Step 1

Preheat your oven to 325 degrees F

Step 2

Grease and flour (or sugar) a 10-inch tube pan.

Step 3

Melt 2 tablespoons real butter and toast pecans until fragrant. Cool

Step 4

Mix butter until smooth. Add granulated sugar and brown sugar and mix until smooth and fluffy.

Step 5

Add eggs one at a time, mixing until the yolk is incorporated before adding the next egg.

Step 6

Combine flour, salt, and baking powder in a bowl.

Step 7

Combine vanilla and buttermilk.

Step 8

Alternately add flour mixture and buttermilk mixture to mixture, beginning and ending with flour.

Step 9

Fold in toasted pecans by hand.

Step 10

Spoon batter into prepared tube pan.

Step 11

Bake at 325 degrees F for 65 to 70 minutes. Test with a wooden pick. The cake is done with no crumbs or dry crumbs remain on the pick.

Step 12

Cool 20 minutes on a wire rack.

Step 13

While the cake is cool, make the glaze.

Step 14

On medium-low heat, add butter, sugar, and water to a small pan. Heat and stir until the sugar is dissolved, but do not boil the mixture. When the sugar is dissolved, remove the pan from the heat and stir in the vanilla.

Step 15

Pour hot mixture over the cake (that's still in the bundt pan). You can poke holes in the cake if desired so the cake soaks up more of the glaze.

Step 16

Allow the cake to sit 10 more minutes to absorb the glaze before inverting on a serving tray.

Step 17

Serve warm or room temperature. It's great with vanilla ice cream.

Step 18

Store up to 5 days in an airtight container. Can be stored up to 9 days in the refrigerator.