chocolate cake with brown butter cream cheese icing

chocolate cake with brown butter cream cheese icing

8 Dec 2025

Sometimes I’m a little late to the party. Apparently this chocolate sheet cake with brown butter frosting from Bon Appetit was all the rage a few years ago. I was making a birthday cake for 6-year-old twin girls and as I knew they both loved chocolate, sprinkles and lashings of creamy icing, the sheet cake recipe fitted the brief, but I wanted to make a layer cake. The cake doesn’t rise much so I used the full recipe to make two 8 inch cake layers.

The cake uses a mountain of sugar, so I cut down the sugar in the cake batter. I thought apricot jam would go well with the toasty brown butter icing so I filled the cake with apricot jam.

I’m not much of a cake decorator at the best of times but my piping bag split mid swirl. I put the camera down, covered the icing with sprinkles, packed the cake into a container and drove to my friend’s place. Unfortunately lighting the candles and blowing them out trumped taking any further photos of the cake that day.

The cake was divine, but the icing was so SWEET it made my teeth hurt. When I came home I decided to tweak the recipe a bit. For cake number two I made a single layer gluten free cake and topped it with a different but far less sweet brown butter icing. After levelling the cake, I coated it with layer of apricot jam, then drizzled some jam over the icing. I shared the cake with my neighbours and again it was declared a success.

Here's the recipe for you which will make an 8-inch layer cake. For all my recipes, I use a 250 ml cup and a 20 ml tablespoon. All eggs are 60 grams and my oven is a conventional oven not fan forced, so you may need to reduce your oven temperature by 20°C. 

If you’d like to make a 17 cm single layer cake, use half the batter and the cake will take close to an hour to bake. For the icing use 100g of butter, 100g cream cheese, 30g of milk powder, 125g of icing sugar, a tsp of vanilla extract and a pinch of salt.

Chocolate layer cake with brown butter cream cheese icing
Cake
350g caster sugar
225g plain flour (I used GF)
1 tsp bicarbonate of soda
70g Dutch-process cocoa powder
250mls hot tap water
200mls vegetable oil
2 eggs
180ml well-shaken buttermilk
1/2 tsp flaky sea salt
2 tsp vanilla extract

Brown butter cream cheese icing
150g full fat softened cream cheese
150g unsalted butter, squidgy soft divided in 2
2 tsp vanilla paste
50g dried milk powder
pinch salt
175g icing sugar

Filling
1/3 cup apricot jam or flavour of your choice

Method
Place a rack in the centre of the oven; preheat the oven to 190⁰C, conventional. Grease and line the base of two 8 inch tins with baking paper, then dust with cocoa powder. Set to one side.

Whisk the sugar, flour and bicarbonate of soda in a medium bowl until well combined.

In a large jug, whisk the cocoa powder with the cup of hot tap water and mix until the cocoa has dissolved. Add the vegetable oil, the eggs, the buttermilk, the salt and vanilla extract and whisk again just to combine. Add the cocoa mixture to the dry ingredients and whisk gently until just combined and the batter is smooth. Scrape the batter evenly into the 2 prepared tins.

Bake the cakes on the centre rack of the preheated 190⁰C, conventional oven for about 30 minutes, or until the cake springs back when gently pressed or a tester inserted into the centre comes out with a few moist crumbs attached.

Let the cakes cool in the pan for 10 minutes. Cut around each cake with a knife before inverting onto a wire rack. Peel away the baking paper; invert the cakes and cool completely on the rack.

Icing
Place 75g of unsalted butter in a small saucepan over a medium-low heat and cook until it begins to foam. Stir constantly until the mixture turns a dark nut brown colour. Remove from heat and immediately pour the butter into the bowl of a stand mixer. Place the bowl into the fridge and cool for about 15 minutes.

Remove the bowl from the fridge. Add the cream cheese, the remaining butter, the vanilla paste, milk powder and salt into the bowl. Sift the icing sugar over the top. Beat with the paddle attachment for 10 minutes on speed 4 (below low) until pale, and fluffy then store covered in the fridge until needed. If refrigerated, rewarm in the microwave in 20-second bursts until softened.

