High Altitude Macadamia Nut Cake with Salted Penuche Frosting
A high altitude recipe for macadamia nut cake, made of two layers of nutty, brown butter macadamia cake, frosted with sweet penuche frosting and finished with a sprinkling of flaky salt.
All recipes on Curly Girl Kitchen are developed for high altitude at 5,280 feet. See FAQs for adjusting to higher or lower elevations.
Equipment
- Electric Mixer (Stand or Hand-Held)
Ingredients
Macadamia Nut Cake
- ¾ cup unsalted butter
- ½ cup light brown sugar, lightly packed
- ⅓ cup granulated sugar
- 2 large eggs, room temperature
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- ⅔ cup whole milk, room temperature
- ⅓ cup sour cream, room temperature
- 1 ½ cups all-purpose flour, fluffed, spooned and leveled
- ¼ tsp coarse Kosher salt (if using table salt, use half the amount)
- ¾ tsp baking powder
- ½ cup salted macadamia nuts, finely chopped
Penuche Frosting
- ½ cup unsalted butter
- 1 cup light or dark brown sugar, lightly packed
- ¼ cup whole milk
- 2 cups powdered sugar
- 2 tsp vanilla extract
- ½ tsp coarse Kosher salt (if using table salt, use half the amount)
Instructions
Cake
- Preheat the oven to 350 F, and position a rack in the center of the oven. Spray the bottoms of two 6-inch cake pans with non-stick baking spray.
- In a saucepan, melt the butter over medium heat. Continue to cook the butter until nutty, golden brown milk solids form at the bottom of the pan. This process might take about 10 minutes. First the butter will hiss and splatter as the water evaporates, then as it quiets down, a layer of foam will form on top of the butter. This means the butter is done. Immediately remove from the heat, and scrape the butter, including the brown milk solids, into a large bowl. Let cool for 10 minutes.
- Add the brown sugar, granulated sugar, eggs, vanilla, milk, and sour cream to the brown butter and whisk until combined.
- In a separate bowl, sift together the flour, salt and baking powder, then whisk until everything is evenly distributed.
- Add the dry ingredients to the wet, whisking until moistened, then fold in the chopped macadamia nuts.
- Divide the batter between the pans, and bake for about 28-32 minutes, until the tops spring back when gently touched, or a toothpick or cake tester comes out clean. Cool the cakes in the pans for 20 minutes (the top of the cake will settle and flatten as the cake cools).
- After 20 minutes, run a knife around the edges, and turn the cakes out onto a piece of plastic wrap. Wrap the cake layers individually in plastic wrap, and cool completely.Note: The reason for wrapping the cakes is that this cake recipe is a bit more dense, and since it's butter based, it develops a crust while baking. Wrapping the cake while warm allows the steam to soften the crust and keeps the cake very moist.
Frosting
- In a saucepan, melt the butter over medium low heat. Add the brown sugar and cook, stirring constantly with a spatula, until it begins to boil, then boil for 2 minutes. The mixture should reach 236 degrees Fahrenheit.
- Stir in the milk, return to a boil, then remove from the heat.
- Pour the mixture into a bowl, and let cool to room temperature, stirring occasionally.
- Add the powdered sugar, vanilla and salt, and use an electric mixer to beat the frosting for several minutes until smooth and thick.Note that this frosting does not have the consistency of a fluffy buttercream, and since it's thinner, it can be a little trickier for spreading onto a layer cake. If it seems too thin, you can beat in more powdered sugar, 1/4 cup at a time. If it gets too cool and thick, beat in hot water, 1 tablespoon at a time.
- Spread a thin layer of frosting on top of one of the cooled cake layers, then place the second cake layer on top. Frost all over with a thin crumb coat of frosting. Chill in the refrigerator for 30 minutes to let the frosting set and firm up, then add more frosting if you like.Note that since this frosting is so sweet, I frosted my cake pretty thinly, with just a crumb coat around the sides, and a little more swirled on top of the cake.
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