Prep all of your ingredients and read the recipe through – make the cake batter first, then the topping.  If the topping sits for too long it may seize up and become difficult to pour.  Preheat the oven to 350, spray a 10 to 12 cup bundt pan with nonstick spray and place a large baking sheet on the rack below the middle rack (where your cake will go) in the oven.  The extra baking sheet will help with any overflow (this hasn’t happened to me yet with this cake), and is also the recommended method used to keep the sugary topping (which starts at the bottom of the cake pan), from burning.

In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, cinnamon, baking soda and salt and set aside.  Use your electric mixer to beat the butter and both sugars on medium-high speed for about 3 minutes, stopping the mixer to scrape down the bowl as needed.  Add in the sour cream, eggs, oil and vanilla and beat on high for about a minute until well combined.  Add all of the dry mix, then the milk and mix on low until it starts to come together.  Scrape down the bowl making sure to get the bottom and then beat again for several seconds to make sure there are no lumps.  Walk away from the batter for now and make the topping.

In a medium saucepan, whisk together the butter, sugar, maple syrup and milk over medium heat until the butter is melted.  Continue to whisk while the mix comes to a boil and once it’s boiling, keep it bubbling for 2 minutes.  Do not walk away!  There’s always a chance it may try to froth over – if it starts to creep too close to the top of the pot, reduce the heat a titch.  Once the 2 minutes of boiling is finished, remove the topping from the heat and whisk in the vanilla and salt.

Carefully scrape/pour the half of the hot topping evenly into your prepared bundt pan, then sprinkle with all of the pecans.  Scrape all of the cake batter over the topping, smooth out the top and bake (on the middle rack above the baking sheet), for 50 to 55 minutes, until the internal temperature reaches 200.  Mine took 55 minutes and came out a lovely even brown – if you feel yours is browning too quickly, you can always cover it loosely with foil until it’s done.

Remove the cake from the oven and leave it to rest, in the pan, for 10 minutes.  Carefully invert the cake onto a platter and if any topping is left behind, quickly use a spatula to scrape the pan and add the topping back to the cake.  Allow the cake to rest and cool for another 20 minutes.  Reheat the remaining topping over low heat until loose again, whisking if needed to incorporate the possibly separated butter.  Drizzle all of the warm topping evenly over the still-warm cake and then serve straight away, warm!, or leave it for a couple of hours and serve at room temperature.  This is already a family favorite!