Pecan Espresso Cake + Brown Butter Sesame Buttercream

seriously, brown butter in everything

I experimented with different nut flours (pecans lend a maple-esque sweet nuttiness that contrasts the more savory nutty flavor of the toasted sesame in the frosting), different fats (while I love a buttery cake, the oil transformed the cake from a stiff, almost dry cake into a more tender moist crumb. Plus, there is plenty of buttery flavor in the frosting to go around), and frostings (I started with a chocolate version of this, but it just overpowered the brown butter flavor).