Browned Butter Cake with Cinnamon Chocolate Frosting

I still remember the first time I smelled brown butter. It was 2 years ago, when I made these brown butter toffee blondies. I just couldn’t believe butter could smell like that. So nutty, so different from butter in its normal state. I’ve been smitten with it since.



So when I was trying to find a cake to go with my favorite frosting ever, brown butter was the first thing I thought of. Brown butter cake with cinnamon chocolate frosting? Sounded perfect to me.



And oh, it is. I’m in love with this cake. I want to bake it every day. I’m not the biggest frosting fan in the world, but I can’t help licking this off the spatula. There’s just something about chocolate and cinnamon together that makes me want to do a happy dance.

Both of these recipes are from one of my favorite blogs, the little red house. Sheena is adorable and lovely and takes beautiful pictures. Be sure to hop over there and say hi.



Brown Butter Cake with Cinnamon Chocolate Frosting
From the little red house

(the cake recipe is for cupcakes, but if you’d like to make cake, just pour the batter into two cake pans and bake them for about 30 minutes)

Cake
2 cups sugar
4 eggs
1 cup milk
3/4 cup browned butter*
1 tsp vanilla
2-1/2 cups all-purpose flour
2-1/4 tsp baking powder


*To brown butter:
Heat pan on medium heat.
Cut butter in to pieces and melt in pan.
Stir continuously. Butter will foam up.
After foam subsides, small brown flecks will start to appear in bottom of pan.
Continue stirring, until butter has reached a nice brown color, and nutty aroma.
When you want to lick the spoon, you know it's ready.
Turn the heat all the way down.



Preheat oven to 350°
Prepare cupcake pans with liners.
Beat sugar and eggs together until slightly thickened, about a minute.
Add milk, browned butter, and vanilla, stirring just until combined.
Add flour and baking powder, beating until well mixed--about a minute. Don't over mix.

Bake in preheated oven for 18-22 minutes, until tops are springy to the touch or a toothpick poked into the center comes out clean.
Remove from cupcake pan and allow to cool completely before frosting.

Frosting
(I doubled this for my cake, and I also went about it a bit differently because I didn’t want super thick icing). After beating the butter, I added the cocoa, cinnamon and vanilla, and mixed it in. Then I added the cooled chocolate, and then about a cup of powdered sugar.)

5oz good quality semisweet or bittersweet chocolate
8 TBS butter, at room temperature
3 cups powdered sugar
2TBS baking cocoa
1 tsp mexican vanilla
1/2 tsp cinnamon
4-8 TBS milk

Melt chocolate in a double boiler and allow to cool to room temperature.
Beat in butter until creamy. Add in melted chocolate.
Add powdered sugar, baking cocoa, cinnamon and vanilla.
Slowly beat in milk 1TBS at a time until you reach desired consistency.

enjoy!