Maple Dot Cakes with Brown Butter Cream Cheese Frosting

hand holding up a maple dot cake with brown butter cream cheese frosting

Maple Dot Cakes with Brown Butter Cream Cheese Frosting

These Maple Dot Cakes with Brown Butter Cream Cheese Frosting are a play on the viral dot cake trend, but with a Vermont twist! They're small in size but big in flavor, and each cup is layered with gluten free maple cake, brown butter cream cheese frosting & topped with crunchy maple sprinkles. They make for the perfect single serve dessert for parties, gifting, or any time you want a dessert that feels as cute as it tastes!

Servings dot cakes

Prep Time 20

Cook Time 25

Resting Time 1

Total Time 1 45

Equipment

9x13" baking dish
parchment paper
kitchen scale (optional)
2 small bowls
medium bowl
whisk
spatula
small pan
hand or stand mixer
wire rack
offset spatula (optional)
rimmed plate
paper ice cream cups

Ingredients

For the Maple Cake:

2 large eggs
¾ cup full-fat plain greek yogurt or skyr (170g)
⅔ cup maple syrup (205g)
½ cup neutral oil such as avocado oil, vegetable oil, etc (102g)
1 tsp vanilla bean paste or extract
1 ½ cups gluten free 1-to-1 flour or AP flour (186g)
2 tsp baking powder
½ tsp kosher salt

For the Brown Butter Cream Cheese Frosting:

½ cup unsalted butter cubed (113g)
8 oz cream cheese softened (226g)
1 cup powdered sugar (120g)
2 tbsp maple syrup (40g)
1 tsp vanilla bean paste or extract
pinch of kosher salt

For Topping:

maple sprinkles

Instructions

First, preheat your oven to 350F, then lightly grease a 9x13" baking dish and line the bottom with parchment paper. In a small bowl, mix together the GF flour, baking powder & kosher salt. Set aside.
1 ½ cups gluten free 1-to-1 flour, 2 tsp baking powder, ½ tsp kosher salt
In a medium bowl, whisk together the eggs, greek yogurt, maple syrup, oil & vanilla until smooth. Then, add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients & switch to a spatula to stir until just combined. If using GF flour, you can expect the batter to be a bit lumpy -- that's okay!
2 large eggs, ¾ cup full-fat plain greek yogurt or skyr, ⅔ cup maple syrup, ½ cup neutral oil, 1 tsp vanilla bean paste
Pour maple cake batter into the prepared baking dish, then transfer to the oven to bake for 18-20 minutes, until a toothpick comes out clean. Let cool for 10 minutes in the pan, then transfer it to a wire rack to finishing cooling.
Meanwhile, add your cubed butter to a small pan over medium-low heat. Once melted, start stirring/whisking constantly until the milk solids at the bottom turn golden brown and you can smell a nutty aroma -- this usually takes about 5 minutes. Remove brown butter from the pan and pour it into a heat-safe bowl. Transfer to the fridge until solidified but still soft enough that it indents when you touch it, about 45-60 minutes.
½ cup unsalted butter
Add chilled brown butter to the bowl of a stand mixer (can use a hand mixer instead) fitted with the paddle attachment. Beat on medium speed until the butter is smooth. Then, add in the softened cream cheese and beat again until creamy and no chunks remain. Add the powdered sugar, maple syrup, vanilla & a pinch of kosher salt, then continue beating for 2-3 more minutes, until light & fluffy.
8 oz cream cheese, 1 cup powdered sugar, 2 tbsp maple syrup, 1 tsp vanilla bean paste, pinch of kosher salt
Once the cake has cooled, use your paper cups to cut circles out of the cake, pressing down firmly to create cake rounds that fit perfectly inside. You will likely only have space for 8 rounds (4 dot cakes), but you can use the scraps to make 1-2 additional dot cakes. After you have added one cake layer to the cup, spread on some of the brown butter cream cheese frosting, and top it with one more cake layer, followed by another layer of frosting. Level off the frosting so that it's flush with the top of the cup.
Pour maple sprinkles into a rimmed plate, tray or baking sheet. Dunk each cake into the maple sprinkles, pressing down so that the maple sprinkles stick to the frosting. Enjoy!
maple sprinkles

Video

Notes

This recipe was crafted specifically for these paper cups, which are 2.3" tall and about 3" wide. You can certainly use different sized cups, but the amount of dot cakes you'll get out of this recipe will vary, and the nutrition info will need to be adjusted accordingly.

I highly recommend measuring your ingredients (especially the flour) with a digital kitchen scale for the most accurate results. If you do not have one of these, be sure to use the spoon & level method to ensure you're not adding too much flour.

YIELD & NUTRITION INFO: This recipe makes roughly 6 dot cakes, assuming that you use a similar sized container as I did. The nutrition info listed below is an estimate per dot cake, assuming that you get 6 dot cakes total, and that you use roughly 1.5 tbsp of maple sprinkles for each.

Calories: 794kcal

Course: Dessert

Cuisine: American

Diet: Gluten Free

Keyword: Brown Butter, Cake, Cream Cheese, Dessert, Dot Cake, Frosting, Gluten Free, Maple Syrup, Sprinkles

Nutrition