Sour Cream Spice Cake

I made this yesterday. It seemed like a good fall dessert recipe. I made it in cupcakes for a few reasons: 1) I was supposed to make a snack for women's Bible study and it seemed like cupcakes would be easier than one big cake. 2)I had to make a meal last night for a family with a new baby and this way I could give some to them. And 3) I have never made this before so this way I could sample one before giving them away to people ha ha. It's from the Betty Crocker cookbook that I've beeng going through.

Sour Cream Spice Cake
2 cups flour
1 1/2 cups packed brown sugar
1 cup raisins, chopped (it is hard to chop raisins, even with a PC food chopper. I chopped about half of them, then got tired of it and put the rest in whole)
1 cup sour cream
1/2 cup chopped walnuts (I left these out because #1 I didn't have any and #2 Steve doesn't like them)
1/4 cup butter, softened
1/4 cup shortening
1/2 cup water
2 tsp ground cinnamon
1 1/4 tsp baking soda
1 tsp baking powder
3/4 tsp ground cloves
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp ground nutmeg
2 eggs
Browned Butter Buttercream Frosting (recipe follows)

1. Heat oven to 350. Grease bottom and sides of 13x9 pan or 2 round pans. (I used 2 cupcake pans)
2. Beat all ingredients except frosting with electric mixer on low speed x 30 seconds, scraping bowl constantly. Beat on high speed 3 minutes, scraping bowl occasionally. Pour into pan(s).
3. Bake 13x9 40-45 minutes, rounds 30-35 minutes, (cupcake pans 25-27 minutes), or until toothpick comes out clean. Cool completely. Frost.

So, even though this had many ingredients, it wasn't that hard. I just put everything in my sweet Kitchen Aid mixer bowl and it did all the mixing. These tasted very very good. I was very happy with how they turned out. They were moist and flavorful (of course did you see that it has sour cream, butter, AND shortening??). Definitely a keeper. Not so sure about this particular frosting...

Browned Butter Buttercream Frosting
3 cups powdered sugar
1/3 cup butter
1 1/2 tsp vanilla
1 to 2 tbsp milk

Heat butter (do not use margarine or spreads, it says) over medium heat until light brown. Watch carefully because butter can brown and burn quickly. Cool. Mix powdered sugar and browned butter in medium bowl. Stir in vanilla and milk. Beat until smooth and spreadable.

So I know frosting is supposed to be sweet, but this was almost a little too sweet. And I'm not sure I loved the "browned butter" flavor. But I am keeping the cake recipe, at least. There are a bunch of different frostings in here to try.