Brown Butter Cake Recipe

Course: Dessert

Cuisine: American

Keyword: brown butter cake, cake from scratch

Prep Time: 1

Cook Time: 30

Cooling Time: 45

Total Time: 1 30

Servings:

Calories: 563kcal

Author: Chef Jessica Anne

Brown Butter Cake is an easy cake made from scratch using delicious brown butter, chocolate mousse filling and chocolate buttercream frosting.

Preheat the oven to 325°F. Coat two 8-inch round cake pans with vegetable shortening and line the bottoms of each with parchment paper. Dust both pans with flour, tapping out the excess.
In a medium saucepan, melt the butter over low heat, stirring occasionally, until the milk solids turn brown and the butter smells nutty, approximately 10 minutes. Scrape the melted butter and browned bits into a large heatproof bowl. Set the bowl in an ice water bath until the butter begins to solidify around the edge, approximately 8 minutes.
In a medium mixing bowl whisk 2 1/4 cups of all-purpose flour with the baking powder and salt.
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, 3-4 minutes, the color of the butter will lighten as you beat.
Add the sugar and vanilla and beat at medium-high speed until fluffy, about 3 minutes. Beat in the egg yolks followed by the whole eggs.
Stir in the dry ingredients and milk in 3 alternating additions.
Pour the cake batter into the prepared pans and bake in the center of the oven for about 40 minutes, rotating the pans halfway through baking, until the cakes are golden and they pass the toothpick test. Cool the cakes in the pans for 20 minutes. Invert them onto a rack to let them cool completely. Peel off the parchment paper.
Assemble Dark Chocolate Mousse filling (see below) and Chocolate Buttercream Frosting (click link in ingredient list or use premade).

In a small bowl, sprinkle the gelatin over the water and let stand until softened.
Meanwhile, in a medium bowl beat cream until softly whipped. Refrigerate until chilled, about 10 minutes.
In a small, microwave-safe bowl, heat the coffee liqueur at high power until hot, about 45 seconds. Stir in softened gelatin until dissolved. You might need to use a spatula to scrape up gelatin as it tends to stick to the bowl and peel off.
In another medium bowl, beat the egg yolks with sugar and salt at high speed until pale and thickened, 5 minutes. While beating yolks, beat in coffee-gelatin liquid. 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. If you refrigerate too long or make this portion ahead of time, let stand at room temperature to soften. Do NOT microwave

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