Apple Cake with Toasted Pecans and Browned Butter Frosting

I have to start by saying that this is joandsue.blogspot.com's 100th blog. Yay!

Sue and I have been having lots of fun coming up with things to share on our blog and look forward to many more :)

What better way to celebrate than with a cake?

A delicious, apple, pecan, caramel, heaven-in-a-bite cake to be exact.

Our friend, Kerry, brought this to work one day for a co-worker's birthday and I had to get the recipe from her. I had never had browned butter frosting before and now that I have tried it I expect to gain a million pounds eating it. If you haven't had it before - go make it!

I cannot believe the taste you get from simply browning the butter.

Made as a "square" instead of in a cupcake liner

Apple Cake with Toasted Pecans and Browned Butter Frosting

Ingredients

1/2 cup butter, melted

2 cups sugar

2 large eggs

1 tsp vanilla

2 cups flour

2 tsp cinnamon

1 tsp baking soda

pinch sea salt

4 medium apples, peeled, diced

1 1/4 cup pecans, toasted, diced

Browned Butter Frosting

1 cup butter

4 - 5 cups icing sugar

1/4 cup milk

1 tsp vanilla

Optional

Caramel ice cream topping

Directions

Preheat oven to 350. Line 24 muffin cups with paper cupcake liners. (Or you can spray a 9 X 13 pan with cooking spray)

Stir together butter, sugar, eggs, and vanilla until well blended.

In a medium bowl, combine flour, cinnamon, baking soda, and salt. Add to butter mixture, stirring until just blended. Stir in apples and 1 cup of the pecans. Reserve remaining 1/4 cup of pecans for later.

Batter will be VERY thick, like a cookie dough batter.

Scoop spoonfuls into the 24 lined muffin cups OR spread into prepared 9 X 13 pan.

Bake at 350 until wooden toothpick inserted in center comes out clean and tops are browned, anywhere from 20 - 45 minutes depending on size of pan, oven temp, etc... Keep your eye on them!

It is very dense and won't look like a "normal" cupcake at all.

Remove from oven and let cool on wire rack for 5 minutes.

If you made cupcakes, remove and let cool completely on wire rack.

If you made 9 X 13 pan, leave in pan and let cool completely on wire rack.

Spread with Browned Butter Frosting and sprinkle remaining toasted, chopped pecans on top to decorate. Drizzle with caramel ice cream topping, if desired.

Directions for Browned Butter Frosting

Cook butter in heavy saucepan over medium heat, stirring constantly, for 6 - 8 minutes or until butter begins to turn a golden brown. (It took me about 10 minutes)

Remove pan from heat immediately and pour butter into a small bowl. Cover and chill for about an hour or until butter starts to solidify.

The browned butter after it has solidified again. It smells sooooooo amazing!

Beat butter at medium speed, with an electric mixer, until fluffy. Gradually add icing sugar alternating with milk, beginning and ending with icing sugar. Beat at medium speed until well blended after each addition. Stir in vanilla. (I did 4 additions of 1 cup of icing sugar but then had to add a bit more to get the right consistency)

The recipe for the frosting makes quite a bit. I frosted 24 cupcakes and a small 5 X 5 square pan of cake and still had about a cup left over. You don't have to use a lot of this icing....in fact....if you use too much it is too sweet.

I have decided this is my new favorite icing. I can't believe I haven't tasted it before. I have a lot of missed time to make up for.

Anyway.... thank you to those of you who have supported our blog. 100 down and a bazillion more to go! Please share us with your family and friends and join us on Facebook (joandsue.blogspot.com) and twitter (@joandsue), or be one of our "followers" right here on joandsue.blogspot.com.