Brown Butter Pound Cake (melts in your mouth!)

In appearance, this is a basic vanilla cake, unassuming and plain.

And in a sense, it is. Until you bite into it. Brown butter deepens the vanilla flavor to a different level.

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, and with a wonderful nutty aroma (hence the hazelnut reference).

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

For more information on this outstanding ingredient, we have a whole post on how to make brown butter.

Ingredients

• Unsalted butter.
• Sugar: use granulated white sugar.
• Eggs + egg yolk: fresh, large
• Vanilla: I use pure vanilla extract or pure vanilla paste when available, but a good vanilla essence (artificially flavored) also works. 
• Milk.
• Flour: cake flour gives it a smoother texture, but all-purpose flour is fine if that's all you have.
• Salt: I like to use kosher salt when baking. But regular table salt works just fine.
• Baking powder: is used as leavener to help the cake rise, so make sure it isn't expired. 

See the recipe card at the end of this post for quantities.

How to make brown butter

It's very simple.

It involves melting the butter and letting the water content evaporate until it turns amber-colored and gives out a nutty aroma.

It will foam, bubble up, and make chirping noises sometimes. And then all that will subside, and a golden-colored liquid will appear. That's your brown butter. Liquid gold.

How to make this pound cake

It's a butter cake that involves the creaming method.

It uses an extra yolk for richness and brown butter. The rest is the same method as any other vanilla butter cake recipe.

Cream the soft butter with sugar for a few minutes. Don't skimp on the time specified in the recipe. Add eggs and beat until very well incorporated.

The flavorings, dry ingredients, and wet ones are added alternating to ensure they integrate well.

Make sure you have the right-sized pan.

Never fill them more than ⅔ of their capacity (¾ at the most). This will ensure they have space to rise and bake as they should.

Vintage Kitchen tip: make sure ingredients are at room temperature. Cream the butter and sugar for several minutes as specified in the recipe card. This aerates the batter helping the cake rise during baking.

Variations

This is a fabulous cake on its own, but there are ways to enhance it if you want other flavors.

• Spices: vanilla and brown butter go well with warm ground spices like cinnamon, allspice, apple pie mix, and pumpkin pie mix.
• Nuts: since the butter is nutty after being browned, you can add a few tablespoons of chopped walnuts, pecans, or hazelnuts.
• Glaze: make a powdered sugar glaze using melted brown butter as the liquid part. Simply mix the sugar with a few teaspoons of butter until it's like thick honey. Pour over the cooled cake and let it drip down the sides.

Storage

• Room temperature: you can keep it for three days (maybe a little more). Always well covered with plastic wrap or a cake dome to prevent drying.
• Refrigerator: cover and keep it in the fridge for a week.
• Freezer: it keeps well frozen for a month if well wrapped. I use plastic wrap first and then aluminum foil. Check our freezer baking & desserts guide for more details.

How to serve this pound cake

• Plain: today's recipe is especially good to eat with just a dusting of powdered sugar.
• Cream and berries: a thick slice topped with a dollop of whipped cream, fresh berries or berry compote, or strawberry sauce. It's a crowd-pleasing dessert.
• Caramelized fruit and preserves: I serve it with caramelized figs when in season. Use other stone fruit, like the ones in this brown sugar ice cream post.
• Trifle: use it as the cake part on any trifle with whipped cream, fresh fruit, lemon curd, and chocolate. It pairs well with most flavors.