Brown Butter Cake with Chocolate and Cherries

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:

1. 150 g butter
2. 180 g all purpose flour
3. 2 teaspoons baking powder
4. a pinch of salt
5. 120 ml milk
6. 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
7. 150 g granulated sugar
8. 2 eggs
9. 70 g dark chocolate, chopped

For the chocolate frosting:

1. 100 g dark chocolate, chopped
2. 75 ml hot water
3. lots of ice
4. handful of fresh cherries

Method:

1. 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.
2.  Preheat oven to 180°C . Line an 8 inch cake tin with baking paper.
3. Combine flour, baking powder and salt in a bowl, set aside. Mix milk and vanilla in a separate bowl, set aside.
4. Whisk the browned butter and sugar together in a large bowl until light and fluffy.
5.  Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition.
6. Alternately add flour mix and milk mixture. Mix until smooth. Fold in the chopped chocolate.
7. Pour into prepared tin and bake for about 30-35 minutes.
8. Let the cake cool in the tins for 10 minutes, then remove from tin to cool completely.
9. 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.
10. Pour the hot water into the bowl of chocolate and mix until nice and smooth.
11. 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.
12. If you don’t get peaks, melt some more chocolate and whisk in quickly.
13. Spread the frosting on the cooled cake and top with the cherries.