Has anyone tried using brown butter in buttercream, specifically a meringue based one. I've used brown sugar and added caramel sauce but thinking that it might give a deeper flavour that normal butter.

Any experience?

I've never even heard of brown butter...sorry.
 

i make brown butter buttercream all the time but not a meringue based one...an american buttercream. Everyone LOVES it! It has a deep, rich, almost nutty flavor that pairs really well with banana, spice, pumpkin and apple cakes.

I make it also for regular b/c or cream cheese b/c. I make smbc , but i dont,think you could use brown butter. You melt your butter to a lite brown color. Just google , how to make brown butter butter cream or just brown butter. Don,t know if you can buy it, but, i think most people make it. I used it with a banana , chocolate chip cake. It was delicious. All loved it. Again, don,t know if anyone has used it with smbc. I don,t see any recipes using it. I have looked the internet over. hth  You could also p/m FromScratchsf on this site . I think she would know. Or even Leah_s

Browned butter is incredible.  It's not something you buy.  You cook the butter on the stove until it gets to be a golden brown and have a nutty smell.  The milk solids are what turn the butter brown.  It's best to use a stainless steel pot or skillet, as it will be difficult to judge the color of the butter in something with a black or dark non-stick surface.

You can swap browned butter for regular butter.  Obviously, you would want to use it at the same temperature as called for in the recipe.  Even though the moisture might be slightly reduced in the butter after cooking, I have not personally noticed any differences in recipes where it was swapped with regular butter.  In buttercream, browned butter is awesome, especially when used with caramel, pumpkin, or nuts.  I made browned butter pecan pies at Thanksgiving and everyone freaked out about how delicious they were.

Ah Thanks bikemom, icer and Annie. I've used it in baking before, cookies and cakes, but thought it might affect the state of the buttercream because its been melted and cooled. I shall be experimenting then.

Remnant, I don't brown butter for everything but it gives a deeper nutty flavour to the butter so its good for things that you would use brown sugar with imo.

It will definitely change the color of your buttercream, but I guess that's not a big deal if you are covering in fondant.
 

I didn,t cover my cake in fondant. It was a banana chocolate chip cake with brown butter cream cheese icing. Delicious!!!! Yes, it changed the color, but the flavor with the banana cake was what it was all about. wish i had a piece now. lol!!!  The recipes for  using it in cake, cupcakes, and icings are all over the internet all on these great decorators blogs. That is where i first learned of it. Glad i was lurking around. Its very popular.