When “plain” isn’t
January 15th, 2008 | 
Author: 
Standing at the counter with two dozen ice creams in front of me, my mind whirled. Did I want pumpkin ice cream or maybe gingerbread? Oooh, blackberry cobbler ice cream – my favorite childhood dessert! Nope, wait – I can’t ignore the Estrogen combo: dark chocolate ice cream, served over a warm brownie, with fudgey chocolate sauce. There’s Fluffernutter! Mmmm, Cake Batter Swirl. Raspberry truffle [insert Homer Simpson girgly noise here]. The selection was dizzying.
In an effort to buy myself just a little more time before ordering dessert, I turned to my now-husband on one of our earlier dates and said, “You go first.”
“I’ll take Vanilla Bean,” he responded. Immediately. Well that back-fired on me. I’d only bought myself half a second. My next thought wasn’t of the flavor I would eventually decide upon, it was of his choice: There were more than 20 flavors of ice cream in front of us and he chose Vanilla. I was disappointed, not for his “lack of adventure,” but because who wants to steal a bite of their date’s vanilla ice cream?
[Hanging my head in shame]
I did. I internally pouted about my “second choice” ice cream being the very unexotic “plain vanilla” but I enjoyed every single stolen bite.
I’ve recently made several cakes, some for fun, some for experience, some for profit, but all for enjoyment. My favorite flavor by far has been a Tahitian Vanilla Bean cake. A moist “plain vanilla” cake studded with tiny flecks of vanilla bean – could “plain” get any better?
Tahitian Vanilla Bean Cake
3 cups cake flour
1 Tbsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1 Tahitian vanilla bean, split and scraped
1 cup unsalted butter, cubed and softened to room temperature
2 cups sugar
5 large eggs, at room temp
1 1/4 cups buttermilk, at room temp
2 tsp-1 Tbsp Tahitian vanilla
Preheat oven to 350. Butter and line two 8-inch square pans with parchment paper. Set aside.
In a medium bowl, sift together the flour, baking powder, and salt. Place butter in the bowl of a stand mixer, fitted with a paddle attachment. Split and scrape the vanilla pod into the butter, discard pod (or reserve for another use). Beat for 3 minutes on medium-high speed until the butter is light and creamy in color. Stop and scrape the bowl. Cream the butter for an additional 60 seconds.
Add the sugar, 1/4 cup at a time, beating 1 minute after each addition. Scrape the sides of the bowl before each addition. Add the eggs one at a time. Reduce the mixer speed. Stir vanilla into the buttermilk. Add the dry ingredients alternately with the buttermilk. Mix just until incorporated. Scrape the sides of the bowl and mix for 15 seconds longer.
Spoon the batter into the prepared pan and smooth the top with an off-set spatula. Lift up the pan with the batter, and let it drop onto the counter top a couple of times to burst any air bubbles and allowing the batter to settle. Center the pans onto the lower third of the oven and let bake 45 to 50 minutes or until the cake is lightly brown on top and comes away from the sides of the pan and a skewer inserted in the center comes out with moist crumbs attached.
Let cool completely in the pans before removing the cakes and frosting.
Adapted from The Well-Decorated Cake’s Moist Yellow Cake
Serves 20
Posted in Cakes, Cupcakes, and Brownies
49 Responses to “When “plain” isn’t”
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I love vanilla. I just made a vanilla bean chiffon cake.
Your cake looks very cute.
Um, freaking WOW!!! Vanilla bean is my FAVORITE flavor. Boo to people who think it’s plain. This certainly proves otherwise!
Using real vanilla beans make such a difference, beautiful cake!
Tahitian vanilla bean is anything but “vanilla”
The cake is simply gorgeous. You are an amazing decorater. I love that you can actually see the specs in the cake. I must try this.
Nice cake! I can totally relate to deciding on a flavor when there’s soo much to choose from. All in the name of adventure I guess.
wow that cake is amazing! you clever thing you!
What a beautiful cake! And it looks soooo yummy!
By the way, what kind of icing did you use?
Thanks!
