Bundt cake featuring a vanilla bean and buttermilk batter with a pecan molasses center is baked to perfection, then topped with the most delicious bourbon buttermilk glaze. The ingredients may sound a bit odd, but this cake is outrageously good. I’m usually a “desserts must contain dark chocolate” type of person, but this is an exception, and it is one of my top 3 favorite cakes. Ever.

This is one of those recipes that has been part of my family’s repertoire for years, and I’m not quite sure where it truly originated from. It was passed to my dad from a family friend, and this Bundt cake has made an appearance at Christmas dinner for the last 20 years since.

I can’t even find this recipe online! Bon Appetit has a similar version but after comparing the differences (shown below), I’m confident my version is better.

Bon Appetit uses:

-Whole Milk

-Cake Flour

-Vanilla Extract

My version uses:

-Buttermilk

-Cake Flour and Hazelnut Meal/Flour

-Vanilla Bean Paste (!!!)

Ingredients for this Vanilla Bean Pecan Molasses Bundt Cake

Hazelnut Meal/Flour – This is a little challenging to track down and it’s expensive! Since this is a special cake I always make the effort to track it down, but you could substitute almond meal in a pinch. I bought hazelnut flour from Amazon Fresh, but Whole Foods is also a safe bet. Hazelnut meal is just a coarser version of hazelnut flour, and either one can be used in this recipe.

Vanilla Bean Paste – The secret to all delicious desserts. This is similar to vanilla extract, but it’s loaded with vanilla bean specks and provides so much more flavor. I recommend tracking down the real deal – I buy mine on Amazon. This is also a bit of an investment but it lasts a long time and I’ve linked other desserts you can make with it at the bottom of this recipe!

Cake Flour and Baker’s Sugar – You could probably use regular all-purpose flour and granulated sugar, but at this point you’ve already spent $40 on the two items above, so what’s a couple more bucks to make sure you have the most delicious and tender cake ever?? I should probably just call this the million dollar cake…

Molasses – I use Grandma’s Unsulphured Original Molasses, but any milk molasses will work. Do NOT use Blackstrap – it will ruin the whole cake.

Bourbon Glaze – This is what we’re all really here for. Made with butter, sugar, buttermilk, vanilla bean paste, and bourbon, it is absolutely delicious. The cake is good enough without the glaze, but this really takes it to the next level.

How to make this pecan molasses Bundt cake:

Step 1: the batter. The batter is mixed all at once, then divided in half. The first half of the batter goes straight into the Bundt pan, and the second half gets mixed with a pecan molasses mixture, and then gets poured on top of the original better. Since the molasses batter is a bit heavier, it tends to sink while the regular batter bakes around it, hence having the cake end up with two tones.

Vanilla Bean Pecan Molasses Bundt Cake with Bourbon Glaze — This batter is as delicious as it looks.

The molasses batter tends to sink into the middle a bit – that’s okay!

How to make the bourbon vanilla bean glaze:

Step 1: melt butter, sugar, buttermilk, and corn syrup.

Step 2: stir for about 10 minutes while it bubbles and melts together.

After about 10 minutes the mixture will reduce a bit:

Step 3: add in the baking soda and get even more bubbles.

Keep stirring and eventually it will start to turn golden.

caramel — Things are starting to look pretty good over here!

Finally: take it off the heat and add in the bourbon and vanilla bean paste. What you have here is a very, very delicious bourbon glaze!

My cake stuck to the pan a little bit, so make sure you’re generous with the nonstick spray and flour. The molasses batter makes this pretty sticky.

Drizzle about a cup of the glaze to the top of the cake so it soaks in slightly, and then save the rest to drizzle on top of individual slices later.

This goes really well with homemade whipped cream!

From my holiday table to yours… I hope you enjoy this recipe! I would love to hear how yours turns out! <3

Vanilla Bean Pecan Molasses Bundt Cake with Bourbon Glaze

Bundt cake featuring a vanilla bean and buttermilk batter with a pecan molasses center is baked to perfection, then topped with the most delicious bourbon buttermilk glaze. This is made even better when served with homemade whipped cream!

Course Dessert

Prep Time 1 hour

Cook Time 1 hour

Servings 12 people

Ingredients

Cake

nonstick cooking spray
1 cup hazelnut flour/meal
2 1/4 cups cake flour
2 tsp baking powder
3/4 tsp salt
2 cups baker's sugar
1 cup unsalted butter (two sticks) room temperature
2 tsp vanilla bean paste
4 large eggs room temperature
1 cup buttermilk
1 cup pecans, toasted and finely chopped
1/4 cup corn syrup
1/4 cup molasses
1/2 tsp baking soda
2 tsp vanilla bean paste

Bourbon Glaze

2 tsp water
1 tsp baking soda
2 cups baker's sugar
1 cup buttermilk
1 cup unsalted butter (2 sticks)
2 tsp corn syrup
1/2 cup bourbon
2 tsp vanilla bean paste

Instructions

For Cake:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spray a large Bundt pan generously with nonstick spray and dust with cake flour. Sift hazelnut meal, cake flour, baking powder, and salt into a medium bowl. In a separate large mixing bowl using an electric mixer, beat sugar, butter, and 2 teaspoons of vanilla paste until fluffy. Beat in 1 egg at a time. Mix in flour mixture in 3 additions, alternating with buttermilk in 2 additions. Transfer half of the batter to the prepared Bundt pan.
In a medium bowl, stir chopped pecans, corn syrup, molasses, and 2 teaspoons of vanilla paste, mix well. Add baking soda, mix again Stir pecan mixture into remaining cake batter (not in Bundt pan). Once combined, spoon pecan batter over batter in Bundt pan (do not swirl). Bake until toothpick comes out with dry crumbs attached, about 60 minutes. Transfer cake to rack to cool, at least 1 hour.

Glaze:

Stir water and baking soda in a small bowl, set aside. In a large heavy 10-12 quart Dutch oven over high heat, bring baker's sugar, buttermilk, butter, and corn syrup to a boil, stirring until it reduces, 10-12 minutes (it will bubble a lot). Turn down heat to medium, add baking soda (it will bubble a lot more). Boil sauce until golden and slightly thickened, 8 more minutes. Remove from heat and add bourbon and vanilla paste.
Invert cake onto platter, drizzle 3/4 to 1 cup glaze onto cake to soak. Rewarm remaining glaze and pour on each piece right before serving.
Serve with homemade whipped cream or vanilla ice cream, if desired.

If you liked this holiday dessert recipe I have a few more suggestions:

Use up that vanilla bean paste with these maple pecan shortbread bars.

Another use for vanilla bean paste: peach crisp but sub apples and add 1/3 cup brown sugar, 1 tsp vanilla bean paste, and 1 tbsp bourbon to the base before baking (and bake about 55 minutes). You can thank me later.