Brown Sugar, Sour Cream, Cream Cheese Pecan Cake with Praline Icing

Place the pecans in a single layer on a baking sheet lined with parchment. Bake at 350 for 5-7 minutes or until toasted, (they should be fragrant after taking the out of the oven). Cool on pan for about 15 minutes. Reduce oven to 325. Beat butter and cream cheese at medium speed with mixer until creamy. Gradually add brown sugar, beating until well blended. Add eggs, one at a time, beating just until blended after each addition. Sift together flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Add to butter mixture alternately with sour cream, beginning and ending with the flour mixture. Stir in pecans and vanilla. Spoon batter into a greased and floured tube or bundt pan and bake for 1 hour 15 minutes or until toothpick comes out clean. Cool for 10 minutes, then invert onto a rack. Cool completely before icing. You will want to prepare the icing right before you put on the cake. For icing, bring sugar, butter and milk to a boil in medium saucepan over medium heat, whisking constantly. Boil for 1 minute, continuing to whisk. Remove from heat and whisk in sugar and vanilla until smooth. Stir every few minutes until mixture begins to cool and thickens slightly. Ice cake immediately. The icing can be somewhat fickle. If you don't cool enough it will run down the cake onto the plate. If you cool too much, it won't run down the cake. One time I put the pan in a bowl of ice water, and after a minute, it was just right. But, I decided to put it back for another minute, and then it was too thick. In this case, you should put pan back on a low flame for a few minutes, whisking to bring back to a thinner consistency.