Grandma's Brown Sugar Pound Cake with Pecans Recipe

Pound cakes are heavier cakes that are easy to put together, but have to cook longer than lighter sheet or layered cakes. Yes - it is easier to just make a cake from a mix, but it never compares to a made from scratch cake like the one in my Grandma's recipe below.  A plus with pound cakes is they typically do not require frosting, although a few recipes include a glaze that can be poured over the top once it is removed from the pan. 

Brown Sugar Pound Cake  

Ingredients:

2 cups light brown sugar
1/2 cup Crisco
5 large eggs
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 cup white sugar
2 sticks margarine
3 cups white flour
2 cups pecans (chopped cups & divided into separate cups)

Steps:

1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees.
2. In large bowl - cream sugars, Crisco, and margarine together .
3. Add eggs 1 at a time, beating after each addition.
4. In a separate bowl - sift all dry ingredients together and then slowly add to sugar mixture, beating well.
5. Add milk and vanilla. 
6. Stir in 1 up of pecans.
7. Pour into greased, floured bundt pan.
8. Sprinkle 1 cup pecans over batter, pressing down lightly .
9. Bake 1 and 1/2 hours.  Allow to cool before serving.

Other options for serving this cake:  

• I have seen other cakes where they put the last cup of pecans in pan before they pour in the batter so pecans are on top instead of bottom.  My concerns with this are the pecans might burn instead of toasting or stick in the pan so you get a torn cake top, but try it that way if you want and plan to use  a tube pan instead of a bundt pan.  
• I have also seen a similar recipe where the last cup of pecans is reserved for use after the cake is finished baking.  In that case, they either create a caramel glaze or heat caramel ice cream topping to put on top of cooled cake and then sprinkle the pecans over that.  Cake looks pretty and will probably be a richer, sweeter taste.  
• Another way is to put warmed ice cream topping (caramel or fudge) and sprinkle the pecans on each slice after it is put on plates.  That look is a more elegant display for a buffet where desserts are pre-sliced.