Brown Butter Cake with Vanilla Bean Cream and Cherries

By vealam

Ingredients

• For the Cake:
• 150 g (1 1/3 sticks) butter (I used slightly salted but unsalted is also fine)
• 180 g (approx 1 & 1/4 cups) plain/all-purpose flour
• 2 tsp baking powder
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 120 ml (about 1/2 cup) milk
• 1 tsp vanilla bean paste/pure vanilla extract
• 175 g (approx 3/4 cup) granulated sugar (I used caster/superfine)
• 2 large eggs
• For the cream:
• 300 ml (about 1 1/4 cups) thickened cream, cold
• 1 vanilla bean pod, split and seeds scraped (or 1 tsp vanilla bean paste/pure vanilla bean extract)
• 1/4 cup icing/confectioner's sugar, sifted
• To decorate: Fresh cherries or other fruit

Details

Servings 8
Adapted from raspberricupcakes.com

Preparation

Step 1

Prepare the brown butter ahead of time as you will need to chill it:
Place butter in a small saucepan on low heat and stir until it melts completely.
Continue cooking, stirring frequently until the milk solids turn brown and the butter smells nutty, about 4 minutes longer. Take care not to burn.
Scrape the melted butter and browned bits into small bowl and chill until solidified (about half an hour in the freezer, an hour or so in the fridge). When ready to make cake, remove from the fridge long enough that the butter is soft enough to be beaten with an electric mixer.

For the cake:
Preheat oven to 180°C (350°F) and grease an 18cm (7 inch) round cake tin (you can also use 20cm/8inch). Line the base of tin with baking paper.
Combine flour, baking powder and salt in a medium bowl and set aside. Mix milk and vanilla together in a measuring jug.
Using an electric mixer on low speed, beat sugar and brown butter in a large bowl until blended. Increase speed to high and beat well until very pale and creamy, at least 5 minutes.
Reduce speed to medium low, add eggs 1 at a time, beating well after each addition.
Alternately add flour mix and milk mixture, beginning and ending with flour mixture (I did it by adding 1/4 of of the dry mixture followed by 1/3 of the wet mixture at a time). Beat until smooth, occasionally scraping bowl with a spatula.
Pour mixture into prepared tin and bake until a skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean and the outside is golden, about 35-40 minutes. Take cake not to overbake or cake will be dry.
Cool in tin for 15 minutes, then carefully turn out on to a wire rack to cool completely. Best served freshly baked and cooled but can be chilled in an airtight container for a couple of days.

For the cream:
300ml (about 1 1/4 cups) thickened cream, cold
1 vanilla bean pod, split and seeds scraped (or 1 tsp vanilla bean paste/pure vanilla bean extract)
1/4 cup icing/confectioner's sugar, sifted

To decorate:
(Only whip cream when ready to serve and cake is at room temperature.) Place cream in a large mixing bowl with vanilla bean seeds and icing sugar.
Beat with an electric mixer on high speed until it reaches soft peaks. Take care not to overmix.
Use a spatula to spread over the top of your cake.
Decorate with fresh cherries (you can pit them and remove their stems to make it easier to eat but I love the look of whole cherries), or other fruit. Best eaten with a cup of tea.