brown butter and vanilla bean layer cake

I made this cake last Christmas, missed what I felt like was an appropriate window of time to post a cake with white chocolate trees, and now here we are in December 2019.  A classic cake still plays a year later though and I would happily style it the same way.I’m sure I got the idea for the white chocolate trees by binge watching every season of the Great British Bake Off, as I do every few days.  I tested them a few weeks before, which has been a rule implemented by my family after one (twelve) baking break downs too many when something doesn’t turn out as I imagined. To make the trees, I melted down a few bars of white chocolate and then piped the shapes out onto pieces of parchment paper to cool.  Half were dusted with powdered sugar, half I left plain, and one entire forest full shattered when I tried to peel them off the parchment, if I’m being honest.The cake itself is made with brown butter, giving it a deeper more caramelized flavor than with traditional butter.  The browned butter also gives the cake a richer flavor, which meant I wanted tanginess in the frosting to cut some of that depth.  I used cream cheese frosting as a base and also splurged on vanilla bean paste, which I swear does really make a difference. I left the sides of the cake unfrosted so the trees could stand out but I fully support if you want a white christmas situation and cover the whole thing.This last photo is for good measure because my dad doesn’t mess around with Christmas decorations and the effort deserves to be shared.

brown butter and vanilla bean layer cake

(cake layers from liv for cake)

brown butter cake

2 1/4 cups all purpose flour

2 tsp baking powder

3/4 tsp salt

3/4 cup brown butter room temperature, solid

1 cup granulated sugar

1/2 cup light brown sugar, packed

3 large eggs room temperature

1 1/2 tsp vanilla

1 cup milk room temperature

vanilla bean cream cheese frosting

2 8oz packages of cream cheese, room temperature

1/2 cup brown butter, solidified to room temperature

1 1/2 lbs powdered sugar (possibly less, check consistency as you go)

3 teaspoons vanilla paste

pinch of salt

white chocolate trees

2-3 bars white chocolate, melted (for me I counted on extra for mistakes)

piping bag or plastic bag

parchment paper

powdered sugar for dusting

directions

A few hours (or a day) before you plan to make your cake, brown your butter by placing three sticks of butter in a saucepan.  You will later divide this into 3/4 a cup for the cake and 1/2 cup for the frosting. Some of the volume with cook off as the butter foams so just measure everything out once it’s finished. You want to take the butter off the heat once it smells nutty and rich and you can see brown flecks throughout. Let it cool to room temperature on the counter or much quicker in the fridge.  The brown bits will settle as it cools so make sure to scrape those into the final product because that’s where all the flavor is.

When the butter is how it needs to be, preheat your oven to 350 degrees.  Butter two 8×3 inch cake rounds and line the bottoms with parchment paper.

In a medium bowl, whisk together your flour, baking powder, and salt.  In your stand mixer, cream your butter and sugar until light and fluffy, scraping down the bowl as you go.  Add in the eggs once at a time until fully combined.  Alternate adding in your flour mixture and the room temperature milk, starting and ending with the flour in 3 additions.  Make sure it’s fully mixed after each addition.

Divide your batter evenly into your prepared pans and bake 40-45 minutes.  Check for doneness when the middle of the cake springs back to the touch.  Let the cakes cool in the pan for 10 minutes and then turn out onto a wire cooling rack to cool the rest of the way.

While your cakes cool, prepare your frosting by first whipping together your brown butter and cream cheese until fully blended together.  Next add in your vanilla bean paste and pinch of salt.  Finally, slowly add in your powdered sugar until you’ve reached your desired consistency. As this is a tall cake, you’ll want it stiff enough to hold up to the weight of the layers.

To assemble your cake, divide each cake layer in two, and fill with cream cheese frosting between the layers.  The white chocolate trees can be secured to the cake with a few dots of frosting.

Enjoy : )