Browned Butter Whipped Cream Frosting

They say 'necessity is the mother of invention.'  How else would we have these amazing inventions?

Sometimes you start making a dulce de leche cake for your dear friends 30th birthday party and you end up with something, well...not a dulce de leche cake.  Dulce de leche is similar to caramel and one way to make it is made by reducing sweetened milk over heat for a long period of time.  I obviously did something wrong because I ended up with a glob of rock hard caramel that had to be heated up over steam just to loosen it from the bowl.  There was no way this glob was going to whip in with cream to make a frosting.  I couldn't even get my big kitchen knife through it let alone my Kitchen Aid blade.  What a mess!

Perhaps one day, I'll attempt dulce de leche again.  Unfortunately, it was 5:00 on the day of the party and I didn't have time to try again.  Before I panicked, I called my handy dandy mother.  We brainstormed and after realizing my pantry was sadly stocked, decided my only option other than a trip to the store was to brown some butter, add some flavors and whip it in to cream.  We were both hopeful when I hung up the phone.

Hallelujah it worked! Thank God for mothers!  This frosting is light and fresh but has the rich flavors of cinnamon and browned butter that are still quite decadent.  I'm not a huge fan of regular frosting, so whipped cream frostings are right up my alley. 

What they say about inventions must be true.  You see, I needed a tasty solution and we (by 'we' I mean my mom) invented a new frosting.  Perhaps it's already been invented, but I've never heard of it anyways. 

Browned Butter Whipped Cream Frosting

1/4 cup butter
2 1/2 teaspoons cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 inch vanilla bean

2 cups powdered sugar
2 tablespoons milk
1 inch vanilla bean
3 cups whipped cream

Melt the butter in a small saucepan over medium heat and continue to cook until butter turns a light golden brown.  Remove from heat and add the cinnamon and vanilla extract.  Split the vanilla bean lengthwise and scrape out the soft, blackish insides; add this to the butter.  Stir the butter mixture and allow it to cool to room temperature. 

Meanwhile, whip the cream in a chilled mixer bowl with chilled beaters.  Place whipped cream into a separate bowl and wash out your mixer bowl.  Add the butter mixture to the mixer bowl and slowly beat in the powdered sugar and milk until well combined.

Gently fold the butter mixture into the whipped cream.

This amount frosted and filled a 3 layer 9 inch cake with plenty left over.