Pumpkin Sheet Cake with Brown Butter Frosting

This cake takes a full step into fall with ~pumpkin spice~. But if you want to class it up a tiny (VERY TINY) bit, use your own spice blend instead of a generic, pre-mixed one.

Ingredients

Cake

2 cups all-purpose flour
1 3/4 cups white granulated sugar
2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon cardamom
1/4 teaspoon ginger
1/4 teaspoon allspice
Pinch of cloves
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
3 large eggs
3/4 cup vegetable oil
1 (15-ounce) can of pure pumpkin puree
        

Brown Butter Frosting

1 1/2 cup unsalted butter, divided (2 sticks are just room temperature)
4 cups powdered sugar, sifted
1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1/4 teaspoon fine-grain sea salt
2 tablespoons heavy cream
 

Preparation

Cake:
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Grease a 9x13-inch cake pan with cooking spray and set aside.
In the a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, sugar, baking powder, pumpkin pie spice, baking soda and salt.
In the bowl of a stand-up mixer (or a large bowl using an electric mixer), whisk together the eggs, vegetable oil and pumpkin until smooth.

Add the dry ingredients and mix until just combined. Pour the batter into the pan and smooth it out using an offset spatula or butter knife. Transfer to the oven to bake for 25 to 30 minutes, or until a skewer comes out clean. Allow to cool in the pan for about 10 minutes and then invert it onto a cooling rack. BE CAREFUL ITS A BIG CAKE.

Frosting:
Two sticks (1 cup) of the butter is going to be room temperature. One stick (1/2 cup) of the butter we’re going to brown.

Go ahead and start by adding the room temperature butter to the bowl of a stand-up mixer with the paddle attachment (OR a medium bowl using an electric mixer).

Cube up 1/2 cup of the butter (1 stick). In a small saucepan, set over medium heat, add the cubed butter. Once it’s melted, it will begin to foam up and bubble a bit. Allow it to cook until you begin to see lightly browned specks beginning to form. Give it a stir and cook until it’s browned. You should also start to smell its nutty aroma. Remove it from the pan and continue to stir to cool it down.

Transfer it to a small bowl (freezer-safe) and place it in the freezer to chill, for about 5 minutes. We want it to be around room temperature butter. After it gets to that room temperature butter-firmness (it can be a bit softer—that’s ok), transfer it to the bowl with the other room temperature butter.

Sift in the powdered sugar and add the vanilla extract, salt and heavy cream. Beat the frosting for about 3 minutes. The fluffiness from the heavy cream really lightens up this frosting so be sure to beat it for the full 3 minutes.

Assembly:
Pour all of the frosting on the cooled sheet cake and spread it around, creating cute swoops as you go. Top it with some sprinkles and cut it up and slice! Cake will stay moist for about 3 days when wrapped properly.