Assembly

Level the top of the cakes if needed. Place one cake layer onto a serving platter. Spoon a small amount of the icing into a piping bag fitted with a 1 cm nozzle. Pipe a cm of icing around the edge of the cake to form a dam. Spoon 1/3 cup of jam into the well, level with an off set spatula then gently place the second layer on top.

Spoon or pipe swirls of icing onto the top of the cake. Store the cake in an airtight container in the fridge. Bring to room temperature before seving. The cake will keep covered for up to 3 days.

I am not usually a chocolate cake fan but this cake is really moist and absolutely delicious.

Next week is Christmas Week on the blog where I'll be sharing 5 new recipes with you. I'm looking forward to it, and I hope you are as well.

See you all again next week.

Bye for now,

Jillian

Read more

morocco Part II - Chefchaouen to kasbah amridil

morocco Part II - Chefchaouen to kasbah amridil

5 Dec 2025

Let's take up from the Blue City of Chefchaouen.



After leaving Chefchaouen we stopped for a pomegranate juice break by the Barrage Sidi Chahed Dam, a man made oasis, before continuing our journey to the historic city of Fes. In Fes we stayed in a modern hotel where the rooms had enormous bathrooms. As we had 2 nights in Fes, this was the perfect time and place to get some washing done. 

We had great views over the sprawling city from the rooftop restaurant. On our first night we had a lovely dinner in a private riad. We were served a variety of Moroccan salads, all of which were delicious, accompanied by Moroccan bread. We would have been happy to have the salads as our meal and I was already full before the main course of chicken b'stilla was served. The meal ended with a fabulous fruit platter, lemon verbena tea and biscuits. It was a veritable feast however I was too busy eating to take photographs, so you'll have to take my word for it.

The next day began with a visit to the Jewish quarter where we found fresh walnuts and mounds of delicious dates for sale.



We then met our local guide for a tour of Fes. We stopped at the Jewish cemetery, where we were told some of the Jewish history of Fes, but we didn't go inside.



Our next destination was the Royal Palace which is closed to the public. A photo taken in front of the famous Golden doors is a must.



From the Palace we drove to a pottery collective which had some beautiful works on display.



We watched as zellige tiles were painstakingly laid upside down to form intricate patterns. Fes pottery is highly regarded with prices to match.



Following the visit to the ceramics studio, we drove to the fort of Borj Sud for a view over the medina.



The sprawling medina of Fes.



We returned to the medina for a walk through the souk. Our guide grew up in the souk so he knew the streets like the back of his hand.



The souk was an experience. The streets in the souk are narrow and crowded and we were warned if we heard the call 'balak, balak', to get out of the way as it usually heralded the arrival of a donkey or some kind of delivery.



I put my cameras out of harm's way in my bag where they stayed. That's why I don't have any photos of the bazaar to share with you.

I did however take my camera out when we visited the Madrasa al-Attarine, an Islamic learning centre.

Some parts of the Madrasa were well maintained, whilst other areas showed the passage of time.



We also visited the Funduq al Najjarine, some details pictured above, home to the Wood Museum.



The beautiful Najjarine fountain.



How could I not photograph the infamous Chouara Tannery with it's pungent odour and scenes straight from Dante's Inferno?

Fes was a lot, so please don't judge me, but the highlight of my day was a visit to Carrefour, a French owned supermarket. When I travel I just love to visit local supermarkets. This Carrefour had an in-house bakery, a cheese shop, a butcher and a separate wine shop. I roamed up and down the shopping aisles along with middle class Fes locals and loads of tourists. As I was desperately missing my usual breakfast of muesli, fruit and yoghurt, I left with a punnet of raspberries to tide me over.

The next day we left Fes for the Midelt Valley, an apple growing region of Morocco but not before a brief stop at Ifrane for cake and coffee.



Ifrane is known as the 'Chamonix of Morocco' because of it's cooler climate, distinctive architecture and leafy parks.



Our accommodation for the night was a riad located in an orchard.



You could walk down the olive grove to the lake and conservation area.



It was hot, dry and dusty so the locals workers chose to ride instead.

