Cinnamon Brown Butter Cakes

1. Preheat the oven to 350ºF, and grease and line 3 6-inch cake pans.
2. Combine the flour, baking powder, salt, and cinnamon in a bowl and whisk them all together.
3. Using a stand mixer with the paddle attachment, cream the brown butter with both sugars until it is light and fluffy. Slowly stream in the eggs, yolks, oil, and vanilla. Mix on medium speed until the wet ingredients have fully emulsified, stopping to scrape down sides from time to time.
4. Add the milk and dry ingredients alternately, beginning and ending with the dry ingredients, scraping down sides between each addition. Mix on low until the final dry ingredient addition is fully incorporated.
5. Divide the batter evenly between the cake pans and bake them for 20-25 minutes or until they just start to get golden brown around the edges.
6. Remove the cakes from their pans and let them cool completely before them using to assemble the CHURRO CAAAAAAAAKE. Alternately — store the cakes in the freezer, well wrapped for up to a month until ready to use.

Pralinella

1. Preheat the oven to 300ºF. Line a baking sheet with parchment.
2. Add the pecans, maple syrup, 1 teaspoon kosher salt, and cayenne to a medium-sized bowl, and toss thoroughly.
3. Transfer to the prepped baking sheet and roast for about 15 minutes. Halfway through the baking process, pull out the sheet and stir everything around. You’re looking for the nuts to turn dark without being burnt. The darker the nut, the better the flavor: mahogany is the color you want.
4. Remove the nuts from the oven and let them cool for 5 minutes, then grind them in a food processor until they break down into butter — this takes several minutes. You should have about 1 cup of praline butter. Put this amount in a medium mixing bowl and set aside.
5. Combine 1 cup of white chocolate with the remaining ingredients (including 1 teaspoon salt) — except the heavy cream — in a small saucepan. Heat over medium-low heat, stirring constantly with a heatproof spatula. Once the chocolate melts, turn the heat up to medium and continue to cook, stirring constantly, to caramelize the white chocolate. Once the mixture becomes a shade darker than shiro miso, remove it from the heat and slowly whisk in the heavy cream and unmelted white chocolate. If it seizes or doesn’t fully homogenize, then put it back on the stove top and heat it on low, whisking constantly.
6. While the chocolate mixture is still warm, marry it with the pecan butter and store in an airtight container in the refrigerator overnight.

Mexican Chocolate Frosting

1. Using a stand mixer with the paddle attachment, cream the butter on high speed until it’s light, fluffy, and totally smooth with no lumps. Scrape down the sides of the bowl several times during this process and quadruple check there aren’t any lumps of butter before you move on to the next step. Add powdered sugar 1/2 cup at a time and mix on low until combined and all the powdered sugar is incorporated into the frosting. Add the vanilla, cinnamon, and salt and mix until combined. Scrape down sides and give the frosting another go-round in the mixer on medium speed. Stream in both of the melted chocolates with the mixer on low and continue mixing until they are both fully combined and no streaks remain.
2. Use the frosting immediately to assemble the churro cake, or store in the refrigerator for up to a week (or one month in the freezer). If storing, return the frosting to room temperature and loosen it in the stand mixer before using.

Churro Snaps

1. Preheat the oven to 250ºF
2. Mix 2 cups sugar, cinnamon, and 1 tablespoon salt together in a medium bowl.
3. Add the milk, butter, 2 teaspoons sugar, and 1 teaspoon salt to a medium saucepan and bring it to a boil over medium-high heat. Add the flour and stir it vigorously without stopping with a sturdy wooden spoon for 1 minute to cook the flour. (The batter will be really thick and you’ll use some muscles stirring it.)
4. Transfer the mixture to stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment and let it cool for 5 minutes. Turn the mixer on medium speed and add the eggs one at a time. Let each egg fully incorporate before adding the next one.
5. Meanwhile, pour 4 cups of oil into a 1 1/2 quart saucepan and heat it to 350ºF
6. Transfer the batter to a piping bag with a star tip (we like using a medium closed tip) and pipe the batter into the oil, cutting it with scissors every 2 inches so perfect churros drop into the oil. Fry the batter in batches of six churros until they are deep golden brown.
7. Use a slotted spoon to remove the churros from the oil and put them onto a paper-towel-lined pan. Let them cool for a minute, then toss them into the bowl with the cinnamon sugar and coat them.
8. You are going to use some of these churros to decorate the finished cake and the rest to make the churro crunchies that go inside the cake. To do this, take some of the churros and break them up in to pieces about the size of grapes. You will need 2 cups worth of broken up churro bits. Set the remaining churros aside to decorate the cake.
9. In a medium bowl, toss the broken up churros with 1/3 cup of the cinnamon sugar mixture, reserving the leftover mixture to coat the sides of the assembled cake.
10. Spread the churro bits onto a parchment lined baking sheet and bake for 25 minutes, until they are crunchy, deep golden brown, and caramelized. Let the snaps cool completely before using them to assemble the churro cake.

Cake Assembly

1. Lightly coat every layer of brown butter cake with the cinnamon sugar. Place the bottom layer on a plate, and spread a generous layer of pralinella (about 1/2-inch thick) over it. Sprinkle with half of the churro crunchies, and lightly press the crunchies down into the pralinella.
2. Next, spread a thick layer of the Mexican chocolate frosting over the crunchies, and add another layer of cake. Repeat until you're left with the top layer. Top with Mexican chocolate frosting and freshly fried churro toppers. Enjoy!