Pumpkin Cake with Brown Butter Frosting

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease and line three 8×8-inch cake pans. Put it aside.

• In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, sugar, pumpkin pie spice, baking powder, baking soda, and kosher salt.

• In a large bowl, combine the eggs, oil, pumpkin puree, and vanilla extract with a hand mixer on medium speed.

• Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients. Beat with a hand mixer on low speed until combined. You really just don’t want to see any flecks of flour. I like to scrape the bottom of the bowl with a plate to make sure there are no lumps of flour.

• Divide the batter evenly between the prepared cookies (each should weigh about 467 grams). Transfer the layers to the oven for 23 to 25 minutes, or until a skewer inserted in the center comes out clean. Let cool in the pan for about 5-7 minutes. Then turn onto a cooling rack and cool to room temperature. It will probably take a full hour.

To make the brown butter frosting:

• Place in a small saucepan over medium heat, add 1/2 cup of butter. Once melted, it will begin to bubble and fizz a bit. Allow it to cook until you start to see light brown spots starting to form. Stir and cook until browned. You should also start to smell its nutty aroma. Remove it from the pan and keep whisking to cool.

• Transfer to a small bowl (refrigerator safe) and place in the freezer to chill, about 20-25 minutes. We want it to be the texture of room temperature butter (maybe a little softer, that’s fine).

To speed up this process, place the bowl of brown butter in an ice bath and stir until it begins to solidify and become opaque.

• In a medium bowl, add the cooled brown butter and 1¼ cups room temperature butter. Then sift the powdered sugar and add the vanilla extract, salt and heavy cream. Beat the frosting with a hand mixer at medium speed for about 3 minutes. The fluffiness of the heavy cream really lightens this frosting, so make sure to beat it for the full 3 minutes.

To assemble and decorate the cake:

• Add about 2 tablespoons of frosting to each of two small bowls. You can do this with ophthalmology. One will be our pumpkins (orange) and the other will be our stems (brown).

• If your frosting is too soft, add about 1 tablespoon of powdered sugar to each bowl and mix it in. That will help tighten it up.

• Add a drop or two of orange food coloring to one bowl of frosting. Add a drop or two of brown food coloring to the second bowl of ice. Blend until smooth. Transfer the orange icing to a piping bag fitted with a small round piping tip.

• Transfer the brown icing to a piping bag fitted with a (Wilton #1) small round piping tip.

• Place one frozen cake layer on a cake board. Add about 1/3 cup brown butter frosting to the top of the first layer and smooth into a thin, even layer (no more than ¼ inch thick). Place the second layer of cake on top and repeat these steps.

• Put the third layer on top. Then add a thin layer of brown butter over the cake and smooth the top and sides. Transfer the cake to the refrigerator to cool for about 20 minutes. Then add the final layer of brown butter frosting to the cake.

• Pipe circles of frosting to add pumpkins. Add as much as you want. Make them any size you want too. Dip your finger in some water and tap the top of the pumpkin to make them look smoother.

• Pipe on a small hook shape at the top of each pumpkin. This will make it look like they have a stem. You can slice the cake and serve immediately or refrigerate until ready to serve.