Fragrant Vanilla Bean Cake, or The Most Vanilla-y Vanilla Cake in the World

 

Vanilla gets a bum deal.

How did it become a synonym for boring, normal, and ordinary?

We add it to everything, but you can't really taste it.  Some small nuance might be gone if you left it out, but no one would really miss it.

I took this close-up so you could see the vanilla bean seeds.  Can you see the seeds?

The worst is when we call things 'vanilla' that aren't even vanilla.  Things that are butter-flavored, sugar-flavored, or just simply white-colored and not chocolate.

It's a travesty.

Vanilla is...elegant.  Evocative.  Exotic.

What about here?  I WANT YOU TO SEE THE SEEDS.

Vanilla is a flower, an edible orchid.  Can you imagine eating an orchid? 

Yesterday was my birthday.  And I wanted to make a cake that was vanilla.  Completely vanilla.  Unmistakeably vanilla.

And people would sit up and say, "What is that flavor?  What is that strange, floral, musky flavor infusing this cake?"

And I would look at them and say..."Vanilla."

And their eyebrows would shoot through the roof.

This cake is a flower, a spritz of perfume, an intense experience.

I'm rescuing vanilla from the dustbin of boring, from the refuse heap of 'un-chocolate'.

I'm rescuing it, because it is possibly the best flavor in the world.  And it deserves respect.

Also - fun with circus tent frosting!

Fragrant Vanilla Bean Cake or The Most Vanilla-y Vanilla Cake in the World

1 1/2 cups self-rising flour
1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened
2 cups vanilla sugar*
4 large eggs, at room temperature
1 cup milk
1 tablespoon pure vanilla extract
1 vanilla bean

 

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease and flour two 9-inch cake pans, set aside. In a small bowl, combine flours; set aside. In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream butter until smooth and creamy. Gradually add vanilla sugar, beating until fluffy, about 3 minutes. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Add scraped out seeds of 1 vanilla bean.  Add dry ingredients in 3 parts, alternating with the milk and vanilla, and scraping down sides of bowl in between each addition; beat until ingredients are incorporated but do not overbeat.

 

Divide batter evenly between pans. Bake, rotating pan halfway through, until a cake tester inserted in the center comes out clean, 20 to 25 minutes.

 

Transfer to a wire rack to cool in pans for 15 minutes. Remove cakes from pans, and cool completely on rack. 

 

For frosting:

3 1/4 c powdered sugar
1 c butter at room temperature
1 tablespoon vanilla extract

2 tablespoons milk

With an electric mixer, beat together sugar and butter. Mix on low until well blended, and then on medium for another two minutes. Add vanilla and milk, beating on medium for another minute.

*To make vanilla sugar, put one vanilla bean (or the scraped out husks of one; this is a great use for scraped out vanilla bean husks!) in a sealed container with sugar.  The longer it sets, the stronger the vanilla flavor will be.