Spice Cake with Caramel Icing

One way to make sure that the vegetables are delicious is to put them in a pie. Like carrots for carrot cake, parsnips make this flavorful, spicy cake moist.
To prepare the cake, preheat the oven to 350°.Put the parsnips in a saucepan; cover with water. Bring to a boil, reduce heat, and simmer over medium heat for 20 minutes or until tender. Drain the water.Put the parsnips, 1 cup brown sugar, granulated sugar, 5 tablespoons butter, and 1 teaspoon vanilla in a food processor and blend until smooth, scraping the sides of the bowl occasionally. Turning on the food processor, slowly add the apple juice through the cooking chute, whisking until smooth. Place the parsnip mixture in a large bowl.Lightly pour the flour into dry measuring cups; smooth with a knife. Combine the flour, baking soda, cinnamon, nutmeg, and 1/2 teaspoon salt, mixing well with a whisk. Add the flour mixture and 3/4 cup milk alternately to the parsnip mixture, starting and ending with the flour mixture. Pour the batter into 2 (9-inch) round cake pans lightly greased with cooking spray. Bake at 350 ° C for 30 minutes or until a wooden stick inserted in the middle comes out clean. Cool in tins for 10 minutes on a wire rack; remove from tins. Cool completely on a wire rack.To make the frosting, combine 1 cup brown sugar, 1/2 cup milk, 2 tablespoons butter, and 1/4 teaspoon salt in a medium saucepan. Bring to a boil over medium-high heat, stirring constantly. Reduce the heat and simmer until slightly thickened (about 5 minutes), stirring occasionally. Remove from heat. Add the powdered sugar and 1/2 teaspoon vanilla; beat with a mixer on medium speed until the frosting is smooth and only slightly warm. (The frosting will continue to thicken as it cools.)Place 1 cake on a plate. Working quickly, spread the layer with half the icing, and top with the remaining layer. Spread the remaining frosting over the top layer and sprinkle with toasted pecans. Cool to room temperature. Keep the cake loosely covered in the refrigerator.