rack before frosting.

Frosting:

1. Cream the cream cheese and butter then add in the powdered sugar. Beat this well adding in the vanilla extract, mixing in the nuts.
2. It should have a similar consistency to butter cream, slightly thinner. Carefully frost the cake when fully cooled.

How do you make a Gluten-Free Pecan Cream Cake?

The only swap needed to make this gluten-free is to use a gluten-free all-purpose flour. This needs to be a 1:1 swap of flour using the same ratios. Our preferred flour is King Arthur Gluten-Free All-Purpose Flour or Better Batter. Cup 4 Cup and Bob’s Red Mill are also good alternatives.

This gluten-free flour will already have ingredients like Xanthan Gum, so no additional ingredients are needed.

These flours are available at your local grocery store. All other ingredients are naturally gluten-free, but always check them all to be sure you avoid any cross-contamination.

The gluten-free flour needs to be a high quality flour, as it does make a big difference in the texture of the cake.

Tips for Making Pecan Cream Cake:

The first step before beginning to prepare the cake is to place the cream cheese on the counter so that it comes to room temperature. This will be needed to make the cream cheese frosting.

For best results, use room-temperature eggs as well.

We prefer to make this in a stand mixer with the paddle attachment or electric mixer; however, you can also use a large bowl and Danish dough whisk if you prefer to mix it by hand.

The butter and granulated sugar will be creamed together first, then the flour and baking soda will be added in.

Once those are added, continue to add in the buttermilk and vanilla extract. The eggs should be added one at a time as well, room temperature eggs work the best.

This will become well mixed into a batter and then stir or fold in the pecans and shaved shredded coconut.

The cake batter will then be spread into round cake pans, we use 9-inch round cake pans. These cake pans need to be sprayed with nonstick cooking spray. Two cake pans will be needed for this recipe.

When this is complete, the cakes will be baked in an oven at 350 degrees F for about 30 minutes of cooking time.

While the cake is baking, proceed with the creamy frosting recipe. The frosting can be made in a stand mixer with a whisk attachment or with a medium bowl and an electric mixer.

This recipe will combine room-temperature cream cheese with butter and powdered sugar.

Then, vanilla and chopped pecans can be mixed in.

The chopped pecans will be pecan pieces or crushed pecans, small enough to be easily eaten.

After the cakes are baked and fully cooled, they can be released and prepared for frosting. When we make these cakes, we frost the top of one cake and add another cake, then frost the top of that cake, basically frosting each cake layer. We do not frost around the cake.

If you prefer to do this, then you may need additional frosting. We have found that the frosting is rich enough that simply frosting the tops of the cakes works better than the entire thing.

• Use softened cream cheese.
• Check all ingredients when making gluten-free to verify that your ingredients are marked gluten-free.
• Let the cake fully cool before frosting.
• Chill before serving to get perfect slices.

Storage Tips:

Pecan Cream Cake can be stored in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 4 days.

It can be eaten cold or left to come to room temperature for about 15 minutes on the counter.

More Gluten-Free Cake Recipes:

Gluten-Free Pecan Rum Cake

Gluten-Free Carrot Cake

This Gluten-Free Pecan Cream Cake is a wonderful addition to your dessert line-up for the holidays or as a weeknight treat. This cake is full of creamy, pecan flavor with a wonderful soft texture.

More Gluten Free Cake Recipes:

• Gluten Free Pecan Rum Cake

• Classic Cherry Dump Cake (Gluten-Free)

• 

  Easy Gluten Free Carrot Cake with Frosting

• Gluten-Free Pineapple Upside Down Cake