You are browsing the Blog for vanilla bean.

Banana Cake with Vanilla Bean Frosting

May 24, 2012 in cake

Remember how a few short days ago I told you that we go through 27 bunches of bananas a week? Well, that very day my 2 year old, who has been known to kill 4 bananas in the time it takes me to shower, decided he doesn’t like bananas anymore. Coincidentally, that was also the day I went to Costco and bought a huge bag.

I can’t even remember the last time I had bananas so ripe that I was forced to bake with them! I took full advantage of the situation and made this fantastic little banana snack cake.

The cake is pretty close to a banana bread but not quite so dense. It’s perfect for an afternoon snack because it’s really pretty light and if you leave off the frosting (but why would you do such a thing?!) your kids or husband or whoever can just grab a square as they walk past the kitchen.

Another great thing about the cake is how simple it was. It took no time at all to make and I’m willing to bet you have all the ingredients in your kitchen already!

Print
Banana Cake with Vanilla Bean Frosting

Ingredients

For the banana cake:
2 tablespoons unsalted butter, at room temperature
⅔ cup sugar
½ cup sour cream
¾ cup mashed very ripe banana (about 2 bananas)
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 cup flour
¼ teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon baking soda
For the vanilla bean frosting:
2 tablespoons butter, at room temperature
1¼ cups powdered sugar
½ vanilla bean, seeds scraped from the bean, or ½ teaspoon vanilla
pinch of salt
¼ cup heavy cream or milk

Instructions

    To make the cake:
  1. Preheat oven to 375F. Line a 9×9 square pan with parchment (or butter and flour).
  2. Cream together butter and sugar until light in color and fluffy. Add in sour cream, mashed banana, egg, and vanilla. Beat until combined.
  3. In a separate bowl, sift together flour, salt, and baking soda.
  4. Add dry ingredients to wet ingredients and beat until just combined.
  5. Pour mixture into the prepared pan. Bake in preheated oven for 22-26 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.
  6. Let cool completely before frosting.
    7. To make the frosting:
  7. Beat butter and powdered sugar together; add vanilla bean seeds and salt. Slowly add heavy cream, one tablespoon at a time, until the frosting reaches the desired consistency.
http://fakeginger.com/2012/05/24/banana-cake-with-vanilla-bean-frosting/

Submit to StumbleUpon

Tags: , ,
11 Comments »

White Cupcakes with Vanilla Bean Buttercream

April 26, 2012 in cake

Cupcakes have been mostly absent from my life (and my blog!) since we made the move from sea level to 6000 feet. Sad story, right? I just can’t get them right. I’ve had decent luck with cakes and quick breads but the secret to perfect high-altitude cupcakes has eluded me until now.

The problem with baking at high elevation is that your leavening agents react insanely quick up here. Like, you’re making a batch of cupcakes, turn your back for 10 seconds to get a different spatula and your batter rises an inch. Seriously, it’s that fast. So you have to raise the oven temperature to set the batter before it expands too much, decrease leaveners, perhaps add an extra egg, add extra flour… it’s all very confusing. And these remedies come with side effects – raising the over temperature not only sets the batter, it also gives you burnt cupcake tops with undercooked middles sometimes. Like I said, confusing.

But I finally found a recipe that adapted really well. And now here’s where I’m at: high-altitude baking applies to a very small percentage of my readers. So do I share the original recipe with notes on how to adapt? I’m assuming that since it adapted well to high-altitude baking that it’s probably a pretty good recipe to begin with. What do we think?

So about the cupcakes? They were so good! I love the white cupcakes from boxed mixes and these turned out even better than those. And the buttercream is so fantastic! It’s made by cooking egg whites in a double boiler and then beating them to stick peaks so it’s an entirely different texture than buttercreams made with just butter. It’s silky and rich and I considered spreading it on toast for breakfast this morning.

If you don’t have vanilla beans, just add vanilla. Although I do recommend picking up some clear vanilla because the regular vanilla extract will tint it. And sprinkles are a must.

Two years ago: Cardamom Crumb Cake

Print
White Cupcakes with Vanilla Bean Buttercream

from Ad Hoc at Home

Ingredients

For the white cupcakes:
3 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
¾ teaspoons salt
12 tablespoons (1½ sticks) unsalted butter, cut into pieces, at room temperature
2¾ cups sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
1¼ cups milk
6 egg whites, at room temperature
For the vanilla bean buttercream:
1¾ cups plus 2 tablespoons sugar
6 egg whites
3½ sticks (14 ounces) unsalted butter, cut into pieces, at room temperature
1 tablespoon vanilla bean paste

