Yesterday, I shared the recipe for a truly excellent carrot cake, Best Friends Cake. Today, I’m sharing what I think makes the cake phenomenally delicious: Browned Butter Frosting.

Many people consider cream cheese frosting to be the only appropriate frosting for carrot cake. But when I baked for sale a few years ago, I found myself in a frosting situation. According to the rules I had to follow as a registered cottage food producer, I could not sell items with dairy products in the frosting except for butter. No milk or cream. Certainly, no cream cheese.

Uh-oh.

I still really wanted to sell this carrot cake. I went back to my friend Jennifer, the one who had given me the recipe, and asked her to help me brainstorm. What kind of frosting could I substitute for cream cheese that would do justice to this awesome cake?

“What about a browned butter frosting?,” she suggested.

Jennifer is brilliant. This was the answer. 

Anything made with browned butter leaves the taster wondering, “What is that flavor?” It lends a complex toastiness and richness that is mouth-watering. Used as the base of a sweet frosting, it perfectly plays off the cinnamon in the cake and highlights the earthiness of the carrots.

It’s a powerfully flavored frosting. So much so, that I wondered that if frosting an entire cake with it might be overkill. I personally love as much frosting as possible but not everyone does. How could I frost this cake beautifully but also make sure that the carrot cake flavors would shine through?

Enter the naked cake technique. 

Another friend, Katie, introduced me to this idea when she asked me to bake a birthday cake for her sweet little girl who isn’t a fan of frosting. Katie wanted a cake that had frosting between the layers but no frosting on the sides. After googling and Pinteresting “naked cake” (and being slightly traumatized by the non-relevant results), I realized that the naked cake technique might also be the answer for the carrot cake.  It’s also easier than frosting an entire cake, is hard to mess up, and gives you a gorgeous cake that looks like a piece of art. 

(Relatively) easy + (very) tasty + (strikingly) pretty = a trifecta of food goals.

I adapted this recipe from my favorite source for frosting recipes: Chocolate from the Cake Mix Doctor. My friends Dave and Michelle, known for making fantastic liquor-soaked cakes, gave me this cookbook when I moved from Atlanta to Minnesota. It turns out this was one of the secrets to their fantastic cakes! I’ve never made a cake recipe from it, but I turn to it again and again for the frosting recipes. Once I stopped baking for sale, I started making this recipe with milk as the liquid. The milk produces a frosting that’s a bit creamier and softer than water yields. If you’d like to use water in place of milk, know that the frosting might crust more quickly; you might also need to add an extra tablespoon of water to achieve the right consistency. Browning butter is not a difficult or time-intensive process, especially after you've tried it once. But it does require careful attention. So don't walk away from the stove! Eyes like a hawk on that butter! Make sure to scroll through to the end of this post for step-by-step photos of how to employ the naked cake technique.

Update: I’ve re-tested this recipe with a bit more than half the amount of sugar (about 2 - 2/3 cups total) and it was dynamite. This will reduce your yield some, so you may want to increase your batch size if you’re concerned about quantity. If reducing the sugar, I’d also reduce the amount of liquid to achieve the right consistency; try using 3 tablespoons of milk. I’ve also taken to making it with cream instead of milk and this was a good life choice. You should too.

Browned Butter Frosting

Adapted from Vanilla Buttercream Frosting

Ingredients:
12 tablespoons unsalted butter (1 - 1/2 sticks)
4-1/2 cups powdered sugar, sifted, plus more if needed
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
5 - 6 tablespoons milk (I use whole milk)

Directions:
Place butter in a medium, heavy-bottomed saucepan over medium heat. Swirl the pan occasionally as the butter melts, then foams, then begins to bubble vigorously. Once it begins bubbling, swirl more frequently so that you can check the color at the bottom of the pan. You can also drag a spoon through it to check the color. Heat until the butter has a nutty aroma and has turned a medium golden-brown color with darker brown (but not black) flecks; the whole heating process will take about 5 minutes. Immediately pour the butter into a separate bowl, making sure to pour the darker brown flecks in as well. Allow butter to cool until it is room temperature and has a paste-like consistency, about an hour. You can speed the cooling along by putting the butter in the fridge and stirring occasionally.

When butter has cooled, place it in the large bowl of a mixer. Add 1 cup of the sifted sugar and the vanilla. Mix on low until well combined, about 1 minute, stopping to scrape the bowl if needed. Add 1 cup of the remaining sugar and mix on low until combined, about 30 seconds. Add 1 tablespoon of milk and again mix on low until combined, 30 seconds. Repeat with the remaining sugar and milk, adding two tablespoons of milk with the last addition. Scrape the bowl well. Increase the mixer speed to medium high and beat until the frosting is light and fluffy, and it does not fall off the beater when the beater is raised. If the frosting seems a bit too stiff and dry, add the additional tablespoon of milk. If it seems too loose, add powdered sugar a tablespoon at a time until it’s the consistency you’d like. Store the frosting in the refrigerator but allow to come to room temperature before using. Yield: a heaping 2 - 1/2 cups, enough to frost a 2 layer cake using the naked cake technique.

How to Frost a Naked Cake

The technique I'm showing you here is the slightly more complicated version of the naked cake technique. It requires a few special tools: a lazy susan or turntable, a cake round so you can easily transfer your cake from the turntable to your serving platter, a metal frosting spatula, and a bench scraper. I like this version of the technique because it covers up any tearing or imperfections in the sides of your cake. Plus, I really like the messy, arty final look of the cake. That swirl is my signature cake look! 

If you don't have these tools and want to keep it super simple, here's what to do:

1. Place one cake layer on your serving platter.

2. Scoop about half of your frosting onto the layer. Carefully spread it with whatever spreading tool you have around, trying to not get too much frosting hanging out the sides.

3. Place your second cake layer on top.

4. Repeat steps 2 and 3 for your top layer.

5. Dig in!

Ready for the more complicated version?