Vanilla Bean Cake

The most requested cake I have is a vanilla bean cake. I think it because it just has that good natural vanilla tatse that associated with vanilla bean recipies.

Ingredients

  • 2 1/4 cups flour
  • 1 Tbs baking powder
  • 1/4 tsp salt
  • 8 oz sweet butter, softened
  • 1 3/4 cup sugar
  • 1 vanilla beam, split and seeds scraped
  • 3 eggs
  • 1 3/4 cup milk

Instructions

  1. Sift dry ingredients except sugar. Cream butter and sugar Blend in vanilla seeds
    Add eggs one at a time. mix after each addition. Alternating add dry ingredients with milk Blend well but do not over beat
    Divide batter into two greased and floured round 8 inch cake pans
    Bake in a preheated 350F oven until done about 40 minutes
    Cool on rack, remove and fill and frost.

Comments (57)

on

Is the "sweet" butter a special brand? Or just something like Land O' Lakes salted butter? Thanks for the recipe. Sounds wonderful!

on

Hi Maria46, I believe sweet butter is also known as unsalted butter. That's what I use in my cakes. Please anyone, correct me if I am wrong, but this is my understanding of it. :-)

on

Just made this and its beautiful. Now I'm sitting here looking for a recipe to top it with or maybe I'll just fill it with some fresh strawberries and cream, YUM! Definetly keeping this recipe. Thanks for sharing.

on

I never used vanilla extract if i did I use a pure I start with 1tb and give a taste to see if vanilla enough and I use unsalted butter. So yes Jackie you right.

I use this in many cakes from The raspberry mousse and lemon mousse is wonderful with this :)

on

I use mostly buttercream, I dont use fondant too much, but I did use it for my waterfall cake I have up on here and did hold up for that that was with fondant. I suggest making a small one and cover it as a test and see how it does for you.

on

Anyone know about how much you scrape out of 1 vanilla bean? I have vanilla bean paste I would like to try but don't know the measurement. 1 tsp, less or more?

on

DH2008 I say 1/4 to 1/2 tsp is my guess. I usually get vanilla beans at world market. I also get at Costco. Plus I know few places order online.

My popular fillings i do with are lemon mousse Raspberry mousse Black Cherry Mousse

I use buttercream as frosting

some popular combos I done peanutbutter filling with ganache I also did carmel and peanut with chocolate ganache and taste snickers

on

Hi there, I finally tried baking this... is the batter supposed to look curdled? Because that's how mine turned out. I just placed it in the oven now... fingers crossed that curdle-ness doesn't affect the outcome :-( Anyone who has made this please let me know how the batter is supposed to look. Mine was definitely curdled.

on

Okay, just tried it and it tastes good... however I am still wondering about the curdled batter??? Maybe it's supposed to look different?? Please somebody let me know how it is supposed to look for future reference. Thanks in advance xo

on

JackiesCreations I never had this looked curdled before so not sure why your looked like that.

sweettoothmom1 Honestly I got this recipe from a 1940's or 1950's church cookbook my mom found in a rummage sale and was from a curch in Mt Pleasant, PA. It has some really good recipes in it. There is a chocolate chip cookie recipe that uses pudding and I think the best chocolate chip cookie I ever had.

on

Yep, sounds like the butter may have not been softened completely and didn't meld into the batter completely :D

on

Sweet butter is actually salted or unsalted butter. They use that term because it is freshly churned using fresh cream. You can just put some whipping cream in a jar and shake it(alot) then it separates and you are left with two ingredients, sweet butter and buttermilk. Its really fun to do it with kids, my kids think its great fun that they can make butter. I've been doing since I was little! Some people have different ways in making it, but thats the easiest. You can add salt but its best to omit the salt when baking unsalted is always best when you baking sweets. I know it sound like alot of work, but try it! Add a little sugar and its great on toast and corn on the cob in the summer. This my special occasion butter :-) Don't want to do this just use unsalted from the store..lol

on

I finally tried baking this… the batter was runny but the cake came out ok ... Is it a dense cake? Because my cake came out heavy and when I had a taste it was too sweet! and with buttercream I dont think it will be a good complement ... I will ask my husband to try it ... I'm really bad tasting my cakes for some reason I always find something wrong with them! LOL ...

