I'm on the search for a vanilla cake recipe that REALLY tastes like vanilla! I've tried a bunch of recipes from scratch to boxed, adding vanilla pudding, adding pure bourbon vanilla extract...and yet I just can't taste the vanilla. Is this even possible, is it my taste buds?! HELP!

Try WASC using vanilla yogurt, vanilla pudding and vanilla paste. It's how I make my vanilla cake. I think it actually tastes like vanilla.

In my opinion, if you want a good vanilla cake, then you need to start with good vanilla. And you need to do it from scratch, because any artificial flavors from a cake mix or pudding is going to skew the flavor.

Take your favorite scratch yellow recipe (Buddy's vanilla cake is good, so is FromScratch's vanilla cake on her blog). To it, add a couple of teaspoons of GOOD vanilla. GOOD. Not imitation! I use Nielsen Massey or I get Watkins from Wal Mart. Then you can add some vanilla bean paste or even scrape a whole vanilla bean into your batter. But the key here is starting from scratch and using good vanilla. To my buttercream I add three tablespoons of vanilla. I am very liberal with vanilla, because it's my favorite.

LeeBD. your wasc sounds like it would be really vanilla tasting. I will have to try that sometimes. Sounds really yummy!!!

Thanks for the tips everyone! I will try them all and see what works. To be continued....