Amanda – I used vanilla buttercream to frost and fill the cake, and then covered the cake in Marshmallow Fondant.
oh my god, those specks of vanilla in the cake are incredible! i must be going nuts but i can almost smell it!
your cake looks beautiful! It looks delicious!
A really good vanilla is about the best there is! And it rarely disappoints like other, lesser flavors with bigger names often do. Sorry, I’m with the hubs on this one… Although it does pair well with a really good dark chocolate…..
Gorgeous cake!
Now I actually know what to do with the vanilla beans that I bought. I was too afraid to use them in anything they wouldn’t be the star ingredient in, and this looks like a winner!
Okay, I looked at this post yesterday afternoon, took a nap and literally dreamed about it while I was asleep. I have since thought about it several more times. Looks like I’ll be making this soon! Now I just have to find vanilla beans! Your cake is truly gorgeous.
Oh, what a beautiful cake! If only I could get my hands on a Tahitian vanilla bean.
*Sigh* Maybe someday.
I never know what flavor to pick at the ice cream counter, either. I’m quite the fan of cookie dough. Same goes for Starbucks. I hate when the baristas are staring at me, and waiting. I just blurt out, “Tall coffee, please.” When what I really want is some elaborate latte.
Do you have a recipe for your fondant? I moved out of my house with a gorgeous marble slab, perfect for fondant work and now I’ve nothing to roll fondant out on. So sad
TIA,
Shannon
I’m making the cake for my best friend’s wedding later this year. Need to start practising as I’m no baker! Your beautiful cake has just inspired me to begin.
This is a beautiful cake! I have been wanting to practice with fondant – just haven’t gotten off my butt to do so. Like Wendy, you’ve inspired me. I with Shannon – do ou have a findant recipe you use? Glenna posted one a while back. I have to go pull up the bookmark.
Did you buy or make the icing and fondant? That cake looks amazing. I think I will try making it, but I have never made fondant, so some tips would be appreciated. Thanks.
Thanks, guys!
Marci – I made the frosting and fondant. The frosting is a vanilla buttercream.
Shannon/Chris/Marci – I’ll post the recipe for marshmallow fondant soon. I have to make another batch this week and wanted to add some procedural pictures.
Simply. Gorgeous.
I have cake decorating envy right now.
That is absolutely beautiful! You’re so talented. Vanilla is my favorite cake!
I made this cake with ‘regular’ vanilla bean and frosted it with chocolate (which did diminish the vanillaness of the cake, but it was still very yummy) for a friend’s birthday. Everyone raved about it, and apparently my friend’s 2 year old licked his plate clean–literally licked it!
Thanks for sharing this recipe.
Ruhama – Glad your friends liked it! It really is some good cake
What an absolutely gorgeous cake. And I think little specks of vanilla are a reminder that I’m going to love the flavor of what I’m about to eat!
[...] project. My last DIY project has been a few months in the making. Perhaps you’ve noticed my recent obsession with Tahitian Vanilla Extract. Perhaps you haven’t – so here I am, all up in your [...]
Super cute cake…and I’ve been wondering how to use up my vanilla beans. Thanks!
Vanilla is never, ever “plain.” It’s a deep, rich and complex marvel which I adore. Try baking anything “plain” without it and you’ll see what plain “really” is. BREAD! Not that bread isn’t delicious of course. I agree — your now husband knew the pure taste of pleasure with vanilla bean ice cream. That’s what I order, as well, and honestly — I often judge an ice cream vendor by their vanilla. If they can’t do that right, I don’t care about any of the other flavors.
Well it looks like it’s vanilla bean week on the food blogs
that cake is gorgeous. DId you take a class? Please tell me you took a class and that you didn’t just inherently know how to decorate a cake like that.
Wow, that’s pretty!! Looks delicious too
I’m so in love with vanilla beans–you’re cake is beautiful! It’s all about those gorgeous little specks…
I made this today for my dad’s birthday, as he requested just a nice “plain” vanilla cake. Well this did not disapoint and packs quite the vanilla punch- but in a good way. I paired it with vanilla butter icing and blackberry sorbetto. The sorbetto overpowered the nice flavour of the cake a bit so I ended up eating most of mine plain but it was still a nice pairing when had together.
I’ll make this again for sure!
