Brown butter cake is a twist on traditional vanilla layer cake. It boosts rich, nutty flavors, the way you think butter should taste. This cake finishes with a brown butter frosting, playful bunny ears, fresh flowers, and candy eggs.
Brown Butter Cake: Enhanced Butter Flavor
If you’re on the hunt for a cake that elevates traditional flavors to new heights, look no further than this brown butter cake. When you brown butter, it takes on a more pronounced buttery flavor and aroma. This adds a depth that you can’t achieve with regular butter, elevating the cake’s flavor and adding notes of caramel. Furthermore, this cake has a brown-butter vanilla buttercream frosting, further intensifying the brown-butter flavor.
The Allure of Brown Butter
First and foremost, the star ingredient in a brown butter cake is, of course, the brown butter. This is something you can easily make. Of course, if you don’t want to tackle this task, you can purchase it online. However, because you need so much brown butter for this recipe, it’s cost-effective to make it yourself. Click here to see how to brown butter.
Moisture Loss
Before you begin, understand that when you brown butter, you lose moisture, which affects the butter’s final volume. Therefore, if the recipe calls for 1 cup of brown butter, it requires more than a cup of butter to yield 1 cup of browned butter. Always brown the butter and let it harden. Then measure or weigh it for your recipe.
Controlling Browning
When you brown butter, the milk solids are what toast and turn brown. Fortunately, you can control the results for different recipes. If you like the flavor of a light golden color, remove the butter from the heat as soon as you see it change color. For a darker color, cook it longer. Be aware that the butter solids can easily go from perfectly dark brown to burnt in seconds. It is better to remove the butter from the heat early, as it will continue to brown after being removed. Then pour the butter into a cool, heatproof bowl to prevent further browning.
Using Baking Strips for the Cake Layers
Layer cakes stack better when the layers bake up flat. You can cut off the top domes before frosting, or use baking strips to help reduce the peaks. These damp strips are secured around the outsides of the cake pans. Then, as the layers cook, the strips’ moisture prevents the outside of the cake from cooking faster than the center, thus preventing a middle dome.
Steps for Making the Layer Cakes
Here are the basic steps for making this cake. You will need a mixer to cream the butter and sugar. Plan ahead to have dairy ingredients at room temperature. Also, be sure to shake the buttermilk container before pouring, as buttermilk can separate while sitting.
Decorating Your Brown Butter Cake
If you’re planning a gathering or special event, this is a good cake to decorate. For a spring celebration, adding bunny ears to your cake is a fun touch. Wrap the insertion spike in plastic wrap before inserting the ears into the cake. Consider adding fresh or faux flowers, such as small roses, around the ears and around the bottom of the cake. Leave enough of the flower stem to dip into melted white chocolate, which will seal the end of the flower. Let the chocolate dry, and then insert the flower ends into the frosting. Finish the decorations by adding colorful chocolate eggs.
Other Recipes You Might Enjoy
Click on each name or photo to link to the recipe.
Brown Butter Cake
Equipment
- mixer
- (3) 8-inch cake pans
- parchment paper or precut parchment paper rounds
- bunny ears (optional)
Ingredients
Brown Butter Cake
- 3 cups cake flour
- 1 tablespoon baking powder
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 cup butter, browned, room temperature (see notes for link to browning butter)
- 2 cups sugar
- 3 large eggs, room temperature
- 1 tablespoon vanilla bean paste (or beans from 1 pod)
- 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
- 1 cup buttermilk, room temperature, and shaken
- ½ cup sour cream, room temperature (use full-fat)
Brown Butter Frosting
- 1 ½ cups butter, browned and softened
- 1 tablespoon vanilla bean paste
- 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
- 1 pinch of salt
- 4 ¼ cups confectioners' sugar (if you like a sweeter frosting, add 5 cups)
- 5 tablespoons whole milk or half-and-half
Decorations
- edible fresh flowers, washed and air-dried
- ⅛ cup white chocolate chips
- assorted colors of candy eggs
Instructions
Brown Butter Cake
- Preheat the oven to 350°F. Grease and flour the cake pans.
- Cut three rounds of parchment paper and place them flat in the bottom of the cake pans. (You can use the bottom of a pan to trace a circle.)
- Sift the flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt in a large mixing bowl. Whisk to combine. Set aside.
- In a mixing bowl, cream the butter and sugar with a mixer until light and fluffy, about 2 minutes. Scrape down the sides, ensuring the butter and sugar are well combined.
- Add the eggs and egg whites one at a time, beating after each addition, just until combined.
- Stir in the vanilla bean paste and extract.
- Stir together the buttermilk and sour cream. Then, alternate adding the flour and buttermilk mixture, beginning and ending with flour, incorporating a little of each at a time while beating between additions. Be careful not to overbeat the batter.
- Divide the batter evenly among the three pans. To promote even cooking and ensure the cakes are flat, use baking strips (see the note below for an easy alternative).
- Bake for 28 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean or with crumbs. (If using baking strips, you may need to add extra minutes to the cooking time.) Cool on racks for a few minutes. Then remove the cakes from the pans and lift the parchment paper from the bottom of each cake. Cool completely before frosting.
Brown Butter Frosting
- Beat the butter, vanilla paste, extract, and salt together until smooth.
- Add the powdered sugar a little at a time, alternating with the milk, beating between each addition. Scape down the sides of the mixing bowl, then beat the frosting for 3-4 minutes until smooth.
Decorations
- Frost the cake, adding frosting between the layers. Wrap plastic wrap around the stem of the bunny ears and insert it in the center of the cake.
- Melt the white chocolate in the microwave for 30 seconds on high. Stir until melted. Microwave for an extra 30 seconds if needed.
- Cut the flower stems, leaving about an inch to dip in the melted chocolate. Place the flowers around the bunny ears and around the bottom of the cake.
- Fill in with candy eggs between the flowers.
Notes
Browning Butter
Click here to link to a post on browning butter.Baking Strips (optional)
Attach damp baking strips around the cake pan before baking to prevent a dome in the middle. You can buy these online or at craft stores in the cake-baking section, or make your own.Making Baking Strips
To make a baking strip, follow these steps:- Cut a strip from an old towel. This strip should be long enough to fit around your cake pan and sufficient to fold over and make a double thickness.
- Wet and wring out the strip until it is damp but not dripping.
- Wrap the strip around the pan, overlapping the ends.
- Pin the strip with safety pins until it fits securely around the pan.
- Repeat until each pan has a baking strip.
- Fill the pans with batter and bake until a toothpick inserted comes out clean or with crumbs. This method prevents the cake’s sides from baking faster than the middle. You may need to add baking time until the toothpick test shows the cake is done.