My daughter wants a white cake like Costco or Target for her birthday. I’m making the cake and I was planning to buy/borrow clear vanilla. 

But I see that some people are allergic to it - more so than real vanilla.

If she was allergic to it - she wouldn’t be able to eat the vanilla cakes at Target/Costco right?

We have some allergies in the family and I’m trying to avoid allergy surprises on her birthday! 

Also - if anyone has a killer white cake recipe I’d love it! 

If you want a cake that tastes like Costco or Target, why not just use a white cake mix?  Has your daughter eaten them before without issue?

Whether or not Costco or Target uses clear vanilla extract that is something that you will need to look up on the ingredient list or ask the bakery at Costco.

Has your daughter eaten desserts with regular vanilla extract?  If so, then just use that in your white cake.  The small amount of color that will come from it will be negligible in the overall cake.

help me understand this -- no one is actually allergic to it -- just in case they are?

what i can tell you is that clear vanilla is imitation and brown vanilla is made from orchids if that makes any difference

target and costco would be using imitation vanilla -- they are not using the real deal

I wouldn't worry about potential allergy issues. There's more of a chance there will be an allergy issue with the eggs than with artificial vanilla. In fact, if she likes Target/Costco cakes, I would spring for the butter vanilla emulsion. You could use real vanilla if you want since the color will be minimal.