1. Heat oven to 350�F. Lightly coat two 9-inch round cake pans with vegetable cooking spray. Line bottoms with wax paper; lightly coat paper with cooking sp ray. (Or, line a 13x9-inch baking pan with foil; lightly coat foil with cookin g spray.) 2. Make Yellow Cake: Combine flour, baking powder and salt in bowl. Beat butt er in large mixer bowl at medium-high speed until smooth. Gradually beat in su gar, scraping bowl occasionally with rubber spatula, until light and fluffy, ab out 5 minutes. Add eggs 1 at a time, beating well after each addition. Beat i n vanilla. With mixer at low speed, add dry ingredients alternately with butte rmilk, beginning and ending with dry ingredients, until blended. Spread batter evenly into prepared pans. Bake layers 35 to 40 minutes (45 to 50 minutes for sheet cake) until toothpick inserted in center of cake comes out clean.

3. Cool cake in pans on wire racks 10 minutes. Invert cake onto racks; remove wax paper or foil and cool completely. (Can be made ahead. Cover and freeze up to 1 month. Thaw at room temperature 45 minutes.) 4. Make Browned Butter Frosting: Heat butter in large saucepan over medium hea t until brown, 5 minutes. Whisk in confectioners' sugar, heavy cream and corn syrup. Increase heat to high; bring to boil and boil 1 minute. Remove from he at; stir in vanilla. Transfer frosting to bowl. Place in a larger bowl half-f ull of ice water. Cool frosting, stirring frequently, until very thick, 10 min utes. (Makes 1 1/3 cups.) 5. Place one layer on a serving plate. Spread top with 1/2 cup frosting; top with second layer. Spread remaining frosting over top and side. For sheet cak e, frost top and sides. Let stand 15 minutes until frosting is set.

6. Pat pecans onto side of cake. Makes 12 servings.

Here's a cake for praline lovers that can be prepared as a layer or sheet cake. When heating the butter for the icing, cook slowly until deep brown and fragr ant, being careful not to burn.

Prep time: 1 hour 20 minutes Baking time: 35 to 40 minutes for 9-inch round cak e; 45 to 50 minutes for 13x9-inch sheet cake Degree of difficulty: easy Can be frozen up to 1 month MC formatted by Barb at Possum Kingdom using MC Buster 2.0g & SNT on 8/17/98 Downloaded from Ladies Home Journal Web Pages at http://www.lhj.com