on

This cake was awesome. Love the flavor. I used a Vanilla Bean Icing with a Bavarian Cream filling... It WAS THE BOMB!!! I have questions though ~~ Is there a way to make this cake more dense for stacking.... mine seemed to stick to the pan, did I not use enough PAM. This is all coming from a rookie, so please... I don't mind if you call me dumb. Just need to know for the many times I WILL BE making this cake! LOVE IT>

on

Lissa2342, If you're using pam by itself, that may be why it is sticking. After spraying the pan with Pam be sure to dust it with flour. That will help to prevent sticking. Also, you could put parchment in the pan, spray Pam, cut parchment to fit and put that on the bottom, then spray again.

If you do use flour, just don't do it too heavily. Make sure it is all covered, not shiny, then turn the pan upside down and smack it a few times to get out the excess.

Hope this helps. ^_^

on

I'm giving this cake a go for my son's 4th birthday. Does anyone have any exciting filling ideas that would compliment this cake - ideal for both children and adults. Any suggestions welcomed. With thanks!

on

Lissa2342 : there is a product that is called Release. is a vegetable oil based ointment type texture. where I get it. It comes in a like 6 or 8 oz tub. I use a paper towel to apply it. can be stored in frige a long time. I use that sparingly on all my pans before baking. that might be a better answer then using pam spray. and if you take your cakes out of the pan before it totally cools down they come out better. Hope this helps.

on

At JackiesCreations: I had my butter and eggs at room temp. I blended in the sugar butter then eggs. It looked perfect. Then I grabbed my milk straight from the fridge and BAM! Curdled batter. haha I just let it sit for a little while then mixed it again. It was fine.

on

is this cake a good idea for a 1 year olds birthday and also does this cake hold up in a shape pan like the monkey wilton cake pan. if you dont think that this is a good cake to make for a 1 year olds birthday is there any other vanilla cakes you would recommend

on

This is my Hubby's new favorite cake! I replaced the milk with vanilla coffee creamer b/c I needed to use it up- it was wonderful! Thanks for the recipe!

on

What's a good, but simple filling/mousse that would go with this? I was thinking chocolate or coconut, but I'm not sure.... I'm fairly new at making cakes so the simpler the better! :)

on

Hi there!

Have just made this for a birthday cake and cupcakes for my nephew's birthday... still waiting for it to come out of the oven.. so will post to let you know how it turned out.. but am optimistic! Just a question though.. I made way too much batter... is it possible to freeze this and then defrost and use in the future?

Thanks!

on

Has any one covered the cake with mmf? I have a request for white cake filled with strawberries, but want to use mmf to decorate the cake since it is for a graduation. Just want to make sure the recipe I pick will hold the weight of the fondant. The recipe sounds wonderful, a great addition to the traditional white cake!! Thanks!!

on

Hi there! So I made this cake twice.... and with cupcakes.... first cake came out flat as a pancake and I have no idea why... it was in a wilton 3d train pan.... I had batter left over after I'd made the cupcakes (which also sunk after looking so nice - but tasted good!)... but not enough to fill the tin... so I made up an extra half-batch... and although it was better.... one side also sunk a bit. However, although tester came out clean after having increased the time it spent in the oven (thought perhaps first time it wasn't long enough).... when it came time to cut the cake... it wasn't done in the middle!! It was very densely compacted... but you could just tell it wasn't done! Any idea where I went wrong? Could it be that this cake isn't good for a 3D pan? It certainly tasted great (from the rescued bits I tried around the edge and the cupcakes).... Any ideas?

on

Ugh, ok so that makes me nervous. I think I will try it this weekend for my mother-in-law's mother's day cake before I try it for the graduation cake I need at the end of the week. For the mother's day cake I am planning a two tier 8" with some sort of filling. I'll post how it holds up to the traditional pans.

