Brown Butter Frosting recipe - The Gold Lining Girl (2024)

Brown Butter Frosting is magical! A simple buttercream recipe gets a major upgrade. Made withnutty, caramel-like, fragrant, toasty, rich brown butter. This Brown Butter Frosting isliterally a perfect substance. Rich, creamy, fluffy, and beaming with brown butter.

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We’re eating all our problems this morning. Bring on all the butter and sugar. Hand me a spoon, and I’ll just dive right into this Brown Butter Frosting, nothing else necessary. I don’t want it on anything, I’ll eat it all by its lonesome.

This Brown Butter Frosting recipe is making my day.

We’re back from our “evacuation vacation.”

We spent the better part of Labor Day week staring down Hurricane Irma. No offense to any Irmas out there, but she was an absolute biotch. Our stomachs were in knots as we watched each updated track, and we lost so much sleep. We worked on getting our house ready, and packing our things in case we needed to leave – whether by car or plane.

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As we watched the track continue towards the Tampa Bay Area,and Irmawas unrelenting instrength and size, we decided that we were not sticking around to experience her destruction. Also, we were under mandatory evacuation anyway because of our flood zone – eek.

In nine years, I’ve never seen Floridians as freaked out as they were for Irma. I have never seen such fear and panic here. The mad dash to fill up gas tanks, buy water, and stop at the ATM. It was insanity. We became part of it too. We’d merely drive to work and back, and we’d stop to fill up the 1/16th tank of gasthat we’d used.

My S.O. would go out for it late around 10pm hoping to avoid lines. When water sold out, we bought Gatorade. Buying plywood at Home Depot, and figuring out how to get those big boards home and up on our windows. Filling up plastic containers of water. It was kinda mayhem.

We have enough peanut butter to last a year. Butwe already had that. 😉

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We looked for flights to pretty much anywhere, and snagged tickets at 11am last Friday to Baltimore for 7pm that same night. We stashed the cat in her carrier, and left. We stayed with friends in the D.C. area, and then drove up to our families in Buffalo and Erie.

It was helpful for distraction, but it wasn’t like a relaxing vacation. All we thought about wasfriends and family that stayed behind, and we worried for their safety, and we were concerned about damage to our home and belongings. I also worried about all the travel with my 18 year-old cat – it was so muchupheaval and confusion for an elderly feline. She’s still a bit miffed about it.

I cannot remember the last time, or ever a time, where I experienced so much stress, worry, and fear.

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For us, the saga ends well. Although we lost power, it came back on within a few hours of our plane landing back in Tampa. We were also lucky as far as our property. We barely had any branches down, and no roof or water damage. We’re so grateful. But lots of people lost a lot, and my heart goes out to all of them.

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So today, we eat Brown Butter Frosting. Just the frosting. It need not adorn anything but my spoon!

I’ve been in love with brown butter for a few years now, and you guys know this. So many of my all-time favorite recipes include brown butter. Honestly, I brown butter as often as I can for recipes – it’s magical. It’s nutty, caramel-like, fragrant, toasty, and rich. A perfect substance.

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You can find it in these recipes forGingerbread Latte Cupcakes with Brown Butter Buttercream,Brown Sugar Maple Bacon Scones, Pumpkin Cookies with Brown Butter Icing, Brown Butter Bourbon Pecan Pie, and a whole bunch more. All of those are truly incredible.

Update: Zucchini Bars with Brown Butter Frosting!

I made standard buttercream frosting, but with brown butter. I browned the butter, let it solidify, and then beat it into buttercream frosting with vanilla, powdered sugar, and cream. That’s it. It’s an extra step to buttercream frosting, but it’ll be the BEST frosting (tied with Nutella Buttercream! Oh, this Peanut Butter Frostingand this Cookie Butter Frosting rock too…) that you’ve ever had.

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Brown Butter Frosting

Sarah @ The Gold Lining Girl

Brown Butter Frosting is magical! My basic buttercream recipe gets a major upgrade. Made with nutty, caramel-like, fragrant, toasty, rich brown butter. This Brown Butter Frosting is literally a perfect substance.

5 from 1 vote

Print Recipe Pin Recipe

Prep Time 1 hr 15 mins

Cook Time 10 mins

Total Time 1 hr 25 mins

Course Frosting

Servings 4 cups

Ingredients

  • 1 c. unsalted butter
  • 1 tsp. vanilla
  • 4 - 5 c. powdered sugar
  • 1/4 c. heavy cream

Instructions

  • Melt butter in a small saucepan over medium heat, stirring frequently, until golden brown. It will develop brown flecks and a nutty, caramel fragrance, about 10 minutes.

  • Remove from heat, and whisk in vanilla.

  • Cool for 10 minutes.

