Brown Butter Pound Cake

I have lots of favourites in the kitchen, but brown butter is right up there on my list of CANNOT/DO-NOT-WANT-TO-LIVE-IN-A-WORLD-WITHOUTs.

Use the best butter you can get your hands on. I live in dairy country (every man, woman, child and their dog is a dairy farmer) so I have a hotline to the good stuff, so that’s what I use. You can throw this cake together in a jiffy… and be eating it by the time the kids get home from school… or before, if you play your cards right.

Go on… You know you want to.



Brown Butter Pound Cake
slightly adapted from here

For the Cake:
185g unsalted butter, chopped
330g golden caster sugar
3 eggs
2 teaspoon vanilla extract
240g sour cream
335g “00” flour , sifted
1 1/2 teaspoon baking powder, sifted
180ml full-cream milk

For the Frosting:
100g unsalted butter, chopped
1 1/2 cups icing sugar, sifted
2 tablespoons sour cream

Make the Cake:
Preheat the oven to 160C. Line a 23 cm x 13 cm loaf pan with a cake liner, or grease and line it with baking paper. Set aside.

Put the butter into a saucepan and melt over high heat. Cook for 3 – 4 minutes, until foamy and golden and beginning to smell nutty. Pour it into a shallow tray and put it in the refrigerator for about 20 minutes, until cold and starting to firm p.

Scrape the brown butter into the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, add the sugar and beat on medium-high for about 5 minutes, until pale and fluffy. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Add the vanilla and sour cream and beat on low until just incorporated. Add the flour, baking powder and milk and beat until just combined.

Spoon the batter into the prepared pan. Don’t overfill the pan. It should come at least 1.5cm below the rim. I had a little batter leftover.

Bake for about 60 – 70 minutes. It’s done when a skewer inserted into the middle of the cake comes out clean.

Allow the cake to cool in the pan for 10 minutes before transferring it to a wire rack to cool completely.

Make the Frosting:
Put the butter into a saucepan and melt over high heat. Cook for 3 – 4 minutes, until foamy and golden and beginning to smell nutty. Pour into a bowl, add the icing sugar and enough milk to make a spreadable frosting. Whisk until smooth and refrigerate until spreadable. Transfer to the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment and beat until pale and light.

Spread the frosting evenly over the cooled cake.