Pecan Coffee Cake with Southern Comfort Caramel Sauce

This is a delicious Coffee Cake for a cold winter morning or entertaining a few friends.
My husband has expressed interest in learning to bake and had a specific idea of what he wanted. He picked out a recipe and I modified it to fit the exact idea he was looking for.

Cake:
1 cup white sugar
1/2 cup butter
1/2 cup unsweetened applesauce
2 eggs, beaten
1 tsp vanilla
2 cups flour
1/2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp baking powder
1 cup non fat plain yogurt

Filling;
1 1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/3 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup chopped pecans

Topping:
1/4 cup butter
1/4 cup Southern Comfort Liqueur
1/4 cup milk
3/4 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup chopped pecans


Cake:
Cream butter, applesauce and sugar. Beat very well. Add in eggs and vanilla.
Combine Flour, soda and powder in a separate bowl.
Alternately add flour mix and yogurt to the butter mixture and beat until fluffy.

Filling:
Combine all ingredients in a small bowl.

Assembly:
Preheat oven to 350. Grease and flour a 9 x 13 baking pan. Pour 1/2 the batter into the pan. Sprinkle 1/2  the filling over the batter and spread the rest of the batter over the top and sprinkle on the rest of the filling.
Bake for 35 minutes until a toothpick comes out clean

While baking make the topping:
Melt butter in a medium sauce pan over medium heat. Add in Southern Comfort, milk, brown sugar and pecans. Heat and stir for 5 minutes.

When cake is done remove from oven. Pour sauce over the top and place under the broiler WATCHING CAREFULLY until it starts to bubble.... BE CAREFUL IT WILL BURN EASILY!!!!!

Remove and allow to cool on a wire rack about 10 minutes before slicing. Serve with your favorite coffee!