  • Transfer to a small heatproof bowl or jelly jar, and refrigerate until firm, at least 1 hour.

  • In a large mixing bowl, beat the browned butter until creamy.

  • Add 4 c. powdered sugar and 1/4 c. heavy cream, beating until light and fluffy. You can add a little more heavy cream if needed to achieve desired consistency. It should be thick and fluffy, but spreadable!

Brown Butter Frosting recipe - The Gold Lining Girl (9)Brown Butter Frosting recipe - The Gold Lining Girl (10) Brown Butter Frosting recipe - The Gold Lining Girl (11)

Related Recipes

  • Brown Butter Icing recipe
  • Butterscotch Blondies with Brown Butter Frosting
  • Gingerbread Latte Cupcakes with Brown Butter Buttercream
  • My Favorite Banana Cake with Brown Butter Icing
Brown Butter Frosting recipe - The Gold Lining Girl (2024)

FAQs

How to make gold butter frosting? ›

Just mix vegetable oil with edible gold powder until you form a paste, paint it on the inside of a piping bag (the whole bag or just stripes), fill with buttercream and swirl away!

Why did my brown butter frosting separate? ›

Too much sugar or not enough liquid can cause the buttercream to break or become too gritty. Using room temperature or softened butter, can also help create a smoother texture.

How to make gold cupcakes? ›

When frosting is set, load small soft-bristle dry artist's brush with gold luster dust. Gently brush over frosting portion of a cupcake until a gold sheen is achieved. Repeat with remaining cupcakes. A second coat of luster dust can be applied for intensified golden color.

How do you brown butter without separating it? ›

Use a heat-proof spatula to stir the browning milk solids off the bottom of the pan so they brown more slowly and evenly. Once you see the butter browning on the bottom of the pan, the rest of the process will move pretty quickly.

Why is my brown butter all foam? ›

Butter contains a good 13 to 17% water, which has to go before the fat's temperature can rise enough to brown the milk proteins. Once the butter reaches a temperature of 212°F, the water in the butter starts to evaporate much more quickly. As a result the butter will start to bubble and splatter dramatically.

Can you over beat buttercream? ›

Yes, this is absolutely correct. The longer you beat, the more air you incorporate in your buttercream, thus, it will have lots of holes or air-pockets, it will also make the colour lighter. If you will use your buttercream primarily for filling or maybe as simple swirls, then this is ok.

How to make dark brown frosting? ›

To every 1 cup of white icing, add 1 tablespoon of the darkest unsweetened cocoa powder you can find. Mix well. This will result in a very still icing. Add warm water by 1 drop at a time, mixing after each addition, until you get your desired consistency.

What colors make brown frosting? ›

Find two colored dyes that are opposites on the color wheel.

Red and green, orange and blue, or yellow and purple can all be combined to make brown. You can use liquid or gel food dye.

What makes cupcakes golden brown? ›

So here's bakery tip #3 (I think it's #3). At the bakery, when we want things to get that golden brown to light brown color, we always brush it with egg wash. It's about 1 egg to 1-2 tablespoons of milk. To further that browning, if it happens to be an item that needs additional sweetness ie.

Can you put gold dust on buttercream? ›

Don't: Mix Luster Dust Directly Into Buttercream

If you try to mix the luster dust into your buttercream, the sparkle will get lost in the frosting. Sparkle only works as a coating or sheen; it needs to sit on top so the light can hit it in all sorts of glorious ways.

How to make a gold glaze for a cake? ›

This is how to do a super easy gold drop for your cakes that you don't have to paint and actually tastes pretty good! ✨ 6 tablespoon coconut oil 1 tablespoon powdered sugar (sifted) 2 teaspoons metallic gold powder Note: Do not microwave the powder once it's mixed in because the powder has metal in it.

What colors make gold buttercream? ›

A careful combination of yellow, red and green food coloring can make a shade close to the color of gold, but doesn't give icing the glimmer of gold. Gold luster dust makes gold icing decorations as realistic as possible. The shimmering dust must be applied in a layer on top of icing.

Can you make gold buttercream? ›

Just mix vegetable oil with edible gold powder until you form a paste, paint it on the inside of a piping bag (the whole bag or just stripes), fill with buttercream and swirl away!

Can I add gold luster dust to buttercream? ›

Don't: Mix Luster Dust Directly Into Buttercream

If you try to mix the luster dust into your buttercream, the sparkle will get lost in the frosting. Sparkle only works as a coating or sheen; it needs to sit on top so the light can hit it in all sorts of glorious ways.

Can I paint gold on buttercream? ›

#1 Use gold paint on buttercream frosting by chilling the cake after frosting it, to set the frosting. For this cake I've carved a leaf design which I'm painting with a thin paintbrush dipped in edible gold paint made with luster dust and vodka.

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