Brown Butter Buttercream Frosting {Real Talk, Big News}

You guys I am so tired right now that I have to keep bouncing my foot to keep myself awake. I explain more detail behind the exhaustion in my latest *Cocoa Chats letter that’s coming to all my peeps (aka subscribers) on Friday (today!) but I wanted to pause and post this recipe real quick and tell you that it’s 100% worth making.Also, totally just started my own photography + cinematography business with my husband: Sundae Studios. (Ps. Did you end up voting for a name on instagram when we put it out there a little bit ago? Remember we were trying to decide between The Honey Folk, Sundae Studios or Hello Cocoa Studio? Most of you hated Hello Cocoa and it cracked me up because I still love it. If you missed it you can catch it in my highlights. Also, this site is temporary please don't judge. We're working on "the real one" right now.)Guys don’t worry, Sweetish is not going to die, but I very much feel like I am running two businesses here while being a mama and a wife and it’s leaving me all sorts of exhausted. BUT IT IS AWESOME. It’s just like, insane at the same time. I’ve distanced myself a tiny bit from this space to refocus and figure it all out and decide what I really want Sweetish to be. You see, blogging is super great, but it’s like super time consuming and I've found that ever since becoming a mom (and starting a business with my husb) my time is the most precious thing I have in the world, so I just need to be smarter about it all.Plus to be honest I felt a tug to do something more with John (am I the only one who loves how Chip and Jo kill it as a husband wife team?). Someday I’ll tell more of the deeper story behind it all, but for now, just know that we’re totally pouring our hearts and souls and savings into this new business and it’s both exciting and leaving me wondering what the heck have we done? :)Do people who start their own business for the most part know what they’re doing? Can I join that club?I’ve been photographing for years (and John's been filming for years) but it’s always been a side thing and never a full blown “let’s go for it” thing, so your support and encouragement mean the world to us. For reals. Thank you. (Also if you wanna see more Sundae Studios go here.)Also side note: Moms, do we think that little guys have way more energy than little girls? Like is this a thing? Because I swear I am dealing with the energizer bunny here and there’s not enough caffeine or sleep that can cause me to keep up with this kid.Any other mama’s out there have any energy saving / energy inducing tips? Do you nap ever? Like who has time to nap?Anyway, I made this frosting for Easter a few weeks ago paired with a deep dark chocolate cake and it was fab. (Recipe link for cake.) But if like, if you seriously didn't feel like baking a whole cake and just made this frosting and dipped some fresh strawberries into said frosting, you could call it heaven (and dessert).This cake also stores well in the fridge, frosted in its entirety and wrapped tightly with plastic wrap. See my quick timeline in resources.Happy Thursday to you my friends! Maybe treat yourself to a big scoop of frosting to keep up with life. More soon. xo*(We chat over cocoa on Friday did you know? Please join in on the discussion and subscribe if you’re interested. There’s aways room for you!)

Brown Butter Buttercream Frosting

adapted from sarah kieffer

For the deep dark chocolate cake recipe, go here.

• ½ pound / 2 sticks / 227g butter for browning
• ½ pound / 2 sticks / 227g butter (room temperature)
• 2 ounces / 57g cream cheese (room temperature)
• ¼ cup / 60g heavy cream
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• ¼ teaspoon kosher salt
• 4 cups / 500g powdered / confectioners sugar

1. Brown ½ pound (227g) of butter in a heavy bottomed sauce pan over a medium-low heat. Swirl the butter around until it starts to fully melt and brown. I like scraping the bottom of the pan with a small spatula to pull up the brown bits. Continue to brown and stir until your butter is looking like a deep good caramel at the bottom. This usually takes me 7-8 minutes. Don't walk away from your pan, stay next to it as your butter can brown quickly.

2. Pour browned butter in a heat proof bowl and stick in your fridge to chill for about 30 minutes to an hour. (Mine took an hour). You want the butter solidified but not completely "frozen".

3. Scoop solidified browned butter butter into an electric mixer bowl with the paddle attachment. Add additional softened butter and beat together. Add cream cheese and beat in. Add heavy cream, vanilla and salt and mix on low speed. Next slowly add the powdered / confectioners sugar.

4. Once sugar is added, increase the speed and beat together until frosting is light and fluffy, about 5-8 minutes, taking care to scrape down the sides and bottom of the bowl. 

5. Spread frosting on cake immediately or *store in an airtight container for up to a week in the fridge.

bakers notes: Keep in mind that the original recipe calls for unsalted butter. BUT I prefer this recipe with salted butter AND I still add ¼ teaspoon of medium grain kosher salt. To me, the slight saltiness of the frosting (from the use of salted butter) lends really well to the deep brown butter and it turns into seriously addicting frosting. If you do the chocolate cake combo like I did it's fun to chop some bittersweet chocolate and sprinkle it on top right before serving. xo

*bakers note: If you store it in the fridge, you'll have to whip it a bit to bring it to room temperature but with a little time and patience you can get it back to the fluffy frosting it once was. If you're still having trouble and the frosting doesn't seem to be coming together after a while, run warm water on the OUTSIDE of the bowl taking care not to get ANY warm water inside the bowl. This should melt the hard butter just a little bit and get it going.

RESOURCES:I just used Trader Joes organic salted butter.Quick timeline of cake: You can bake the cake 3-4 days ahead of time before serving.Ex: Serve day: Sunday.Thursday: I baked my cake late Thursday evening, and let cake sit in the tins until the following morning.Friday: I wrapped both layers in plastic wrap, made frosting, frosted cake and wrapped whole frosted cake in plastic wrap (using several layers) until Sunday.Sunday: I let the cake sit for 20-30 minutes at room temperature and then served.