Ever since I've had a pile of vanilla beans in the house, I've been looking for something that might be worthy of making to give the vanilla its chance to show off. It felt a bit odd to just be throwing in vanilla bean scrapings into whatever cake or cookie that I made, because more often than not it would be lost in the mess of flavours anyway. I came across a recipe for what looks like a standard pound cake, but with vanilla incorporated in a few ways, so it got bookmarked and well, it's Wednesday around here and I threw this together while X and I had breakfast on my day off from work. For those wanting to know, I used the madagascar bourbon vanilla beans from my vanilla bean stash, perhaps another day I might try the same recipe, but with the tahitian vanilla beans instead? I did halve the recipe that I found, partly because I only have one loaf pan, and partly because 340g butter and 8 eggs scared me quite a bit!
Vanilla Bean Cake
Adapted from recipe found over at The Amateur Gourmet, who hoped that Ms Hesser would chose not to sue!
Preheat oven to 160°C.
Cream butter and sugar until pale and fluffy. If you're doing this in a stand mixer, go and grease/line your pan of choice - I went with a loaf tin because I'd kind of already split the recipe down from two loaves to just one. Scrape down the bowl a few times to make sure everything is all nice and light and fluffy. Add eggs, one at a time, and the seeds scraped from your vanilla bean****, and beat well to combine.
Add your flour, baking powder and salt, mix til just combined. Scrape the bowl down with your trusty spatula and give it a couple of fold-throughs to make sure all the flour has been incorporated, then scoop the cake batter into your prepared pan.
For a loaf, bake for 30 minutes, then rotate the tin around, and bake for another 25-40 minutes more - it took an extra 35 minutes with my 10 x 20cm loaf tin.
While the cake is baking, make your vanilla syrup. In a saucepan over low heat, add the sugar and water, and swirl to help dissolve the sugar. Add the vanilla bean (split down the middle), and take it off the heat once you can smell the vanilla, and the seeds have escaped a bit.
When the cake is done, take it out of the oven and let it cool for about 10 minutes. Un-tin the cake onto a cooling rack placed over some baking paper on a tray, and brush the vanilla syrup over all the sides. Do this again a few times as the cake continues cooling down.
* Vanilla sugar is deliciously fragrant; it's also a way to get more out of your spent beans - let the beans dry out if they've been steeping in a sugar syrup bath, and throw them in with your sugar. I didn't bother splitting the beans I put into my sugar container, and I left the vanilla beans I put in there, so I'll continue to have vanilla sugar for whatever else I end up making.
** If I'd halved the recipe right down the middle, I'd really be wanting just half a vanilla bean, but what would I have done with a perfectly usable other half that deserved more than just time in the sugar?
*** I went with 2 teaspoons = 1/2 tablespoon, although with US recipes it's more likely 1.5 teaspoons = 1/2 tablespoon.
**** don't do as I did, and completely forget to split and scrape the vanilla bean until after I'd already started scooping the batter into the loaf pan. I ended up unceremoniously scraping the batter back into the bowl so I could fold through the vanilla scrapings, then scoop it back into the lined pan. I am surprised more things didn't end up with cake batter on them, X included!
Adapted from recipe found over at The Amateur Gourmet, who hoped that Ms Hesser would chose not to sue!
- 170g butter, softened
- 270g caster sugar, which has had a vanilla bean sitting in it for a few days *
- 1 vanilla bean **
- 1/2 tablespoon vanilla extract ***
- 4 large eggs
- 200g (1.5 cups) flour
- 3/4 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 200g sugar
- 1 vanilla bean
- 125ml (1/2 cup) water
Preheat oven to 160°C.
Cream butter and sugar until pale and fluffy. If you're doing this in a stand mixer, go and grease/line your pan of choice - I went with a loaf tin because I'd kind of already split the recipe down from two loaves to just one. Scrape down the bowl a few times to make sure everything is all nice and light and fluffy. Add eggs, one at a time, and the seeds scraped from your vanilla bean****, and beat well to combine.
Add your flour, baking powder and salt, mix til just combined. Scrape the bowl down with your trusty spatula and give it a couple of fold-throughs to make sure all the flour has been incorporated, then scoop the cake batter into your prepared pan.
For a loaf, bake for 30 minutes, then rotate the tin around, and bake for another 25-40 minutes more - it took an extra 35 minutes with my 10 x 20cm loaf tin.
While the cake is baking, make your vanilla syrup. In a saucepan over low heat, add the sugar and water, and swirl to help dissolve the sugar. Add the vanilla bean (split down the middle), and take it off the heat once you can smell the vanilla, and the seeds have escaped a bit.
When the cake is done, take it out of the oven and let it cool for about 10 minutes. Un-tin the cake onto a cooling rack placed over some baking paper on a tray, and brush the vanilla syrup over all the sides. Do this again a few times as the cake continues cooling down.
* Vanilla sugar is deliciously fragrant; it's also a way to get more out of your spent beans - let the beans dry out if they've been steeping in a sugar syrup bath, and throw them in with your sugar. I didn't bother splitting the beans I put into my sugar container, and I left the vanilla beans I put in there, so I'll continue to have vanilla sugar for whatever else I end up making.
** If I'd halved the recipe right down the middle, I'd really be wanting just half a vanilla bean, but what would I have done with a perfectly usable other half that deserved more than just time in the sugar?
*** I went with 2 teaspoons = 1/2 tablespoon, although with US recipes it's more likely 1.5 teaspoons = 1/2 tablespoon.
**** don't do as I did, and completely forget to split and scrape the vanilla bean until after I'd already started scooping the batter into the loaf pan. I ended up unceremoniously scraping the batter back into the bowl so I could fold through the vanilla scrapings, then scoop it back into the lined pan. I am surprised more things didn't end up with cake batter on them, X included!
so does it taste yummy and vanilla-y? Nice-looking recipe, yum.
OMG at 340g butter! Cake overload. Would have def halved it too.
Look forward to seeing what other creative uses you find for your vanilla. If they involve home-made ice-cream, I am THERE!
:)
Actually, I haven't cut into the loaf yet - something about having this really annoying cough (courtesy of X) has stopped me from having a taste. Smells rich and cakey though... RE: icecream - I don't have an icecream maker, but I'm researching ...