Brown Butter Carrot Loaf Cake

"Brown butter is the star of this delicious cake by Joy Wilson that doubles as the perfect breakfast. If you're like me, you love the beautiful, silky quality and nutty flavor that brown butter brings to the table but tend to avoid it because it always seems to scorch when you try to make it. Well, have no fear because this recipe walks you through it (just REALLY COMMIT THIS TIME to watching it). The little bit of extra work to achieve it is well worth it when you bite into a piece of this loaf cake.

The texture is somewhere between a bread and a cake, so the batter will feel a little dry to mix together. That's ok! Personally, I used carrots from my fridge that were starting to go, and I think that did wonders for the moisture in my loaf. It's also a great excuse to use up those extra carrots that would have gone to waste. When I made the frosting, I added somewhere between 5 and 6 tablespoons of cream. The frosting was still plenty thick enough to stand up on the cake, but had just a hint of the cream cheese flavor, exactly how I like it. Put on a pot of coffee -- you're gonna want it!" -- Ann Walczak, Associate Editor @annstagram58

Follow Joy @joythebaker

Photography By Ann Walczak | May 29, 2020

Ingredients

3/4 cup unsalted butter
2 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 cup granulated sugar
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
3/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
3/4 teaspoon ground ginger
1/2 teaspoon freshly grated or ground nutmeg
2 large eggs
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1/4 cup buttermilk
1 1/4 cup finely grated carrots

Frosting

2 ounces cream cheese, softened
2 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened
1 1/2 cups powdered sugar
2 - 3 tablespoons heavy cream
roasted almonds, coarsely chopped
roasted pistachios, coarsely chopped

Preparation

1. Place rack in center of oven and preheat to 350F. Grease and flour 9x5 loaf pan and set aside.

2. Melt butter in saucepan over medium heat. Butter will begin to foam and crackle as it melts. Swirl the pan as it cooks. When crackling subsides, the butter will begin to brown. When butter browns and begins to smell nutty, remove pan from heat and transfer to small bowl to stop butter from overcooking and burning. Set aside to cool.

3. In large bowl, whisk together flour, sugar, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, ginger, and nutmeg.

4. In medium bowl, whisk together eggs, vanilla, and buttermilk. Stir in carrots. Being sure butter is cooled, whisk in brown butter.

5. Add wet ingredients all at once to dry ingredients. Fold together, making sure to scrape bottom of bowl to reveal any hidden pockets of flour. Try not to over stir.

6. Spoon batter into prepared pan. Bake 45 minutes, or until skewer inserted into center comes out clean. Remove from oven and allow to rest in pan 15 minutes, before inverting onto wire rack to cool completely.

7. To prepare frosting, stir cream cheese and butter together in medium bowl. Add sugar. Whisk in 2 tablespoons cream, adding more if necessary. Frosting should be thick and spreadable. Spread over cooled loaf cake. Sprinkle generously with chopped nuts. Slice generously and enjoy!