It's hard to believe a nectarine orchard can thrive in this location.

The backdrop might be the Atlas Mountains but you could have been anywhere in the world.

I hummed the theme song to 'Baghdad Cafe' as I took this photo.

I passed this donkey on my walk back. The donkey is definitely a beast of burden in Morocco.

We were told that we could eat any of the fruit we found and it took me a while before I located the much promised grapes. They were delicious.

Later that afternoon we drove a short distance to a local apple orchard. The farmer took us for a walk around the orchard and the local village.

The apples had already been harvested so we were free to eat as many as we liked. We picked so many apples we ended up eating them for days.

A stork's nest, something seen all over Morocco.



When we returned from our walk through the village we were taught how to make Moroccan semolina pancakes, known as Msenmen. Some of us did better than others and I'm looking forward to making some at home.



We ate the Msenmen, expertly made by the farmer's wife, for our afternoon tea in the garden. Although I've had mint tea before it was a wildly different experience taken in an apple orchard under a setting sun. It was an absolute highlight of the trip.



Midelt was the midway point between Fes and the Desert Camp in Merzouga. We stopped at a covered market en route to Merzouga to pick up some lunch.



Before we arrived at Merzouga, we stopped for a tour of a fossil factory in nearby Erfoud where slabs of fossils are polished and turned into coffee tables, benchtops and hand basins. You can see an ammonite and some squid in this slab.



Our destination for the night was the Desert Camp at Erg Chebbi.

The view from the pool. It doesn't look real, does it?



Although we could use the pool we didn't stay in the hotel. Our accommodation for the night were tents.

Some of the tents were more luxurious than others.














We waited for the sun to set before going on our camel ride.



My ride was 'Jonathan', the camel with the yellow livery. He was quite happy having a rest and was none too happy having to ferry me across the sand dunes.



Our guides, who took care of us and made sure that no-one came to any harm.



The next morning a few of us rose to watch the sun rise over the dunes.


It was a magical experience.



After breakfast it was back on the bus for our journey to the M'Goun Valley via the Todra Gorge.



Before we drove down to the gorge, we stopped at the Tinghir Oasis with it's beautiful palm grove.





After we parked the bus, we walked down to the Gorge. I don't know what I expected from the Gorge other than natural beauty.



Dodging cars and buses as they drove through the gorge I didn't expect.

I also didn't expect to find road side stalls.



I didn't expect to see vendors cooling off in the river.

I was probably expecting more of these uninterrupted scenic vistas.

After lunch we made our way to Ait Ouassif in the Valley of the Roses where we spent 2 nights.



My room overlooked a stream and I was woken by the sound of running water, an unfamiliar sound in drought stricken Morocco.



We started the day with a walk around the village and through the fields. 



In the main women were the ones tending the fields. Requests to take photographs were politely declined.

This lady passed by with her laden donkey.



We passed by fields of corn and alfafa, groves of fig, olive and pomegranate trees and many, many donkeys.



We feasted on the ripe figs and promegranates and they were delicious.



As we crossed the river we saw these boys splashing about.



They were certainly having fun.



Schools run half days from Monday to Saturday. They must have afternoon classes in the village because we saw loads of children on our morning walk.



Including these ragamuffins comparing their gifts.

The children appear mesmerised. I think John may have been performing one of his party tricks.





After lunch a local Amazigh lady came to the guesthouse for a henna afternoon. Ignore the wrinkled skin and focus on the design! She was very talented.




The next day we were off to the kasbah(s). We stopped to photograph the Kasbah Itran.



We did however go on a guided tour of the Kasbah Amridil.








The kasbah was built in the 17 century so it's in a constant state of renovation/restoration.




A little museum was set up around the courtyard garden.

The serene shaded garden.



The simple interiors.



I found this kasbah quite fascinating. After our visit to the kasbah we drove on to the World Heritage site of Ait Benhaddou but as I've covered quite a lot of territory in this post, I'll close here.

I'll see you all again next week with Part III of my trip to Morocco from Ait Benhaddou to Marrakech.

Bye for now,

Jillian

Read more