Death by Vanilla

If you get woozy with pleasure when you think of vanilla, this recipe is for you. It comes from Cambridge's famed Hi-Rise Bakery, and is almost an embarrassment of riches.

Vanilla Bean Loaves

Cake:
3 cups flour
1½ tsp baking powder
½ tsp salt
3 sticks unsalted butter, at room temp.
2½ cups vanilla sugar (1 split vanilla bean stirred into the sugar and left for a few days*)
1 vanilla bean, split and seeds scraped*
1 Tbsp vanilla extract
8 eggs

Syrup:
1¾ cups sugar
1 cup water
2 vanilla beans, split and seeds scraped*

For the cake:
Heat the oven to 325°. Generously butter two 8½ x 4½ x 2½ inch loaf pans.

Sift together the flour, baking powder, and salt.

In a heavy-duty mixer, using the paddle, cream the butter and vanilla sugar until the mixture is pale and fluffy. Add the vanilla bean seeds to the mixture along with the vanilla extract and eggs. Beat to mix.

Add the flour mixture to the batter and beat with a few turns of the paddle until it is just smooth. With a rubber spatula, fold the batter from the bottom of the bowl into the mixture to make sure it's well blended.

Eat all the batter. Start all over again.

Divide the batter between the pans. Bake the cakes for 30 minutes, turn the pans around, and continue baking for 25–40 minutes or until a skewer inserted into the cake comes out almost clean. Cool on a rack for 10 minutes. Turn the loaves out of their pans and return them to the rack.

For the syrup:
In a small saucepan over medium heat, dissolve the sugar in the water. Add the vanilla beans and stir so the seeds disperse. Remove from the heat.

Place the cakes on the rack over a piece of wax paper. Brush generously all over—tops, bottoms, and sides—with the syrup. Brush with more syrup as they cool. Cool completely and slice thickly for serving.

*I keep a tub of sugar in my pantry studded with any used-up vanilla beans I go through in the course of baking. You can just keep adding the used-up beans and more sugar—it keeps indefinitely.

Comments

[nancy]

I didn't know you made this, too. It is a staple around here.

[Karen]

Are you kidding me? I think I gave you the recipe!

[Janeen]

I don't think I can even buy vanilla beans in this town, much less use them enough to keep the extras in a tub of sugar in my pantry. Maybe you should start a Send-A-Friend-A-Cake thing as a companion to BAFAB.

[Wendy]

Hey, I make these, too. Amanda Hesser included the recipe in Cooking For Mr. Latte, and I thought "yum!" And they are, too. The vanilla sugar tub is a good idea, although I am always pushing the limits of my cupboards under the best of circumstances.

[Cheryl]

Oh my -- I don't know if I can wait a few days for vanilla sugar to steep to make this recipe. I only have one loaf pan, so I guess that I would have to force myself to eat half the batter.

[mommyralf]

You're going to kill us all. Three sticks of butter and eight eggs? Why not just hold a stick of butter, peel it like a banana and gnaw it down to a nub? Oh, and dip it in vanilla sugar with every bite.

Oh, who am I kidding...I am SO making this.

P.S. Wait, shouldn't that be "whom am I kidding?" :)

[Karen]

Yes, but it makes 2 loaves, so each loaf has 4 eggs and 1.5 sticks of butter, then figure on at least 8 slices per loaf -- that's 1/2 an egg and 1.5 Tbsp butter per slice! It's like breakfast! It's so rich and luscious, you're really not going to eat more than a slice or two at one sitting.

[James]

Don't worry. I won't tell my cardiologist where I got this recipe. You're safe!