Brown Butter Cake with Coffee Glaze

This is simply the most wonderful Brown Butter Cake ever! It has a moist crumb, can be adapted to cupcakes or loaf pan, and can be frozen. The coffee glaze adds a fabulous extra layer of flavor.

I don’t know where to start with how good this cake is, so let’s just say that your little vanilla butter cake got upgraded and this brown butter cake is the result.

Butter cake is the quintessential yellow cake, the one we make for birthdays and picnics, the one that can hold any flavor of filling and glaze, don’t you agree? Well, this one is the big, sophisticated sister.

This cake has 3 parts to it:

• Brown butter: making it is an extra step but so worth it. A life changer.
• Vanilla butter cake batter: that is made exceptional by the addition of said brown butter.
• Coffee glaze: that is optional. Or maybe not. Maybe it pairs so well you will just have to buy the combo.

Let’s start at the beginning, with the butter.

What is brown butter?

The short version is what the name implies: butter that is browned.

Also known as the French beurre noisette (translated as hazelnut butter), it is unsalted butter that is heated or cooked long enough for the water (yes, butter has water in it, sometimes a lot) to evaporate.
This leaves behind the solids that start to brown, turning golden or amber in color (image 3 below), and with a wonderful nutty aroma (hence the hazelnut reference).

The result is a butter with a deep nutty vanilla flavor unlike anything else. Truly worth making even though it’s an extra step.

How to make brown butter.

If you’ve never made brown butter (where have you been?!) it’s really simple.

1. Melt butter in a medium saucepan with tall sides (a few inches or so depending on the amount of butter you’re browning) over medium heat.
2. It will melt and will start to bubble and make a furious noise (this will be louder depending on the amount of water the butter has).
3. Then, the bubbles will become smaller and it will gradually stop chirping (really, it’s a chirping noise, you’ll see) and will foam quite a bit (images 1 and 2 above).
4. Be careful as it will start browning underneath the foam. You will smell a nutty aroma.
5. It’s very important that you split the foam with the spoon or spatula you’re using and see that it doesn’t burn. You want it to be an amber color. Similar to caramel, it goes from amber to burned in a short moment, so be careful.
6. Take it out and put it in a shallow pan so it stops cooking (image 3 above).
7. Allow to cool and refrigerate until cold. It doesn’t need to solidify completely (image 4 above), you want it soft (for this recipe).

So, we have our brown butter.

The batter itself is a very simple vanilla cake, a fluffier pound cake of sorts.
I love making it as a bundt cake like the images in this recipe, or in a loaf cake pan (like this Coconut Pecan Loaf), which is very popular here in Buenos Aires, where I live. This recipe yields 2, one for now and one to be frozen for later. Now, that’s a good idea, isn’t it?

Now, about the coffee glaze.

I choose a coffee-flavored glaze because I think it adds to this cake’s simplicity without overpowering it.

It’s a simple powdered sugar glaze made with strong prepared espresso coffee (image below). The ratio (powdered sugar and liquid of choice) I give in the recipe can be varied, as it happens any time you make this kind of glaze. You might want it to drip more or less down the sides, or just be a thin layer, as with this Lemon Cream Cake.

Variations for the powdered sugar glaze for this cake:

• Orange juice or orange liquor
• Maple syrup
• Ginger syrup
• Frangelico, hazelnut liquor
• Kahlua or other coffee liquor

Tips and tricks for this recipe:

• Brown butter: you can make it in advance. I am so in love with it, I usually brown a pound of it, put it back in the fridge and simply use it as regular butter for whatever cake/cookie/shortbread I’m making next.
• Cake pans: bundt cakes are always a favorite of mine but you can also make 2 loaf cakes from this recipe.
• How long does it keep: If well wrapped, it keeps a few days at room t° (not scorching obviously), and up to 1 month in the freezer.
• Gift giving: this is a great cake to give as a gift, because it’s simple yet has a sensational flavor, but it’s vanilla, so it’s hard to find someone who doesn’t like it. I like to make small loaf cakes (this recipe yields 4) to take over to friend’s houses when they invite me over.

This brown butter cake with coffee glaze is simple, tastes beyond amazing, and can be doubled or divided in half, depending on how many you need to feed.

And a sprinkle of powdered sugar on top does the trick too, the cake by itself is that good. But the coffee glaze makes it outstanding.

I’m such a huge fan of this marvelous butter I even use it for pasta and as a base for cheesecake, among other things.

