Its for an upcoming baby shower in April. Can someone please explain the differences in the different vanillas; I want to get the best flavor vanilla in this cake. I usually use McCormicks or Masseys. If I add vanilla beans to the batter would I still need to use extracts> Anyone have a great recipe? TIA!

i add vanilla beans and vanilla extract for a real intense vanilla flavor. so far no complaints!
HTH

You'll find me around here raving about the Rebecca Rather White-on-White Buttermilk cake. Normally I pass on vanilla cake (because it's not chocolate!) but this one I'll eat till it comes out my ears. My friends frequently request it and one of them called it "the most delicious cake I've ever eaten." You can google the recipe or use the search engine to find it around here somewhere. I prefer Masseys vanilla over any others, but that may be just me.

it's also known as "the Pastry Queen"'s cake (that's the name of her book).

I'll have to try Rebecca Rather's cake. But I made a Vanilla Butter Cake from The Mermaid Bakery cake for my father and he told me not to make him any other cake. He LOVED this one. I make my own vanilla extract though, it's really easy. Or I add a vanilla bean.

Here the linke to the Vanilla Butter Cake from The Mermaid Bakery... http://cakecentral.com/recipes/4313/vanilla-butter-cake-from-the-mermaid-bakery

I hated that cake . OK hated is too strong a word; I thought it was kind of bland. But I'll tell you what, others here have used the recipe but upped the vanilla for more flavorful results. Anyway I don't know why I told you that; if your father loved it, then it is perfect the way it is! Or maybe your homemade vanilla adds the oomph that I thought it lacked...?

Also if you're interested in reviews on a bunch of different white/yellow cakes, check out this thread http://cakecentral.com/cake-decorating-ftopict-633981-.html - we had a "Great Scratch-Off" last summer. Skip to p25 if you want to see the results; the other favored (and actually first-place-winner) recipe was Sylvia Weinstock's Classic Yellow Cake (which IMO is also realllly good, but I prefer the RR cake. But Sylvia's runs a close 2nd for me).

Do you know if either of those 2 cakes freeze or carve well? I read all 20 something pages and it wasn't mentioned.

The RR cake freezes perfectly; I freeze it before decorating every single time. I can't speak for it with regard to carving, although it is a light cake so it may not support an extreme carving job like a car. But light carving (such as: tapering it to topsy-turvy shape) will do fine...in fact I think I DID taper it once. It is not so light and fragile that it cannot withstand fondanting; I've fondanted that cake numerous times.

That Sylvia Weinstock cake may be good to carve; it was a little more dense than the RR. Can't recall if I froze it but I'm pretty sure I did; I baked so many during that scratch-off, I had leftovers for weeks!