Browned Butter Pumpkin Trifle

Oh noes, I failed to post a recipe in the past month. Well, I'm going to make it up in the next two weeks, starting with this post! I'm all about whatever is fresh or resonates with how the weather makes me feel, so this past fall I made a pretty outrageous brown butter pumpkin trifle with maple whipped cream and toffee crunch. (can I say it's in the past now? It feels an awful lot like a balmy spring day right now) The trifle definitely hit the spot and did a great job at feeding my obsession with pumpkin-flavored anything! 

Let's get down to business now, shall we?

Trifles are awesome. If your cake doesn't come out of your pan cleanly, then chop it all up into little bite size chunks and layer it with some other good stuff. Trifle usually consists of some cake and whipped cream, but additions of fruit, sauces, and candy are also welcome. This dessert comes together really well and looks gorgeous, when really it's just about the least time consuming construction possible. Trifles are shown off best in an trifle bowl, but any sort of tall glass container could be substituted.

Browned Butter Pumpkin Trifle
(built upon Willow Bird Baking's Browned Butter Pumpkin Cheesecake with Salted Caramel recipe)

Cake ingredients

• 3/4 cup pumpkin puree
• 3/8 cup (6 tablespoons) unsalted butter
• 1 cup unbleached all-purpose flour
• 3/4 teaspoon baking soda
• 3/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
• pinch table salt
• 1/8 teaspoon ground cloves
• 3/4 cup granulated sugar
• 1/3 cup firmly packed light brown sugar
• 1 large egg
• 2 tablespoons and 2 teaspoons buttermilk

Topping ingredients

• 1 pint heavy whipping cream
• Maple syrup, to taste
• 3 large heath bars 

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Grease two 8 or 9-inch circular pans with butter. Line the bottom of the pans with parchment paper. 
2. Melt the butter in a sauce pan on medium, stirring occasionally. Once brown flecks begin to appear in the butter (3-5 minutes) and aroma becomes nutty, remove from heat. Continue stirring as butter cools to room temperature (another 5 minutes).
3. Mix together the pumpkin puree, granulated sugar, brown sugar, egg, and buttermilk until well combined. 
4. Fold in the dry ingredients into the wet mixture. Stir in the brown butter. Pour batter evenly into your two pans.
5. Bake the cake until a toothpick comes out clean or with few moist crumbles attached. This should occur between 25 and 30 minutes, but all ovens vary so be sure to test your cakes with a toothpick!
6. Remove cake and allow to cool in the pan for 15 minutes before flipping out onto cooling racks. Allow cakes to come to room temperature.
7. While cakes are cooling, chop up the health bars into small chunks. If you're feeling fancy, you can try shaving some curls to top the trifle with, but otherwise little chunks are just fine. During this time, you'll also want to make the maple whipped cream. You'll want to pour at least a cup of heavy cream to start into a bowl and use a hand or standmixer on high until the cream begins to form stiff peaks. Once it does, feel free to start drizzling in maple syrup. Just drizzle the syrup in a tablespoon at a time while the mixer is going and taste it for flavor. If you want it sweeter, go for a few tablespoons of maple syrup. If you just want a hint of flavor, then one or two tablespoons should be all you need.
8. Once cakes have cooled, cut cakes into small one inch chunks. 
9. With all of your ingredients ready, start layering! I layered first with cake, then with topping, and last with heath bar, repeating until I ended with heath bar, but it's really up to you. 

Now that it's winter I have switched gears and made an eggnog bread pudding with cranberries. There's still eggnog in the fridge, so maybe more eggnog recipes will come in the future... or maybe I'll just finish it on my own with the help of a little Jim Bean or amaretto. Only time will tell! Check back soon for the eggnog bread pudding recipe (and seriously people, harass me until I post the recipe).