Brown butter cream cheese frosting from Dessert Person: Recipes and Guidance for Baking with Confidence (page 324) by Claire Saffitz

Where’s the full recipe - why can I only see the ingredients?

Always check the publication for a full list of ingredients. An Eat Your Books index lists the main ingredients and does not include 'store-cupboard ingredients' (salt, pepper, oil, flour, etc.) - unless called for in significant quantity.

Notes about this recipe

  • Eat Your Books

    Can substitute vanilla extract for vanilla beans.

  • EmilyR on April 05, 2026

    Brown butter makes everything delicious, so this is obviously part of that. I used this frosting on a different carrot cake and reduced the sugar about 50g, which I’d do again. Add dry milk to have even more browned butter solids, but beware they do show up flecking the frosting along with the vanilla.

  • Staceydee on March 11, 2026

    This is dangerously good

  • Clairehg on June 02, 2025

    Sooo delighful. Not too cream cheese forward.

  • hirsheys on April 27, 2025

    Super delicious. I don’t always love frosting, but this one is remarkably yummy.

  • stockholm28 on April 03, 2022

    This frosting is really fantastic. I appreciated her note to get the butter and cream cheese to the same temperature to avoid lumps an used a thermapen to measure the temp of both the cooled butter and cream cheese. The frosting came out beautifully smooth. I’ve had problems with lumpy cream cheese frosting in the past and never knew that the temperature difference was the cause. This will be my new go-to cream cheese frosting recipe.

  • caitmcg on January 16, 2022

    I agree this is a stellar frosting, and I will probably never make plain cream cheese frosting again because the brown butter version is indeed that good. I used around two-thirds of the amount of confectioners sugar, and the result was plenty sweet for me.

  • tarae1204 on May 21, 2021

    This is an indulgent and unforgettable frosting. It’s rich, fragrant and a lovely pale brown. It’s so good, it does alright with vanilla extract but it deserves your vanilla bean, it’s that good.

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