Instructions

    To make the cupcakes:
  1. Preheat oven to 350F. Line 24 cupcake cups with paper liners or spray with nonstick spray.
  2. In a mixing bowl, sift together flour, baking powder, and salt. Set aside.
  3. In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a paddle, beat the butter and 1½ cups sugar at medium speed until light and fluffy, scraping down the sides as needed. Beat in the vanilla. Add in the dry ingredients in 3 additions, alternately with the milk. Set aside.
  4. in a clean mixer bowl on your stand mixer fitted with a whisk, beat the egg whites until they begin to speed. Add the remaining 1¼ cups sugar and beat until the whites are thick and almost hold stiff peaks. Fold ⅓ of the whites into the batter to lighten it. Fold in the rest.
  5. Fill the muffin cups about ¾ of the way full. Bake for 20 minutes -rotating the pans halfway through – until the cupcakes are golden and a toothpick inserted into the center of one comes out clear.
  6. Cool completely before frosting.
    7. To make the buttercream:
  7. Bring a saucepan half full of water to a simmer. Set a bowl over the water; do not allow the bowl to touch the water. Combine the sugar and egg whites in the bowl and whisk constantly until the sugar has dissolved and mixture is hot to the touch.
  8. Remove from heat and transfer mixture to a stand mixer fitted with a whisk. Whip until the whites hold stiff peaks and are cool to the touch, about 10 minutes.
  9. Switch to the paddle attachment. Add the butter a little at a time, being sure each batch is incorporated before moving on. The mixture may look broken – just continue beating until it comes back together.
  10. Add in vanilla and beat until combined. Check the consistency; if it’s too thin, continue beating until it’s thick enough.
http://fakeginger.com/2012/04/26/white-cupcakes-with-vanilla-bean-buttercream/

Submit to StumbleUpon

Tags: , , , ,
11 Comments »

Secret Recipe Club – Cream-Filled Doughnut Muffins

April 9, 2012 in breakfast

Time for another Secret Recipe Club reveal!

This month I was assigned The Lean Green Bean which is a blog written by Lindsey who is studying to be a registered dietitian so I really thought I was going to be in trouble when it came to finding a recipe. It turns out, though, that Lindsey is a great baker and I found a real winner with her Jelly Doughnut Muffins.

I’m not a fan of jelly doughnuts at all but I love those cream filled doughnuts. You know the ones. They’re filled with a buttercream-like cream that’s very obviously made from shortening and is all kinds of bad for you. That’s my favorite! But in an effort to behave, I skipped the shortening cream and made vanilla bean pastry cream for these guys.

I filled my muffins by sticking a giant piping tip into the bottom and squeezing until the muffin felt full. This makes for really pretty muffins but the cream to muffin ratio is not the best. If you want the most cream, you need to fill the bottom of the muffin tin with batter, then plop a huge spoonful of pastry cream in, and then cover the cream with more batter. The muffins won’t puff up as much but  it’s a small price to pay for more cream. Am I right?!

Print
Secret Recipe Club – Cream-Filled Doughnut Muffins

Ingredients

For the pastry cream:
1 cup whole milk
3 large egg yolks
¼ cup sugar
2 tablespoons cornstarch, sifted
½ teaspoon vanilla
2 tablespoons unsalted butter, cut into bits at room temperature
For the muffins:
¼ cup vegetable oil
¾ cup sugar
1 large egg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1½ cups all purpose flour
2 teaspoon baking power
¼ teaspoon salt
¼ teaspoon ground cinnamon
¾ cup milk
powdered sugar, for dusting

Instructions

    To make the pastry cream:
  1. Bring the milk to a boil in a small saucepan.
  2. Meanwhile, in a medium heavy-bottomed saucepan, whisk the yolks, sugar, and cornstarch together until thick. Drizzle in about ¼ cup of the hot milk while whisking to temper the eggs. Still whisking, pour in the remainder of the milk. Put the pan over medium heat and bring the mixture to a boil, whisking constantly. Keep at a boil, still whisking, for 1 to 2 minutes, then remove from heat.
  3. Whisk in the vanilla. Allow to sit for 5 minutes, then whisk in the bits of butter until they are fully incorporated and the pastry cream is smooth. Scrape the cream into a bowl and press a piece of plastic wrap against the surface of the cream to create an airtight seal. Refrigerate for up to 3 days.
    4. To make the muffins:
  4. Preheat oven to 350F. Spray a muffin tin with nonstick baking spray.
  5. In the bowl of a mixture fitted with a paddle attachment, beat the vegetable oil, sugar, egg, and vanilla extract until combined.
  6. In a separate bowl, sift together flour, baking powder, salt and cinnamon.
  7. With the mixer on low, add half of the flour mixture to the sugar mixture. Add milk. Add the rest of the flour mixture and beat until just combined.
  8. Fill muffin cups ¾ of the way full. (Or if you are adding pastry cream now, fill just the bottom with batter, dollop a spoonful of cream on top, and cover with more batter.)
  9. Bake for 18 – 22 minutes, or until muffins are golden brown and a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. Cool on a wire rack.
    10. To assemble:
  10. Put pastry cream in a piping bag with a giant tip attached. Use the tip to poke a hole in the bottom of the muffin and squeeze the pastry cream in, just until you feel the sides of the muffin get larger.
  11. Dust with powdered sugar.
http://fakeginger.com/2012/04/09/secret-recipe-club-cream-filled-doughnut-muffins/



