Brown Butter Pumpkin Cake with Honey-Cinnamon Frosting Recipe Review (scd, grain-free)

I am fortunate enough to know a fellow scd-er in real life. As in, I see her on a regular basis and we share cooking tips and info on the latest and greatest products that are scd legal. This is such an advantage that I know most people out there do not have, I am truly grateful to have a parter in this sometimes difficult journey. My other friends who are non-scd are also extremely supportive, which I am forever grateful for as well, I don't want to exclude them. The point of this anecdote though is the reason for me making this cake. My Crohn's friend had a surprise anniversary party thrown for her and her husband last weekend and of course there was cake. "Regular" cake. So her thoughtful mother-in-law asked me to make a cake especially for her. Challenge accepted. I know it's an unwritten rule to never make something for the first time that you bring for other people to eat, but I had to break that. I really don't have a go-to cake recipe. So when I saw this recipe over at Redeeming the Table I got very excited, the picture looked so good! With the seasonal ingredients I knew it would be perfect, so I gave it a try and everyone loved it! Hooray! Success. I was afraid of failure and therefore followed the original directions exactly as they were written (which is rare for me).

Cake Ingredients:

½ cup unsalted butter

12 oz (3 cups) blanched almond flour

1 1/2 tsp baking soda

1 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon

1 tsp ground ginger

3/4 tsp ground nutmeg

3/4 tsp sea salt

1/4 tsp ground cloves

½ cup honey

3 large eggs, room temperature

1 1/2 cups pumpkin puree, (I used canned, but you can use fresh)

Honey-Cinnamon Frosting:

¼ cup unsalted butter (room temperature)

8 oz Greek dripped yogurt (room temperature)

½ cup honey

2 tsp ground cinnamon

Directions:

Make the Cake: Position a rack in the middle of the oven. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Heavily butter or oil the bottom & sides of two 9-inch cake pans. 

Melt the butter in a 1 quart heavy bottomed pan, stirring occasionally until the butter turns a nutty golden-brown (around 4-6 minutes) and when it smells nutty. Set aside & allow it to cool. Do not burn it!

In a large bowl, add all of your dry ingredients and whisk them together (almond flour, spices, salt, & baking soda). In a medium bowl, combine honey, eggs, and pumpkin puree & whisk thoroughly to combine. Add the browned butter to the wet ingredients to incorporate all the way. With a rubber spatula, stir in the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients until thoroughly combined & fully incorporated. Divide the batter equally between the two pans.

Bake the cakes for about 20 to 25 minutes. Watch carefully as the cakes are not very thick.  Cool on cake cooling rack. Wait until completely cool before frosting.

Make the Frosting: Take your room temperature butter and yogurt & beat them in an electric mixer on medium-high speed (that would be a 7 on my Kitchen Aid). Add your honey & cinnamon to the mixture. A pinch of salt is optional. 

Assembling: Get a large cake plate and place one cooled cake top side down. Spread about 1/2 -2/3 cup of frosting on the cake. Take your other cake and place it top side down. Frost the top and sides with remaining frosting. Top the cake with chopped pecans. I used pecans to hide imperfections at the base of the cake (gotta love it). I kept mine in a cake dome platter for a day & then transferred to the fridge, due to the frosting.

This is mostly from the original recipe. I of course had to use yogurt instead of cream cheese, and if it is not room temp the butter will curdle and will not blend. I also doubled the frosting portion because I didn't think there would be enough otherwise. I had some left over but definitely used more than half. I will make this again, perhaps trying brown butter in the frosting as well. Optional to add walnuts on top!