What is the texture of the cake? Here is my question: I am considering making this cake using one of those 3-D, standup pans from Wilton. (Long story involving my daughter’s upcoming fifth birthday party.) Does it have enough structure to be a lamb cake decorated as a cheetah? Thanks!
Karen – it’s a “light and fluffy” cake. Very light and fluffy. I noticed some settling in a cake (torted, 4 layers) covered in fondant and decorated pretty heavily with fondant accents. I wouldn’t use this recipe for a cake under a similar amount of weight.
[...] finally, I had another go at making the stunning vanilla sponge that I’d spotted on Confections of a Foodie Bride a few months ago and, yet again, I failed [...]
I know this is an old post, but I just wanted to tell you I made this cake a few days ago for a birthday and it was wonderful! I paired it with a lemon buttercream frosting and lavender filling. Everyone loved it!
[...] Tahitian Vanilla Bean Cake (From: Confections of a Foodie Bride) [...]
Thank you for sharing this recipe, I made this and it was a hit!
http://www.carriessweetlife.com/2008/08/vanilla-almond-cream-cakes/
I just have to tell you, I tried this recipe for my son and daughter-in-laws baby shower cake and it was a huge hit! I love vanilla. I love the simplicity of it. I altered your recipe slightly by adding 2 Tahitian vanilla beans instead of 1. Fantastic! I also covered it in an Italian Buttercream frosting, flavored with tahitian vanilla. This is my favorite recipe for frosting because it is light and fluffy and not too sweet. Oh my goodness, it put the cake over the top! And just to add a little color, I put a thin layer of raspberry filling between the layers along with a layer of the the frosting. I have to say, this cake was to die for. Thanks for the great recipe. I will be making this again. Oh and by the way, I also tried your strawberry cake recipe (my daughter-in-law loves strawberry cake). I used this for the top layer of the baby shower cake and it too was fantastic. You rock!
I made this cake for my husband’s birthday. He loves VANILLA! So I was happy to find the recipe. It came out great, but I felt that the cooking time was too long, I kept it in 38 minutes and I should have pulled it out around 34 minutes or so. Other than that great recipe and the best tasting cake batter I have EVER had!
I made this cake last night. UNBELIEVABLE!!! I had plain vanilla beans (I got like 10 from Costco for $6!) and plain old pure vanilla extract, and it still turned out amazing. I also didn’t make any frosting, just didn’t have the time last night. I can only imagine how it would taste using tahitian vanilla AND icing! It was extremely moist, even after it sat out on my counter all night. The vanilla was gentle and yet intoxicating. I went to the website you recommend for organic vanilla and they appear to be out of everything right now, but I will check back. Thanks for the recipe and the vanilla info. This was my first time here, and I think I will be baking up a lot of your recipes!
Vanilla anything is my secret weapon to giving ordinary cakes an extra little something. Your vanilla cake looks and sounds delicious. Must try this recipe asap!
Hello, I am assuming I can use 2 9-inch round cakepans and then I would have some extra batter? So then I guess I would cook it for a shorter time? or a different temp?
Constance – nope, I wouldn’t change the temp. Just divide the batter between your two pans. I always start checking my cakes earlier than stated time since the recipe authors probably don’t have my exact oven.
I made this for my daughters 8th birthday, it was wonderful! Now that I have made the leap, I can never go back to store bought cake mixes. It was so much better, thank you for sharing the recipe.
Delicious. Made these as cupcakes for a graduation party- did the trial run tonight and they came out perfect. The cake is so light and airy- almost like a homemade angel food cake. They don’t even need icing! Thank you!
Hi,
I’d love to make this cake for my wedding in 2 weeks (eek)Rather than 2 pans, can I use one large springform? What would you recommend the baking time be? Thanks so much. Can’t wait to try it!
Carrie – Congrats! Since it’s a standard yield recipe, you could double the recipe and bake it in a 10-inch pan. You’ll want to use a heating core or something similar (I always use a greased flower nail, point end up). I’d bake at 350 and check on it after 45-50 minutes. Likely, you’ll need at least another 20 minutes or so but you’ll be able to adjust the remaining baking time by how it’s baking in your oven at that point.