Brown Butter Snickerdoodle Cake

This month's Cake Slice Baker selection is the wonderful Brown Butter Snickerdoodle Cake with Cinnamon Spice Frosting. I couldn't wait to make this one and see how Rebecca Firth translated snickerdoodle into a cake.

Well, she did a great job! The end result is a dense, but soft cinnamon swirl cake topped with an incredible cinnamon butter frosting.

And it did taste like a great big snickerdoodle.

I adapted this recipe just a bit, including mixing it in a stand mixer instead of by hand. It would take some built-up arms to whisk this by hand.

The other small changes are noted in the Notes at the bottom of the recipe.

I think the one thing that really stands out is the use of the rich brown butter. Be sure and stir and stand by the entire time the butter is browning. It will go from brown to whoops very, very quickly.

I've made this cake twice and each time it comes out great. The butter, sour cream, and buttermilk really make the texture nice - almost cinnamon roll-like.

The frosting is delicious, buttery and fluffy. It has just enough cinnamon to complement the spicy cake.

Brown Butter Snickerdoodle Cake is fairly straightforward to put together. It has some down time - like waiting for the brown butter to cool off a bit and waiting for the cake to cool completely.

Rebecca said it serves 9, but I cut much smaller pieces to serve 16. It's rich and you'll want to make smaller pieces.

Be sure and store the leftover cake in the refrigerator since it has butter frosting. Let it come to room temperature before serving again.

This would be a great pot luck cake or just a good every day cake for the family!

Check out the other Cake Slice Bakers' selections, too - big hint - we all made the same cake this month (links below the recipe).

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Brown Butter Snickerdoodle Cake

Yield: 16

Prep Time: 25 minutes

Cook Time: 45 minutes

Additional Time: 15 minutes

Total Time: 1 hour 25 minutes

Incredible cinnamon swirled cake with a decadent, delicious cinnamon frosting.

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Ingredients

• For the Swirl:
• ½ Cup light brown sugar (110g)
• 2 teaspoons cinnamon (4g)
• For the Cake:
• 8 tablespoons butter (113g)
• 1 ½ Cups granulated sugar (300g)
• ¼ Cup canola oil (56g)
• 2 large eggs, room temperature
• 1 Cup buttermilk, shaken and room temperature (240g)
• ½ Cup sour cream, room temperature (120g)
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract (or paste) (8g)
• 2 teaspoons baking powder (10g)
• 1 teaspoon baking soda (5g)
• 1 teaspoon sea salt (6g)
• 2 ⅔ Cups all-purpose flour (360g)
• For the Frosting:
• 12 tablespoons butter, room temperature, cut into 12 pieces (170g)
• 3 ¾ Cups powdered sugar, sited (450g)
• 2 ½ to 3 tablespoons buttermilk, shaken and room temperature (45g)
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon (3g)
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract (or vanilla paste) (4g)
• pinch of salt

Instructions

1. For the swirl: In a small bowl, mix together the brown sugar and cinnamon. Set aside.
2. For the Cake: Preheat the oven to 350° (177°C). Grease a 9x9" cake pan and line with parchment paper, letting the excess hang over the sides. Spray the parchment paper also and tuck the paper into the corners very well.
3. Place the butter in a small, heavy-bottomed saucepan and melt over medium heat. Once melted, turn up the heat to medium high. Continue stirring until the butter has turned golden brown. There will probably be foam, so just pull the spoon through the foam to see the color of the butter. Remove immediately when it turns golden brown (it'll keep cooking a little bit after you remove from the fire). Watch it carefully - it goes from golden to too dark quickly!
4. Pour the brown butter into your stand mixer bowl and let cool for about 10 minutes (swirling the bowl will help it cool a bit). With your whisk attachment on the mixer, whisk the sugar and oil into the butter - it will get thick and almost pasty. Mix a minute longer till smooth.
5. Add in the eggs and whisk for 2 minutes. Turn mixer to low to add in the buttermilk, sour cream, vanilla, baking powder, baking soda and salt and whisk for 2 to 3 minutes, then turn up the mixer to medium until everything is well blended.
6. Pour in the flour and mix on low until just combined, about 1 minute. Remove from the mixer and stir the batter gently to make sure all ingredients are blended from the bottom.
7. Pour half of the cake batter into the prepared pan, then sprinkle evenly with the cinnamon swirl mixture. Pour the remaining batter, then swirl a knife gently through the batter to create a swirl (not too much, but enough to make a cinnamon/sugar swirl - maybe 10 seconds).
8. Bake for 40-45 minutes until the top is puffed and medium brown, and a toothpick comes out moist with a couple of crumbs attached. Let cool for about 10 minutes in the pan, then transfer to a rack to cool completely.
9. For the Cinnamon Spice Frosting: In a stand mixer bowl fitted with paddle attachment, mix the butter and powdered sugar on medium until smooth. Add in the buttermilk, cinnamon, and pinch of salt and continue mixing on medium until smooth, light, and fluffy. Frost the cooled cake (top and sides).
10. Store any leftovers in the refrigerator (because of the butter frosting). When ready to serve again, let the cake stand on the counter for 10-15 minute to come more to room temperature

Notes

I made several adaptations from the original recipe:

I used salted butter. Also she calls for sunflower or grapeseed oil - I used canola.

My buttermilk was low-fat buttermilk.

Also, she had 1 teaspoon of vinegar for the frosting - used it the first time, deleted it the second time I made the cake and liked it better without the vinegar. Added a pinch of salt to the frosting.

The cake puffs up quite a bit when baked and also the edges get a little hard - that's OK. A little tricky to frost, but manageable.

In the original recipe, Rebecca whisks by hand, but it's easier and works fine with the mixer.

Nutrition Information:

Yield: 16 Serving Size: 1
Amount Per Serving: Calories: 462Total Fat: 20gSaturated Fat: 10gTrans Fat: 1gUnsaturated Fat: 8gCholesterol: 66mgSodium: 443mgCarbohydrates: 68gFiber: 1gSugar: 51gProtein: 4g

Nutrition Values are Approximate

Each month The Cake Slice Bakers are offered a selection of cakes from the current book we are baking through. This year it is The Cake Book: Beautiful Sweet Treats for Every Craving by Rebecca Firth. We each choose one cake to bake, and then on the 20th - never before - we all post about our cake on our blogs. There are a few rules that we follow, but the most important ones are to have fun and enjoy baking & eating cakes!

Follow our Facebook, Instagram, and Pinterest pages where you can find all of our cakes, as well as inspiration for many other cakes. You can also click on the links below to take you to each of our cakes. If you have a blog and are interested in joining The Cake Slice Bakers and baking along with us, please send an email to thecakeslicebakers at gmail dot com for more details.

The Cake Slice Bakers also have a new Facebook group called The Cake Slice Bakers and Friends. This group is perfect for those who do not have a blog but want to join in the fun and bake through this book.

 

 

Brown Butter Snickerdoodle Cake with Cinnamon Spice Frosting

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