A few recipes you might like:

Corn Asparagus Pasta brown butter Breadcrumbs
Pumpkin Ricotta Gnocchi
Passion Fruit Lemon No-Bake Cheesecake
Brown Butter Coffee Cake
Bourbon Brown Butter Pecan Pie

Brown Butter Cake with Coffee Glaze

★★★★★ 5 from 2 reviews

• Author: Paula Montenegro
• Prep Time: 30 minutes
• Cook Time: 50 minutes
• Total Time: 1 hour 20 minutes
• Yield: 10 slices 1x
• Category: cakes
• Method: baking
• Cuisine: American

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Description

A wonderful vanilla cake with the unmistakable flavor of brown butter and a perfect coffee glaze.

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Scale 1x2x3x

Ingredients

For the cake:

• 1 cup (225g) butter, browned
• 3/4 cup (180ml) buttermilk, at room tº
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 2 cups (280g) cake or all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 1/2 cups (300g) sugar (I use brown sometimes)
• 2 eggs (at room tº)

For the glaze:

• 1 cup powdered sugar
• 2–3 tablespoons strong coffee

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Instructions

To make brown butter:

1. Melt butter in a medium saucepan with tall sides (a few inches or so depending on the amount of butter you’re browning) over medium heat.
2. It will melt and will start to bubble and make a furious noise (this will be louder depending on the amount of water the butter has).
3. Then, the bubbles will become smaller and it will gradually stop chirping (really, it’s a chirping noise, you’ll see) and will foam quite a bit (images 1 and 2 above).
4. Be careful as it will start browning underneath the foam. You will smell a nutty aroma.
5. It’s very important that you split the foam with the spoon or spatula you’re using and see that it doesn’t burn. You want it to be an amber color. Similar to caramel, it goes from amber to burned in a short moment, so be careful.
6. Take it out and put it in a shallow pan so it stops cooking.
7. Allow to cool and refrigerate until cold. It doesn’t need to solidify completely (image 4 above), you want it soft.

For the cake:

1. Sift together flour, baking powder, and salt. Reserve. (I measure the ingredients and sift it directly when adding them to the butter mixture).
2. Preheat oven to 350ºF (180ºC). Butter or spray a large bundt cake pan. Dust with flour or fine breadcrumbs. (If using one of the intricate pattern new bundt pans the best way is to use baking spray, the one that comes with flour incorporated. If not, butter it carefully with a brush (every angle, every corner), dust with flour shaking off excess and put it in the fridge while you make the batter. Use it directly. It will unmold without a problem).
3. In a large bowl, beat brown butter while gradually adding the sugar for 3 minutes, until light and airy.
4. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition.
5. Add the dry ingredients in 3 parts, alternating with the milk and vanilla in 2 parts. Don’t overbeat as it will make the cake tough.
6. Put the batter in the prepared pan and bake for 40 to 50 minutes, until a tester comes out clean. Let cool for a few minutes and carefully unmold onto a metal rack. Let cool completely before glazing.

For the glaze:

1. Mix powdered sugar and coffee until you have a spreadable, honey-like consistency. Pour over the cold cake and let it drip down the sides.

Store wrapped in film or covered.

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Notes

• Brown butter: You need to cool down the brown butter. Take into account that extra prep time. And you can make it in advance. I am so in love with it, I usually brown a pound of it, put it back in the fridge and simply use it as regular butter for whatever cake/cookie/shortbread I’m making next.
• Cake pans: Bundt cakes are always a favorite of mine but you can also make 2 loaf cakes from this recipe.
• How long does it keep: If well wrapped, it keeps a few days at room t° (not scorching obviously), and up to 1 month in the freezer.
• Glaze: the coffee glaze pairs wonderfully, but you can also use tangerine juice, orange juice or orange liquor, maple syrup, Frangelico or other hazelnut liquor, Kahlua or other coffee liquor.
• Gift giving: this is a great cake to give as a gift, because it’s simple yet has a sensational flavor, but it’s vanilla, so it’s hard to find someone who doesn’t like it. I like to make small loaf cakes (this recipe yields 4) to take over to friend’s houses when they invite me over.

Keywords: brown butter cake, butter cake

Recipe adapted from Baking for all Seasons, by Flo Braker, a cookbook you should have if you like baking.

Paula Montenegro

A baker for more than 30 years, I love testing recipes and sharing the best of what I find. I'm mostly self-taught with some time spent in baking school. I believe we can all be bakers and cooks with the right instructions and simple ingredients. If you're craving easy recipes with amazing results, you're in the right place. Let's get into the kitchen!