on

I read in the recipe to use 1 tablespoon of baking powder? I've never used that much, just want to make sure I'm reading it correctly. thank you

on

I just made this recipe in a 12 inch wilton two inch pan, cooked 35 minutes. came out of oven beautiful all the way up to the 2 inch height and then after three minutes of cooling on the counter, it sank down to 1 inch high. I cut a whole in the middle, and it seems done, moist but done. tested came out clean. Does this seem normal? I thought I would be able to horizontally cut this cake to have my two layers, but now will not be able to do that. I don't know whether to proceed with another batch for the second layer, seeing as how this came out. Need to know if this sounds right?

on

I made this last night in 2 8x2 pans, my batter was thick, and the cakes only rose up to 1 1/4 inches. I used wilton bake even strips and I had to bake it for 55 minutes for it to come out clean on a tester and bounce back. Did I do something wrong? I tasted a crumb from where I turned it out and it seems very sweet. This is for a family cake and I have time to rebake. I guess we will see. This is going to be one short cake :(

on

I meant I have NO time to rebake (going out of town), so I guess I am just going to go with it. Will post Sunday after it is served

on

So mine didn't give a vanilla punch. It didn't even give me a vanilla girl-slap. it tasted like a plain cake. Not bad, just plain. I wonder if I scaped the vanilla bean wrong? It wasn't an old bean or anything. Very disappointed. =(

on

This is by far the best white cake I have ever tasted, baked and sold! I made this for a baby shower cake for a lady I work with and it was a HUGE hit! I used this recipe to be the base of a stacked cake. I used a 10" X3" pan and made two cakes which required two batches of this mix. I also add an extra egg to make the cake more moist but I do this with all my cakes. The cake baked evenly and held up well to stacking. All I can say is I absolutely love this cake and so has everyone who has tried it!! Thanks so much for submitting this recipe!!!

on

From all the responses I've read about this cake, I think it's exactly what I've been looking for...Homemade, vanilla, and dense. Thanks sunsational! (I think we'll have cake for dessert tonite..lol)

on

I made this cake in two sheet-type pans for a shield shaped cake. Took about 20ish minutes to cook the 1cm layers and it was absolutely perfectly moist and delicious and full of that buttery vanilla flavour :D (instead of the vanilla bean i used 1.5tsp vanilla bean paste)

on

I made this the first time as cupcakes to try it out, but accidentally only added 1 cup of vanilla creamer that I used in place of milk and they turned out awesome!! I then made it in a 6 x 3 in round and an 11x 2 in round both recipes I added the extra 3/4 c. of vanilla creamer the recipe called for. Both of those cakes came out horrible!! The tester came out clean so I took them out and the smaller one caved in the middle and wasn't done, the bigger one looked perfect but got stuck in the pan and when I got it out the bottom was all soggy. It seemed super dense and almost not done or something. I have a new batch baking in the 11x2 in pan that I used 1c vanilla creamer in place of the milk like I did the first time I tried the recipe. Crossing my fingers it turns out this time because I need to get these layers done soon!! Also I read online you can substitute 1 TBSP pure vanilla extract for the vanilla bean so I did that on the two failed cakes but I personally don't think that is what went wrong.

on

mine came out exactly like corn bread!!!! i was actully thinking of frying up some chicken! lol..... seriously, i have no idea what i did wrong, but if some knows why mine came out that way, i would love to know so i ca fix it and try again.... t.i.a

on

This is the worst recipe ever...Where do I begin 1.) Looked like cornbread 2.) Not sweet enough, needs more of somthing 3.) Flavor is awful 4.) 40 minutes is too long!

AWFUL!!!!

on

I made this cake last night. Turned out great! I used 2 vanilla beans, one didn't seem like enough. I did use 1 tbsp of baking powder which I thought was a lot, it rose and went doesn about an inch after taking it out of the oven which is ok. I think the problem with the curdling is that you are using cold eggs and cold milk which reacts with the warm butter. Looks really yummy but I haven't tasted it yet.

GL! :)