Thanksgiving traditions

I found a recipe in Southern Living Magazine in 1998 for "Pecan Pie Cake". I made it for Thanksgiving dinner at our church in Louisiana that year and have made it by request, every year since! Several weeks ago when we began to finalize plans for our church Thanksgiving dinner for 2008, the request was made for "THE CAKE Linda bakes". This morning when I started to grind fresh cracked pecans (the kids ' yesterday project) the cry went up.
"MOMMY IS MAKING HER PECAN PIE CAKE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"
So my annual piece' de' re stance ' is almost assembled. The cake starts with buttering (real butter please!!) 2 10 " round pans and sprinkling several cups of the ground pecans onto the buttered pans. The cake has ground pecans in the batter as well, and buttermilk (goat milk of course!) and its a chiffon cake so 5 egg whites are beaten to meringue state and added in by hand to the batter. The cooked filling for the cake is like pecan pie filling ingredients , except no pecans. Pie crust dough rolled out and cut into leaf shapes make a beautiful garnish-finish. Brushed with egg white they bake kind of brown and crispy looking. Pecan halves wrapped with dough to make little "acorn" looking garnishes add to the visual appeal. It is "labor intensive' as a friend described it, but OH is it worth it once its finally sliced and served up witha good cup of coffee!!!!