Browned Butter Pumpkin Cake with Salted Caramel Frosting

Yes, you can make a pumpkin dessert in January.

Don’t get all caught up the whole “can’t wear white after Labor Day” garbage in the kitchen— screw the fact that Halloween has long-since passed, and that Thanksgiving was a little bit of a long time ago (oh dear, remember Pumpkin Pie (2 Ways!) with Spiced Whipped Cream? Sigh.). Nope- you can do what you want… especially when it’s for a friend’s birthday and you know that pumpkin is his preferred sin of choice.

I think you’ve heard me wax on about the glorious thing that is Browned Butter. (Yes, you have for sure- in the Browned Butter Apple Cinnamon Coffee Cake recipe, to be exact.) I want very badly to brown butter all the time now, because it smells so freaking good. Would it be wrong to use it as a perfume, dabbing a bit on my wrists and behind my ears? (I’m not stupid- I know it’s wrong. But on a scale of 1 -1 0 in wrongness, how wrong could it really be?)

Okay- one more plug for this recipe. The salted caramel frosting. I don’t even have to elaborate (other than how I waxed philosophic in the Tips section below). I know you understand.

Adapted from Martha Stewart’s recipe @ Two Peas & Their Pod

PUMPKIN CAKE:

3/4 cup unsalted butter

1 2/3 cups all-purpose flour

2 teaspoons baking powder

1 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/4 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg

1/8 teaspoon ground cloves

1 cup canned pumpkin puree (not pie filling)

1 cup light brown sugar, packed

1/2 cup granulated sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

2 eggs

SALTED CARAMEL SAUCE (for frosting):

1 cup light brown sugar, packed

1/2 cup whipping cream

6 tablespoons (3/4 stick) unsalted butter

1/4 cup light corn syrup

3 1/2 tablespoons bourbon (optional)

1 tablespoon fleur de sel or Maldon sea salt flakes

FROSTING:

3/4 cup butter, at room temperature

2 cups confectioners’ sugar

1/2 cup salted caramel sauce (recipe above)
1. CAKE/ CUPCAKES: Preheat oven to 325°. Line 12 muffin cups with paper liners, spray with non-stick baking spray, and set aside. (Or spray an 8″ cake pan.)
2. In a medium saucepan, melt butter over medium-low heat and continue to cook, swirling occasionally, until butter turns golden brown (about 5 – 8 minutes). Skim foam from top, and remove from heat. (Pour into a bowl to stop the cooking, let cool.)
3. In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg, and cloves. In another medium bowl, whisk together the pumpkin puree, sugars, eggs, vanilla extract, and brown butter. Add the flour mixture, and whisk until just combined.
4. Divide batter evenly among lined cups, filling each three-quarters full (or pour into prepared cake pan). Bake, rotating tin halfway through, until a cake tester inserted in centers comes out clean, about 20 minutes. (Bake cake for about 30 minutes.) Transfer pans to a wire cooling rack to cool.
5. SALTED CARAMEL SAUCE FOR FROSTING: In a deep medium saucepan over medium heat, bring sugar, whipping cream, butter, corn syrup, and salt to boil (whisking until sugar dissolves). Boil for 1 minute without stirring, then remove from heat. Stir in bourbon (if using) and salt flakes, then allow to cool to room temperature while stirring occasionally.
6. FROSTING: Beat butter with a mixer until light in color and fluffy, about 3 minutes. Reduce speed to low, add confectioners’ sugar, and mix until completely incorporated. Turn off the mixer, and then add the salted caramel sauce. Beat frosting on low to combine, and then increase to medium-high and beat until airy and thoroughly mixed, about 2 minutes. (Add more icing sugar if you’d like a stiffer frosting; add a bit more caramel sauce if you’d like it less stiff.) Frost the cooled pumpkin cupcakes/cake with the salted caramel frosting and and drizzle cupcakes with extra salted caramel sauce, if desired.
Tips:
- It will be hard to wait for the brown butter to cool before adding to the batter, but it’s good to build your patience muscles. (I didn’t let it get totally to room temperature, but I did whisk voraciously as I added to the egg mixture, because we all know what happens when we mix eggs + heat. Scrambola!)
- Be careful not to burn the butter. You want browned butter, not charred butter. (Really- when the butter looks golden and there are dark bits on the bottom of the pan, you’re good to go. I always use the browned bits [brown, not black!] because they have SO much caramelly flavor…)
- Too lazy to make caramel? Well, I understand. The truth is that I had some left over in the freezer from when I made the Pumpkin Praline Cheesecake with Bourbon-Caramel Sauce, so I got to cheat by just adding more salt to the already-awesome caramel. You can totally buy a jar of caramel sauce (of which many are gross- just a word to the wise), or skip it and make a cream cheese frosting (like the one in this Mocha Cupcake with Cream Cheese Frosting post). OR- you could just skip the frosting if you’re that lazy. (But then you’ll go to hell. Skipping frosting is the eighth deadly sin.)
- One more vote for home-made caramel sauce: this recipe is totally easy and makes more than a cup, so you’ll have more than enough to use for the frosting AND to eat by the spoonful afterwards while you watch TV.
- Last, last vote for the salted caramel sauce: Maldon salt. Other than The Husband, it was the 2012 love of my life. And continues to deliver. Do it. (Or get good fleur de salt instead.) No snobby salt at home to use? Use coarse kosher salt… and if you don’t have that, then just use 1 teaspoon of salt. You know, table salt. Old school. :)
- Garnish: A teeny sprinkle of sea salt does the trick. (You could always toast a few pecans to throw on the cupcakes/cake, or just trust that the frosting will be enough on its own. Because it is.)
- Enjoy. Liberally.
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February 20th, 2013 | More Sweets Please | 2 Comments | Tags: Cakes, Caramel

2 Responses and Counting...

Brian 02.20.2013

I loved these! It’s true, pumpkin isnt just for the holidays if it shows up in recipes like this.
More Sweets Please

Glad you liked, Brian. Sounds like you’re quite the baker!