Isaac's Birthday Cake: The One and Only Brown Sugar Cake

It's his favorite. Hands down. Every year Isaac asks me to make it for his birthday. 
The first time I made it for him, he looked at me with wide, sparkling eyes on his birthday, after taking his first bite of this cake, and declared this was the best thing I ever made.

It began because Isaac was obsessed with baking his own concoctions for about two years. He followed no recipe. He just mixed a little of this and a little bit of that, poured it into a pan, and baked it. The most surprising thing was that 90% of the time his concoctions were very good. He was always pleased as punch as he ate them after dinner. When we would ask him what his secret was he had one consistent response: brown sugar. When I found a recipe for a brown sugar cake, I knew I had to make it for Isaac. I've tweaked it over the years, but it's still the same over the top super sweet brown sugar delight. Enjoy!

Cake
Ingredients:
2 sticks of salted butter
3 cups flour
2 cups dark brown sugar
½ cup white sugar
6 eggs
1 tbsp vanilla
1 cup of sour cream
½ tsp of baking soda
 
1. Beat butter and gradually add sugar. When mixture is fluffy add one egg at a time, followed by vanilla.
2. Add baking soda to sour cream and mix.
3. Alternately add flour and sour cream to butter mixture.
4. Divide batter between two buttered and floured 8 inch round pans.
5. Bake until golden for 50 minutes at 325 degrees.
6. Frost with Brown Sugar Frosting!
 
Brown Sugar Frosting
 1. In a saucepan place 1 ½ cups of brown sugar, ¼ cup of milk, 2 tbsp of butter over medium heat.
2. Mix until sugar is fully dissolved. You may need to add a tsp or two of water.
3. Remove from heat and add 3tsp of pure maple syrup. If you don’t have maple syrup add vanilla, but really, the maple syrup is worth it!
4. In your trusty kitchen aide mixer whip one stick of butter with a half bag of powdered sugar (you know the bigger bag, b/c who buys it in the small box?)
5. After butter and powdered sugar are well combined gradually add brown sugar mixture. Let cool before frosting cake
There is nothing that gives me as much delight as watching my children rave over something I made. Isaac loves brown sugar. He eats it straight when I am not looking. I semi-invented this frosting.  J

​

---