Submit to StumbleUpon

Tags: , , , ,
21 Comments »

Vanilla Bean Cupcakes

November 11, 2010 in cake, cupcakes

As you’re reading this, I’m probably on a plane somewhere en route to NYC for the I Can’t Believe It’s Not Butter Holiday Bakeoff. Don’t forget to enter the giveaway if you haven’t already!

I went to a General Mills blog event back in August and really learned a lot about myself on that trip. See, GM was awesome and put together a booklet with all of the bloggers’ pictures, blog URLs, and a blurb about each person. As I was on the plane, I was reading Twitter reports about how it said so-and-so was a homeschooling mom of 6 kids who loves housework and also runs a business out of her home while coaching little league and keeping up with her yoga practice. Okay, I might be exaggerating slightly but seriously, amazing things about these amazing women.

So I get to the hotel and flip open the book to see what it says about me. Any guesses?

Anyone?

“Amanda blogs about food and really likes the Real Housewives.”

Done.

I about fell on the floor.

And then I realized it’s my own fault. Because I talk about the Real Housewives. A lot. Way more than is probably considered “normal”. In fact, I bet that while you’re reading this I’m on the plane wondering if the hotel we’re staying at will have Bravo because tonight is the fight between Camille and Kyle.

I have a problem. I recognize it now and today I am here to tell you 7 things that you may not know about me so that next time someone needs to include me in a “Get to know your fellow bloggers” booklet, there’s something semi-interesting to say about me.

  1. My first car was a 1985 Z28 Camaro.
  2. Once, in a fit of blind rage, I bit a hole in my parent’s shower curtain.
  3. My college best friend and I once ate an entire cheesecake while doing serious MySpace stalking.
  4. I have the worst taste in music. Just pray that we never confuse our iPod’s. You will be miserable.
  5. My first job was at McDonald’s.
  6. I own every Anne Hathaway movie ever.
  7. When it comes to cupcakes, I think more is always better.

 

Print
Vanilla Bean Cupcakes

cupcakes adapted from Brown Eyed Bake, frosting from The Pioneer Woman

Ingredients

For the cupcakes:
1½ cups all-purpose flour
1 cup granulated sugar
1½ teaspoons baking powder
½ teaspoon table salt
8 tablespoons unsalted butter (1 stick), room temperature
½ cup sour cream
1 large egg , room temperature
2 large egg yolks , room temperature
1 vanilla bean, split and scraped to remove seeds
For the frosting:
5 tablespoons flour
1 cup milk
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 cup butter
1 cup granulated sugar

Instructions

    To make the cupcakes:
  1. Adjust oven rack to middle position; heat oven to 350 degrees F. Line standard muffin/cupcake tin with paper or foil liners.
  2. Whisk together flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt in bowl of standing mixer fitted with paddle attachment. Add butter, sour cream, egg and egg yolks, and vanilla bean seeds; beat at medium speed until smooth and satiny, about 30 seconds. Scrape down sides of bowl with rubber spatula and mix by hand until smooth and no flour pockets remain.
  3. Divide batter evenly among cups of prepared tin. Bake until cupcake tops are pale gold and toothpick or skewer inserted into center comes out clean, 20 to 24 minutes. Remove the cupcakes from tin and transfer to wire rack; cool cupcakes to room temperature before frosting.
    4. To make the frosting:
  4. In a small saucepan, whisk flour into milk and heat, stirring constantly, until it thickens. You want it to be very thick, thicker than cake mix, more like a brownie mix is. Remove from heat and let it cool to room temperature. (If I’m in a hurry, I place the saucepan over ice in the sink for about 10 minutes or so until the mixture cools.) It must be completely cool before you use it in the next step. Stir in vanilla.
  5. While the mixture is cooling, cream the butter and sugar together until light and fluffy. You don't want any sugar graininess left. Then add the completely cooled milk/flour/vanilla mixture and beat the living daylights out of it. If it looks separated, you haven't beaten it enough! Beat it until it all combines and resembles whipped cream. Spread on cooled cupcakes and dip in sprinkles if you wish!
http://fakeginger.com/2010/11/11/vanilla-bean-cupcakes/

Submit to StumbleUpon

Tags: ,
18 Comments »

Switch to our mobile site