Death by Brown Butter Pumpkin Cake

Besides standard, pre-made cookie dough shenanigans, I have never been much of a baker--until now! When Michael left for Africa, I decided to start making use of my new oven (the last one caught on fire--not my fault!--it was literally the oldest oven/fire hazard still functioning in the state of Connecticut). I love playing with recipes, repeating them with new additions, and basically finding the JUST RIGHT mix of ingredients to make the perfect dessert. I am a lab researcher--and baking fits perfectly in with my love for experimenting and testing hypotheses. Yes, I really am as nerdy as I sound. Ask Michael. He agrees.

When a girlfriend forwarded me a recipe for Brown Butter Pumpkin Cake, I started salivating while reading the ingredient list. Pumpkin+butter+cream cheese frosting. How can you go wrong?? With a holiday party approaching, I thought I should whip up this delicious little number for my gracious hostess.

I've never made a cake with so many steps, and I was a tad nervous about browning butter--but WOW what a difference in taste it makes. It's also not as hard as it sounds. You literally just boil the butter until it's brown, pour it into a small bowl, and then freeze the butter mixture so all the sediment is stuck to the bottom of the bowl when you scrape off the top. My whole apartment currently smells like toffee. It's scrumptious. I was also a little nervous about the amount of butter this recipe called for--literally sticks upon sticks. I'm channeling Paula Deen tonight.

These were my cake layers while they were cooling. I recently discovered parchment paper (you can see it peeking out), and it has changed my life. Don't do what my girlfriend did and confuse wax paper for parchment paper. Wax melts. Whoops.

Unfortunately the recipe called for too much frosting, so I had to eat a couple (or 5) spoonfuls just so it wouldn't go to waste... When all was said and done, this was my final product:

Looks delicious, no? It was a big hit!