Brown Butter Cake

Do you love Butter Brickle ice cream?  Do you love cream cheese?  Then you'll love this cake, too!  There have been a lot of brown butter recipes floating around the web recently, and I thought I should check it out.  I used ingredients from one cake recipe, substituting brown butter for regular, and tweaked the standard cream cheese frosting recipe.  See the little brown bits in the frosting and cake?  Those provide the yummy nutty flavor!

Make brown butter earlier enough to let it solidify in the fridge.  You'll need 2 sticks, one for the cake and one for the frosting.  How to brown butter.

Ingredients:

Cake:

2 cups all-purpose flour, spooned and leveled, sifted after measuring

1 tablespoon baking powder

1 teaspoon salt 

1 + 1/4 cup sugar 

1/2 cup brown butter, room temperature

1 cup buttermilk or milk with 1 T. vinegar added 

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

2 eggs 

Preheat oven to 325 degrees.  In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, and salt.  Set aside.  In a large mixing bowl, cream butter and sugar until thoroughly combined and possibly fluffy.  Add eggs one at a time. Combine thoroughly, scraping the sides of the bowl. Add vanilla.  On slow speed, mix in half of the buttermilk/sour milk and half of the flour, then the remaining.  Beat on high speed for at least 3 minutes, scraping the sides of the bowl. 

Cream Cheese Frosting:

8 ounces cream cheese, room temperature

8 tablespoons brown butter, cut into pieces, room temperature

1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

1 cup powdered sugar, plus extra if needed

Beat cream cheese and brown butter together.  Add vanilla.  Gradually add powdered sugar.  

NOTE:  I've been meaning to post this for awhile now.  I've listed the ingredients and general instructions, but didn't go step by step, etc., assuming you've baked before.  Please disregard any small errors and alert me to large ones.