I absolutely love this cake for its deep, toasty notes. It’s a cake, beautifully light, infused with brown butter and studded with bitter bits of chocolate.
The brown butter needs to be prepared ahead of time as it takes time to solidify.
Ingredients:
For the cake:
- 150 g butter
- 180 g all purpose flour
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- a pinch of salt
- 120 ml milk
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 150 g granulated sugar
- 2 eggs
- 70 g dark chocolate, chopped
For the chocolate frosting:
- 100 g dark chocolate, chopped
- 75 ml hot water
- lots of ice
- handful of fresh cherries
Method:
- Place butter in a small saucepan on medium heat and stir until it melts completely. Continue cooking, stirring continuously until the butter turns brown and gives off a nutty aroma. Pour the butter into a heat-proof bowl and chill until almost solidified.
- Preheat oven to 180°C . Line an 8 inch cake tin with baking paper.
- Combine flour, baking powder and salt in a bowl, set aside. Mix milk and vanilla in a separate bowl, set aside.
- Whisk the browned butter and sugar together in a large bowl until light and fluffy.
- Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition.
- Alternately add flour mix and milk mixture. Mix until smooth. Fold in the chopped chocolate.
- Pour into prepared tin and bake for about 30-35 minutes.
- Let the cake cool in the tins for 10 minutes, then remove from tin to cool completely.
- To make the frosting, add the chocolate into a large heat-proof bowl over a saucepan of simmering water. Make sure the base of the bowl doesn’t touch the water. Leave the chocolate to melt, then stir until smooth and silky. Remove from heat.
- Pour the hot water into the bowl of chocolate and mix until nice and smooth.
- Place the bowl in a dish filled with ice cubes. Using an electric whisk, and quickly whisk the chocolate and water mixture thoroughly and quickly until stiff peaks form.
- If you don’t get peaks, melt some more chocolate and whisk in quickly.
- Spread the frosting on the cooled cake and top with the cherries.