Carrot Cake with Brown Butter Frosting

To make the cake:

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees and line a square 9 x 9 pan with parchment paper. Alternatively, grease and flour the insides of the pan or use a flour based baking spray like Baker’s Joy.
2. Sift the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg and cloves together in a small mixing bowl and whisk to combine. Set the bowl aside.
3. In a large mixing bowl (I used a 6 quart size) cream the 3/4 cup butter, brown sugar and orange zest on high speed for 2 minutes. Scrape down the sides and bottom of the bowl and add the first whole egg. Mix on medium speed until fully combined and scrape down the bowl again.
4. Add the second whole egg and mix well, scraping the bowl before beating in the egg yolk. Add the oil and vanilla extract and mix well on medium speed to fully combine. Scrape down the bowl again.
5. Add a third of the flour mixture and half of the buttermilk and mix on low speed until there are no raw flour streaks remaining. Add another third of the flour and the remaining buttermilk, mixing again. Finally, add the remaining flour and mix on low speed, JUST until there are only a few flour streaks left.
6. Add the carrots and pecans all at once and fold them into the batter with a spatula. The batter will be very thick.
7. Add the batter to the prepared 9 x 9 pan and smooth the top into an even layer. Bake in the preheated oven for 43-45 minutes, or until the center of the cake springs back lightly when pressed with your finger. Allow the cake to cool completely before making the frosting.

To make the cream cheese frosting:

1. Add the 1/2 cup butter to a stainless steel or light colored saucepan (so you can see when the butter begins to brown) and melt the butter over medium heat, stirring occasionally.
2. As the butter continues to heat, you’ll notice that the milk solids will come up to the surface and form a “skin” on top of the yellow butterfat. Keep stirring occasionally.
3. Eventually, the milk solids will sink below the surface to the bottom of the pan, and the yellow butterfat will clarify. Keep stirring a little bit to prevent them from sticking to the bottom of the pan.
4. Once you start to see the milk solids turn a light brown, stir the butter constantly as the color deepens and the butter starts to smell nutty. The butterfat will also turn a medium tan. Remove the saucepan from the heat and immediately add the hot browned butter to a heatproof bowl to stop the cooking. Be sure to scrape the saucepan out and get all the browned milk solids out and into the bowl. They are flavor!
5. Allow the browned butter to solidify back to room temperature on the countertop, or chill it down in the fridge until it firms back up. It should take about 4 hours at room temperature, and 1 hour in the fridge.
6. Add the cooled brown butter and the softened cream cheese to a large mixing bowl and beat on high speed for 1 minute. Add the powdered sugar, vanilla, salt and heavy cream and mix on low speed until incorporated. Increase back up to high speed and beat the frosting for another minute.
7. Frost the cooled cake with the cream cheese frosting and serve! Store any leftovers in the fridge for up to a week.