• Have all refrigerated ingredients at room temperature before beginning. Grease a tube or bundt pan with shortening and add about ¼ cup sugar. Move the pan around and gently shake until the sugar coats the pan. Pour out any excess sugar. Preheat the oven to 325℉

CAKE

• Toast pecans in a skillet on the stove until fragrant. Cool
• Cream the butter and 2 cups of sugar together until light and fluffy. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating after each addition.
• Mix butter until smooth. Add granulated sugar and brown sugar and mix until smooth and fluffy.
• Add eggs one at a time, mixing until the yolk is incorporated before adding the next egg.
• Combine flour, salt, and baking powder in a bowl. 
• Combine vanilla and buttermilk.
• Alternately add flour mixture and buttermilk mixture to mixture, beginning and ending with flour.
• Fold in toasted pecans by hand.
• Spoon batter into prepared tube pan. 
• 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.
• Cool 20 minutes on a wire rack.
• While the cake is cool, make the glaze. 

GLAZE

• 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.
• 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. 
• Allow the cake to sit 10 more minutes to absorb the glaze before inverting on a serving tray.
• Serve warm or room temperature. It's great with vanilla ice cream. 
• Store up to 5 days in an airtight container. Can be stored up to 9 days in the refrigerator.