½tspcoarse Kosher salt(if using table salt, use half the amount)
2large eggs,room temperature
¾cupfull fat sour cream,room temperature
½cupunsalted butter,melted
2tspvanilla extract
½tspalmond extract
½cupmini chocolate chips
Frosting
¾cupunsalted butter
1 ¼cupspowdered sugar
1tspmeringue powder,optional
⅛tspcoarse Kosher salt(if using table salt, use half the amount)
1tspvanilla extract
1tbspwhole milk,if needed
¼cupmini chocolate chips
Instructions
Cake
Preheat the oven to 350 F, and position a rack in the center of the oven. Lightly grease an 8-inch square baking pan with non-stick baking spray, if you'll be serving the cake from the pan. Or line the pan with parchment paper, if you're planning on removing the cake from the pan to serve it on a plate.
In a bowl, sift together the flour, sugar, baking powder and salt.In a separate bowl, whisk together the eggs, sour cream, melted butter, vanilla extract and almond extract.
Add the wet ingredients to the dry, and fold everything together with a spatula until combined. Fold in the chocolate chips. The batter will be fairly thick.
Spread the batter into the prepared pan, and bake the cake for about 30-33 minutes, until a cake tester inserted in the center comes out clean.
Let the cake cool completely before frosting.
Frosting
In a saucepan, melt the butter over medium heat. Continue to cook the butter, swirling the pan occasionally. It will hiss and spatter a bit, as the water evaporates, and the milk solids settle onto the bottom of the pan. When it's nearly ready, a layer of foam will form on top of the butter, and if you nudge the foam aside, you'll see nutty, golden brown milk solids on the bottom of the pan (if they turn dark brown or black, you've gone too far and burned the butter). The browning process might take about 5-10 minutes.
Remove the pan from the heat and use a spatula to scrape all the browned milk solids off the bottom of the pan. Pour the browned butter and all the browned bits into a bowl.
Let cool until the butter returns to a spreadable solid consistency. To speed this up, put the bowl in the refrigerator for 1-2 hours and stir the butter every 20 minutes or so until it's firmed up but still spreadable.You can also make the butter a day in advance, letting it sit at room temperature until needed.
In the bowl of your stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat the cooled brown butter for 1 minute until smooth. Add the powdered sugar, salt, meringue powder, vanilla and milk. Beat on medium speed for 4-5 minutes, scraping the bowl down occasionally. Turn the speed down to low and mix for 1 minute.
Spread the buttercream over the cooled cake, then sprinkle with the chocolate chips.
Keyword Brown Butter, Chocolate Chip, Chocolate Chip Cake, High Altitude Cake