Brown Butter Vanilla Bean Cake

Ingredients:

• 3 sticks unsalted butter
• 2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 2 1/4 teaspoons baking powder
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 2/3 cups sugar
• 1 vanilla bean, split and seeds scraped
• 3 large egg yolks
• 2 large eggs
• 1 1/4 cups milk, at room temperature

Instructions:

• Preheat the oven to 325°. Butter two 9-inch cake pans and line the bottoms of the pans with parchment paper. Butter the paper and dust the pans with flour, tapping out the excess.
• In a medium saucepan, melt the 3 sticks of butter. Cook over low heat, stirring occasionally, until foamy, about 5 minutes. Continue to cook, stirring frequently, until the milk solids turn brown and the butter smells nutty, about 8 minutes longer. Set the saucepan in an ice water bath until the butter begins to set around the edge; 8 - 10 minutes.
• Meanwhile, in a medium bowl, whisk the 2  1/4 cups of all-purpose flour with the baking powder and salt.
• Remove the saucepan from the ice water and scrape up the hardened butter. Transfer the butter to the bowl of a standing electric mixer fitted with the paddle and beat until creamy. Add the sugar and vanilla seeds and beat at medium-high speed until fluffy, about 3 minutes.
• Beat in the egg yolks followed by the whole eggs. Beat in the dry ingredients and milk in 3 alternating additions, scraping down the side and bottom of the bowl as necessary.
• Pour the cake batter into the prepared pans and bake in the center of the oven for about 40 minutes, rotating the pans halfway through baking, until the cakes are golden and a toothpick inserted in the centers comes out clean.
• Cool the cakes in the pans for 20 minutes, then invert them onto a rack to let them cool completely before frosting.

Notes:

• This cake is excellent with a White Chocolate Grand Marnier mousse filling and Orange Cream Cheese frosting.