The Spiced Life

Musings & Recipes From My Kitchen

  • Home
  • About Me
  • FAQ
  • Dishes By Region
  • Archive and Index
  • Creative Cookie Exchange
  • Contact
  • Privacy Policy
You are here: Home / cakes / Strung out and Baking: Vanilla Bean Pound Cake

Strung out and Baking: Vanilla Bean Pound Cake

March 30, 2008 By Laura 4 Comments

Sharing is caring!

  • Facebook
  • Yummly
  • Twitter
  • Email


I haven’t felt this sick since my second daughter was born. And I think it might be the cure that is killing me—the doctor put me on some meds that have me dizzy, light headed, faint, nauseous and generally very unhappy. (Edited later to add that after going med free for a bit I am convinced it is meds and ALSO the worst sinus infection EVER). (Edited to add again that if you are checking in to see my Daring Bakers cake, well, the preceding paragraph should tell you all you need to know. 🙁 )

You probably wonder why I am baking then.

Well honestly I am craving starch all day long. And sweet starch is even better. And baking isn’t nearly so daunting as cooking since as long as I follow the instructions it should all come out ok. Granted it took me about twice as long as usual, but I did it and it came out really, really yummy. I served it with some of the first decent (not amazing mind you, still too early for that) strawberries of the season, and the girls were in heaven.

I found this recipe in Carole Walter’s recently released Great Coffee Cakes, Sticky Buns, Muffins & More. I LOVE this book—these kinds of cakes and sweet snacks are right up my alley. The only major change I made to the recipe was in reference to the vanilla. Carole Walter has you toast one vanilla bean and process it with sugar. Instead, because I keep vanilla sugar around anyway, I used that sugar PLUS the beans from 2 pods. The pods then went into my sugar and the extract I have brewing. I used Bourbon beans. I apologize for the backdrop of the pictures—everything has kind of gone to hell in a handbasket while I’ve been sick…

Vanilla Bean Pound Cake

Adapted from Carole Walter’s Great Coffee Cakes, Sticky Buns, Muffins & More

Ingredients

2 vanilla beans, seeds scraped out

1 2/3 cups vanilla sugar

2 1/3 cups sifted cake flour, spooned and leveled

½ t baking powder

½ t salt

¼ t baking soda

1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature

4 oz cream cheese, room temperature

4 large eggs

1/3 cup milk

1 t vanilla extract

Powdered sugar for dusting (optional)

Preheat the oven to 325 F. Spray a 9 inch bundt pan with Baker’s Joy (or some flour/grease equivalent).

Put the flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt together in a medium sized bowl and whisk together. Set Aside.

Cream the butter for 1 minute on medium. Add the cream cheese and cream an additional minute. Add the sugar, 2 tablespoons at a time, taking 6 to 8 minutes and scraping down the bowl as needed (I did this on medium speed). Add 2 of the eggs, one at a time, and beat for one minute after each of the eggs.

Whisk the remaining 2 eggs with the milk and vanilla. Set aside.

Add the flour mixture in 4 additions, alternating with the vanilla/milk mixture in 3 additions, beginning and ending with the flour mixture. Do this on the lowest speed. Scrape down the bowl as needed, including at the end, after which mix for an additional 10 seconds.

Spoon the batter into the prepared bundt pan, smoothing the top. Bake for 1 hour and 10 to 15 minutes (mine took a little less time, so keep an eye on it). Rotate from front to back if your oven is uneven at all halfway through. The cake is done when the top is golden brown and a long wooden skewer inserted deep into the cake comes out clean (Ms. Walter really prefers wooden, as opposed to metal—I had no wooden skewer so I used a dried spaghetti noodle which seemed to work well).

Remove from the oven and place the cake on a cooling rack for 20 minutes. Then invert the cake onto the cooling rack and let it cool completely. Store wrapped in plastic wrap inside of a cake keeper for up to 5 days. Sprinkle with powdered sugar before serving.

Filed Under: bundt cakes, cakes, vanilla sugar

« We’re Back! …and we’re all sick.
Slowly re-entering the land of the living through tags…. »

Comments

  1. RecipeGirl says

    March 30, 2008 at 11:52 am

    Yum- your cake looks comforting. I have that cookbook, and was thinking of digging it out today to surprise my little one with something for breakfast tomorrow.

    Sorry you’re feeling so awful! I’m actually feeling pretty good coming off of surgery less than a week now. I ALMOST drank a glass of wine last night but was too scared to put it in my system yet. Hope you feel better soon!

    Reply
  2. Mary says

    March 30, 2008 at 11:59 pm

    I hope you feel better soon. 🙂

    Reply
  3. Sheltie Girl says

    April 2, 2008 at 7:24 am

    I hope you feel better soon. Hopefully next month’s Daring Baker’s challenge won’t hit when you are feeling so bad.

    Natalie @ Gluten A Go Go

    Reply
  4. SaraLynn says

    April 2, 2008 at 11:15 am

    Oh this sounds delicious!!

    Reply

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Recipe Rating




This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Hi! I’m Laura and I am a recovering history major who has re-channeled all of my passion for learning about the history of different countries to learning about their food culture. That doesn’t mean every dish on here is strictly authentic, but it does mean that even my adaptations are not undertaken lightly. My goal is to show you–by doing–that these dishes are possible in your kitchen. Including desserts because I have quite the sweet tooth! Read More…

Twitter Facebook Pinterest Instagram
Enter your email here and never miss a post!

Popular Posts

  • Restaurant Style Beef Vindaloo
  • Taralli Dolci di Pasqua (Southern Italian Easter Cookies): #CreativeCookieExchange
  • Moroccan Inspired Couscous Bowl with Ground Beef, Veggies and Caramelized Onions (redux)
  • Mexican Ramen Bowl
  • Grandma’s Beef and Noodles
  • North Indian Baked Eggs: Review of Seven Spoons
  • Bengali Mahi Mahi with Mustard Seeds
  • Saag Gosht (Beef in Fragrant Spinach Sauce)
  • Ash-e Anar (Persian Pomegranate Soup with Meatballs)
  • Middle Eastern Scrambled Eggs with Meat and Onion: Review of An Edible Mosaic

Copyright © 2008–2023 The Spiced Life