Apple Cake with Browned Butter Frosting

It was my turn to cook for dinner club this week and for dessert, I baked an apple cake. I found the recipe in the October edition of Southern Living. It sounded good and the photo was pretty.

Fresh Apple Cake
1 1/2 c. chopped pecans
1/2 c. butter, melted
2 c. sugar
2 large eggs
1 tsp. vanilla extract
2 c. all-purpose flour
2 tsp. ground cinnamon
1 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. salt
2 1/2 lbs. Granny Smith apples (about 4 large), peeled and cut into 1/4" thick wedges

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Bake pecans in a single layer in a shallow pan for 5 to 7 minutes or until lightly toasted and fragrant, stirring halfway through.

Stir together butter and next three ingredients in a large bowl until blended.

Combine flour and next three ingredients. Add to butter mixture, stirring until blended. Stir in apples and 1 c. pecans (Batter will be very thick, like cookie dough). Spread batter into lightly greased 9x13 pan.

Bake at 350 degrees for 45 minutes or until a wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool completely in pan on wire rack (about 45 minutes). Spread frosting over top of cake; sprinkle with remaining 1/2 c. pecans.

The pecans are about to go into the oven.

The batter before adding the apples and pecans:

The apples:

About to go into the oven:

The recipe said to bake for 45 minutes or until a toothpick inserted comes out clean. I took the cake out of the oven after 45 minutes. After looking at it several times, I decided it needed to bake longer. It had been out of the oven for about 25 minutes when I finally got the oven preheated again and the cake inside it. It baked for 30 additional minutes.

Yay! It's finally done.

This recipe was in the October issue of Southern Living. They had three frostings listed (browned butter frosting, dark chocolate frosting, and cream cheese frosting) that you could choose from. I decided to try the browned butter frosting since I've never browned butter before.

Browned Butter Frosting

1 c. butter

1 16 oz. pkg. powdered sugar

1/4 c. milk

1 tsp. vanilla extract

Cook butter in a small heavy saucepan over medium heat, stirring constantly, 6 to 8 minutes or until butter begins to turn golden brown. Remove pan from heat immediately and pour butter into a small bowl. Cover and chill 1 hour or until butter is cool and begins to solidify.

Beat butter at medium speed with an electric mixer until fluffy. Gradually add powdered sugar alternately with milk, beginning and ending with powdered sugar. Beat mixture at low speed until well blended after each addition. Stir in vanilla.

The butter immediately after being removed from the stove and poured from the saucepan:

The recipe said to let the browned butter cool in the fridge for about an hour or until it began to get solid. I let it stay in the fridge for about two hours (while I ate lunch, showered, and did hair and make-up) and it was pretty hard when I was ready to use it. A spatula helped me remove the butter from the bowl, in pieces, and the hand mixer whipped it right up. It looked very tasty, but without sugar, it tasted pretty bad.

After adding the sugar, milk, and vanilla, it was very yummy. Pete and Annabelle licked the beaters and they approved. It had a slighty nutty, caramel flavor.

The finished product:

Edited to add:
Everyone seemed to enjoy the cake. It does seem a little sweet, but if you only eat a small amount, then it's doable. It also seemed slightly undercooked, but that could have been due to the apples. The frosting is good, but I imagine the cake would also be delicious with the cream cheese frosting.