Skip to Content

Pecan Pie Cake – A Perfect Southern Dessert

Sharing is caring!

This Pecan Pie Cake will become your family's favorite pecan dish ever. Read below to find out how to make this amazing dessert.

My husband loves pecan pie. It is one of his favorite desserts in this whole world. A few weeks ago, we discovered a recipe where the baker combined the elements of pecan pie with a cake, and WOW! We both agreed that this is the way to eat a pecan pie. Everyone in our family loved this dessert!

This cake takes a little bit of time to make, but it is so worth it. I could see topping this cake with my Praline Pecans (click the link to find out how to make these!)

Pecan Pie Cake

How to Make Pecan Pie Cake

Pecan Pie Cake

To make this pecan pie cake, you need to have on hand a yellow cake mix, sugar, butter, eggs, corn syrup, and of course, pecans.

The original recipe used a lot of pecans, but sometimes I feel like if you use too many, you lose the other flavors in the recipe. So, Stephen and I decided to cut the number of pecans by half.

Y'all — this cake hit every sweet tooth in my body! From the first bite, you taste the flavor of the cake, but then as the bite progresses, you taste the pecan pie elements as well.

So let's get down to making this cake shall we?

For the first step

The first step is you are going to be baking the cake. For this you will need —

  •  yellow cake mix (reserve 2/3 C. of the cake mix)
  • butter, room temp.
  • light brown sugar
  • large eggs
  • water
  • chopped pecans
pecan pie cake

Pour all but 2/3 cup of the cake mix into a mixing bowl. Add the butter, brown sugar, 2 eggs, and the water. Beat mixture until nice and creamy, it will be thick. Stir in the pecans and spread into a buttered 9×13 baking pan.

pecan pie cake

Like I said — it will be thick. I used my icing spatula to spread it out evenly in my pan. Bake in a 325-degree oven for 25 minutes.

While the cake bakes, now, it's time to prepare the second layer of the cake. This will be just like the pecan pie you are used to. The extra cake batter that you are adding to this is like cornmeal that you would normally add to a pecan pie. It works in the same way.

For the second set of ingredients we are going to need —

  • 2/3 cup of the yellow cake mix
  • butter, room temp.
  • large eggs
  • white sugar
  • light corn syrup
  • milk

Make the pecan pie portion

pecan pie cake

Prepare the second batter by adding the reserved 2/3 cup cake mix and remaining ingredients in a mixing bowl and beat to combine. The butter just breaks up into smaller pieces so the batter is lumpy with butter, so don't worry about that. It is going to melt and be all delicious soon!

Now, after 25 minutes, pull the cake out of the oven. While the cake is hot, pour the second batter into the cake mix. You will notice right away that it looks runny and you think the cake is ruined. Trust me — it is not.

pecan pie cake

Now, put back in the oven and bake for about 40-45 minutes. Let it cool slightly before serving to friends and family. When it comes out, it looks so amazing!

pecan pie cake

Once you cut into it, you will be able to see the layers — the top layer is the cake, and the bottom looks and tastes just like pecan pie.

pecan pie cake

Here's the handy dandy printable recipe! If you make it, be sure and tag me on Instagram and let me know! @jennifersikora.

Yield: 10 servings

Pecan Pie Cake

Pecan Pie Cake

This pecan pie cake puts together two of my most favorite desserts. It's easy to make and uses simple pantry ingredients.

Prep Time 10 minutes
Cook Time 45 minutes
Total Time 55 minutes

Ingredients

For the Cake

  • 1 box yellow cake mix (2/3 cup reserved)
  • 1 stick butter, room temperature
  • 1 cup light brown sugar, packed
  • 2 large eggs
  • 2 TBSP water
  • 2 cups chopped pecans

For the Pie Ingredients

  • 2/3 cup yellow cake mix
  • 1 stick butter, room temperature
  • 2 large eggs
  • 1 cup light corn syrup
  • 1 cup sugar
  • 1 cup milk

Instructions

For the Cake

  1. Preheat the oven to 325 degrees
  2. Pour all but 2/3 C. of the cake mix into a mixing bowl. Add the butter, brown sugar, 2 eggs, and water. Beat mixture until nice and creamy, it will be thick. 
  3. Stir in the pecans and spread into a buttered 9x13 baking pan. Bake in a 325-degree oven for 25 minutes.

For the Pie Portion

  1. Prepare the second batter by adding the reserved 2/3 C. cake mix and remaining ingredients in a mixing bowl and beat to combine. The butter will be lumpy but don't worry! It will melt in the oven. 
  2. Remove the cake after 25 minutes and pour the second batter over the top. 
  3. Return to the oven for 40-45 minutes longer. Let slightly cool before serving.

Did you make this recipe?

Please leave a comment on the blog or share a photo on Instagram

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Jaclyn Shimmel

Monday 25th of February 2019

This pecan pie cake looks amazing! And I love how it starts with cake mix -- makes it so much easier!

Jennifer Soltys

Monday 25th of February 2019

OMG! I never really LOVED pecan pie, but this looks irresistible!

Jacqui Odell

Friday 22nd of February 2019

I love pecan pie! So i bet this cake would be great and sounds pretty easy to make.

Karen @ Seasonal Cravings

Thursday 21st of February 2019

I have never heard of a pecan pie cake but it sounds like the perfect southern treat. I love that you use a boxed cake mix for a shortcut. I need all the shortcuts I can get!

Kate Hackworthy

Thursday 21st of February 2019

I love pecan pie and this looks delicious. How handy to use a box cake mix to make it easier.

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Skip to Recipe