Brown Butter Cake

Looking to elevate a standard yellow cake to extraordinary levels? Just add brown butter. A light sponge with oodles of flavor, this Brown Butter Cake will become your new favorite!

 

What is Browned Butter?

It is basically burnt butter, also known as beurre noisette, is unsalted butter with browned milk solids and evaporated water. It takes on a distinctly different aroma and flavor than regular butter adding layers of sophistication and depth.

When added to a vanilla cake, it offers a whole new flavor profile. Many recipes that call for regular butter can also use browned butter to amplify and change the flavor.

Ingredients

​This brown butter cake recipe only requires a handful of simple ingredients that you might already have on hand!

Cake

• Unsalted butter – I like to use unsalted butter so that I’m able to control the amount of salt in the recipe.
• Flour – All you need is all purpose flour. No special cake flour needed for this delicious cake. Plus you’ll need a little bit to dust the pan.
• Baking powder – This will act as a leavening agent to give our chocolate cake recipe the perfect rise and be nice and fluffy.
• Salt – Just a pinch is all you need. If you used salted butter, you can omit this completely. No one likes a salty cake!
• Vanilla bean paste – Sure, you could use regular vanilla extract, but vanilla bean paste adds a richer, warmer flavor to the cake layers. 
• Egg yolks – Not only will you use whole eggs, but you will also use egg yolks too. Save the egg whites for making meringue or something fun! 
• Whole milk – You want the milk to be room temperature. I prefer to use whole milk, I’ve never tried to use a milk alternative.

Dark Chocolate Filling

• Unflavored gelatin – This needs to be unsweetened and not flavored, It helps to gives a more sturdy texture rather than just a whipped frosting.
• Heavy whipping cream – Make sure this is chilled. When whipped for several minutes, it gives this filling a light and fluffy texture.
• Coffee liqueur – This is optional, but it really helps to bring out that bold chocolate taste. It’s the secret ingredient for many chefs and will help even the most bland cocoa powder taste like a million bucks.
• Egg yolks – We only need the yolks for this filling. Save the egg whites for another recipe like divinity candy.
• Sugar – We’re using bittersweet chocolate, so we need a little bit of white sugar to sweeten the filling.
• Pinch of salt – Adding a little bit of salt to baked goods helps to bring out the natural flavors and balance sweetness.
• Bittersweet chocolate – You want this to be melted and cooled. This is what gives this filling the rich, chocolatey flavor.
• Chocolate buttercream frosting – You can make your own buttercream with my recipe, or buy a jar from the store.

Variations

There are plenty of ways you can make this brown butter cake your own. Here are a few suggestions.

• Frosting – I like to use a chocolate frosting for this cake recipe, but you can change it up! A brown butter buttercream, or even a swiss meringue buttercream with vanilla extract would be perfect.
• Add ins – Instead of a plain cake, you could mix in things like chocolate chips, vanilla beans or chopped nuts like pecans or walnuts.
• Topping – Top this cake with any number of dessert sauces! I personally like using caramel sauce or butterscotch sauce for a butterscotch cake.
• Serving – You can, of course, serve this cake as is. But I also like to serve mine with a scoop of vanilla ice cream.

How to Make Brown Butter Cake

Making this cake might be easier than you think!

Cake

1. Prepare oven and pans. Preheat the oven and coat two round cake pans with cooking spray. Line the bottoms of each with parchment paper. Spray parchment paper with cooking spray as well. Dust both pans with flour, tapping out the excess.
2. Brown butter. In a medium saucepan, melt butter. Cook over low heat, stirring occasionally, until the milk solids turn brown and the butter smells nutty. Scrape the melted butter and brown bits into a large heatproof bowl. Set the bowl in an ice water bath until the butter begins to solidify around the edge.
3. Dry ingredients. In a medium mixing bowl whisk all-purpose flour with the baking powder and salt.
4. Beat butter. Remove the bowl from the ice water and scrape up the hardened butter. Transfer the butter to a room temperature bowl and beat until creamy,. The color of the butter will lighten as you beat. 
5. Add remining ingredients. Add the sugar and vanilla pods (or extract) and beat at medium-high speed until fluffy. Beat in egg yolks followed by the whole eggs. Beat in flour mixture and milk in three alternating additions.
6. Bake. Pour the cake batter into prepared pans and bake in the center of the oven, rotating the pans halfway through baking, until the cakes are golden and they pass the toothpick test. 
7. Cool. Let cake cool in pans for 20 minutes. Invert them onto a rack to let them cool completely. Peel off the parchment paper.

Dark Chocolate Mousse Filling

1. Bloom gelatin. In a small bowl, sprinkle gelatin over the water and let stand until softened.
2. Beat cream. Meanwhile, in a medium bowl beat cream until softly whipped. Refrigerate until chilled.
3. Add hot coffee liqueur to gelatin. In a small, microwave-safe bowl, heat coffee liqueur at high power until hot. Stir in softened gelatin until dissolved. 
4. Beat yolks and sugar. In another medium bowl, beat the egg yolks with sugar and salt at high speed until pale and thickened. While beating yolks, beat in coffee-gelatin liquid. 
5. Beat in melted chocolate. Using a rubber spatula, fold in whipped cream in 2 additions. Scrape mousse into a bowl, cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate or freeze until firm enough to spread easily.

Assemble

1. Frost. Frost the outside of the cake with buttercream, sprinkle powdered sugar
2. Layer cake. Set one cake layer on a platter. Spread the mousse filling on top, sprinkle with powdered sugar, and cover with the second cake layer. 

Have you ever wondered how to get flat cakes? Check out Liv for Cake’s easy guide to flat top cakes and preventing the ugly dome or having to lop off buttery cake delicious. Below is my favorite tool that she uses as well.

Storage and Freezing

How to Store

You do not need to keep it chilled. In fact, chilling cakes can dry them out faster. I recommend storing covered with plastic wrap or in an airtight container at room temperature and then eating them up fast.

Can I Freeze Brown Butter Cake?

This is a tricky one. You can store this cake in the freezer, but I do not recommend freezing the frosting.

More Homemade Cakes

There is noting quite like homemade baked gods. If you’re looking for inspiration, here are some of our favorites.