This post is for Mandy, who said that she was looking for a vanilla cake.  I hope you like it, we sure did!  This cake gets better a day or two after is has been made.  I find it best to make the cake and frost it, then keep well covered in the fridge for a day before eating it…if you can wait that long.

This cake was a promised gift for a friend as a congratulations for a huge career accomplishment.  Her favourite is vanilla cake and this cake has got vanilla!

Preheat oven to 350F and grease two 8″ cake pans and line with parchment.  I forgot to line and had a little trouble getting them out, but they came out fine in the end.  My round and are 9″ and they baked fine but I just caught them from getting too dark.  I would say, whether you use 8″ or 9″ and keep a close eye towards the end of the baking time.

For the cake

3 cups of cake flour

1 Tbsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

1 vanilla bean, split with the seeds scraped out

1 cup unsalted butter, room temperature

2 cups sugar

5 large eggs, room temperature

1 & 1/4 cups buttermilk

1 Tbsp pure vanilla extract

Sift together flour, baking powder and salt.

Take 1 cup of room temperature cubed butter

Place in bowl of mixer.

Split a vanilla bean lengthwise and scrape out the seeds.

Add the vanilla seeds to the butter and beat until well mixed, 2-3 minutes on medium speed until the butter is light and creamy.

You get this beautiful butter mixture flecked with vanilla seeds.

Add 2 cups of white granulated sugar, I beat in 1/4 cup at a time, scraping down the sides after each addition and beating for about 1 minute after each addition.

Add the eggs, one at a time. Continue beating until incorporated. Reduce speed to low.

Add the vanilla extract to the buttermilk

Add dry ingredients to the butter mixture alternately with the buttermilk.  Mix just until incorporated.  Sharpe sides of bold and mix for about 20 seconds to make sure everything is all mixed together well.

Add batter to prepared pans and bake for about 35 minutes or until done.

Let cool completely before removing from pan.

Once the cakes are completely cool you can prepare the Vanilla Bean Buttercream Frosting.

1 cup butter at room temperature

4 cups icing sugar (powdered sugar) (you can add mote if needed, but I didn’t want it too sweet)

1/2 cup milk

1 vanilla bean, split and scraped

1 tsp pure vanilla extract

In mixing bowl cream butter with vanilla seeds until smooth and creamy.  Add icing sugar a cup at a time, add milk and vanilla extract, continue beating until light and fluffy.