This cake is amazing. It's a brown butter buttermilk apricot cake with creamy chocolate frosting. I baked it in a springform pan instead of a smaller cake pan so it's very thick.
Heat butter in a 10-inch heavy skillet over medium heat until milk solids on bottom are a dark chocolate brown. Transfer to a shallow bowl and let cool.
Begin by preparing the buttermilk cake. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F, and position a rack in the middle of the oven. Lightly spray a spring-form pan with nonstick spray and line the bottoms with wax paper. Lightly spray the pan again and flour, making sure to tap out the excess.
In a large measuring cup, whisk together the eggs, egg yolk, 2 tablespoons of the buttermilk, and vanilla extract. Set aside.
In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, stir together the flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt on low speed, just to combine.
With the mixer running on low speed, add the cold butter to the mixer bowl, one piece at a time, about 10 seconds apart. It seems a little tedious, but trust me, this works. Once all the butter has been added, continue mixing until the butter has been blended and there are no clumps, about another minute and a half to two minutes. The mixture will have a very fine, crumbly, cornmeal-like texture.
Add the remaining 1/2 cup of buttermilk to the dry ingredients and mix on medium speed for 4 minutes, making sure to scrape down the sides and bottom of the bowl at the end to ensure that all the ingredients were incorporated.
Reduce the mixer speed to low, and slowly pour in the egg mixture; once the egg mixture has been added, increase the speed to medium and beat for 1 more minute. Gently fold the batter once or twice to ensure that the egg mixture has been fully incorporated. Then mix in the diced apricots.
Place the cake pan in the oven, and bake until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean , about 40 minutes. Set the cake on a wire rack and let them cool for 10 minutes. Use an offset spatula to loosen the cake from the baking pans and then invert it onto the wire rack. Carefully peel off the wax paper liner, and let the cake cool completely.
Mix in cocoa powder, vanilla, and milk. Beat in powdered sugar until smooth.
I thought this blog needed some pink and fluffy frosting after the two chocolate desserts, so I made these copycat Lofthouse sugar cookies.
In a large bowl mix sour cream, sugar, butter, eggs and vanilla until smooth.
In a smaller bowl combine flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt, then add to wet mixture and mix until everything is just incorporated.
With a cookie scoop, scoop out even size scoops of dough and then roll in a ball in your hand and place on a cookie sheet and slightly flatten with your hand so it's in a circular shape.
Bake for 7-10 minutes, or until the bottoms are golden brown. They may seem under done but they aren't. Transfer to a cooling rack and let cool completely before frosting.
Then, beat in the powdered sugar.
Add milk, vanilla, and food coloring.