Vanilla Bean Vanilla Bean Pan Cake: On relaxation and being myself

For all my amazing readers and supporters...thank you!

The Project Food Blog competition has officially come to an end for me as I was eliminated in the last round.  (They like to say that I did not advance. I say I got cut.)  Initially I felt some disappointment, but the end result was that I felt a huge weight being lifted off of me.  When I told Husband, he wanted me to be fired up and angry that I didn't continue, but really, there is none of that.  I think his exact words were, "You don't have to be a gracious loser" but I'm not a gracious one; I'm a liberated loser, for the blog competition was shackling me down to my blog in a way that I discovered is not really me.

I learned a lot from the experience and am very glad I did it.  Competing with my blog made me push myself to do different things and to try and elevate my food photography.  Only, circumstances didn't really allow me much time to elevate because I was still living my regular hectic life with the haphazard photography that I normally do.  Quiet, still, well-lit, uninterrupted moments for taking photographs for food - let's just say they are hard to come by in this house.  I felt great pressure during the food blog competition and nights and weekends were spent agonizing over the photographs and their lack of polish and editing and reworking the writing.

It made me realize that I still really only want to get people inspired to cook.  The other stuff - fame, recognition, money, financial stability from blogging, is very much on the periphery of my mind and what drives me and motivates me to blog is really about changing people's perception about cooking.  It should be easy; it should not be a burden, and at the end of the day it should be joyous when you feed those around you well, with yummy food.

To celebrate not having to answer to anyone except myself about my blog, I just wanted to bake something for someone.  I chose to bake for friend JJ, who will be celebrating her birthday next week.  Normally I like to pack a meal for her family and take her some cupcakes, but this year, I will not be in town and so I can't do it on her birthday.  Instead, I decided to bake her a vanilla cake (her favorite) with cream cheese frosting (her favorite) and do it in a 9x13 pan(also her favorite), so as to make things easier.  Dealing with layers, spreading frosting over multiple layers is not a simple task, but a 9x13 cake is.  I think MORE people are likely to attempt this 9x13 cake than the layer cake version I did before because it is much easier and simpler.  You don't even have to flip it out of the pan (I did only because I wanted my pan back so I could bake more cakes)

I happily, peacefully, joyfully made this cake and presented it to JJ later in the day.  She was so excited and went home to enjoy it with her family.  I got word later in the evening that it was just DELICIOUS. And that my friends, is all I really care about at the end of the day - does it just taste good!

You too can make this cake easily at home.  It's special enough for special occasions (because every occasion is MORE special with homemade cake) and easy enough for an every day dessert to make a day extra special.  Enjoy!

Vanilla Bean Vanilla Bean Pan Cake
Makes one 9X13 cake

Vanilla Bean Cake
1 cup unsalted butter, softened
2 cups super fine sugar, or regular sugar that has been put through a food processor and made fine
3 large eggs (taken out of the fridge the same time as the butter)
3/4 cup sour cream (taken out of the fridge the same time as the butter and eggs)
1 vanilla bean, seeds scraped out
3 cups all-purpose flour
4 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup warm milk

Preheat oven to 350. Spray 9X13 cake pan with cooking spray. Cut out parchment sheets the same size as the pan line pans and spray once again. Set aside until needed.

In a mixing bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder and salt. Set aside.

In a mixing bowl, blend softened butter and super fine sugar until thoroughly combined. Add eggs, one at a time and beat until well mixed, occasionally scraping down the sides of the bowl to ensure that everything is well blended. Add sour cream and scraped out insides of vanilla bean, mixing until blended.

Add half of flour mixture and mix until just combined. and add half of milk and mix until just combined. Scrape down sides of the bowl. Add remaining half of flour mixture, mix until just combined and then add remaining milk. Mix until just combined.again. At this stage, the less you mix the better for your cake. (too much mixing makes for a tough cake.)

Pour cake batter into prepared pan. Bake for 55-60 minutes, or until cake springs back when gently pressed with fingertips. Cool slightly, then remove cake from pan and cool on wire rack until completely cool.

 

Vanilla Bean Frosting
1 cup of butter, softened
8 oz of cream cheese, softened
1 vanilla bean, seeds scraped out
5-6 cups of confectioners sugar

In a large mixing bowl, mix butter until it is softened and uniform. Add cream cheese and beat together until it is uniform. Add 3 cups of sugar to the mixture and mix. Add scraped out vanilla bean seeds and 2 more cups of sugar. Mix again until mixture is creamy and spreadable. Add more sugar if necessary, otherwise prepare to frost cake.

Assembly
**Note: Handle your cake with care when moving it from pan to rack, rack to plate.  This is what happened while I was being a bit to cavalier.  Don't worry too much however, as you can always cover with frosting.

Carefully line your cake plate with a few strips of parchment. This allows you to be slightly messy with the frosting but prevents your cake plate from being completely messed up. Place cake on top. Use frosting liberally to coat top and sides.

Printable recipe