I’ve been trying to find a French Vanilla Cake recipe all over the internet. I have gleaned a few things from my searches, but I wanted to run it by the cake gurus here.
I thought I could just get some French vanilla flavoring and use it instead of vanilla. However, I have found out that I can replace any liquids added to the cake with buttermilk, and increase the amount of vanilla to at least a tablespoon.
I’m unsure what effect it would have on the cake if I used buttermilk instead of water and a tablespoon of vanilla rather than a teaspoon. Would it taste like French vanilla? Would it be too gooey or dry?
I’m planning on making cupcakes and frosting them with a coconut icing.
I am an infrequent baker with questionable skills, so please take that into account…
What distinguishes French vanilla from regular vanilla in the ice cream world is the presence of egg yolk, isn’t it? (if that’s not correct, than the following suggestion is way off base)
So, what if you increase the egg yolk content of your cake. Say, if the recipe calls for 2 whole eggs, use 3 egg yolks instead.
Not sure if this is what you are looking for, but in any case, it looks yummy.
I think that Motorgirl is on to something with the egg yoke theory. A great resource for baking technikes and recipes is The Joy of Baking.
Whoa…I really do know how to spell techniques. :smack:
Technikes…sounds like a tennis shoe.
It does look yummy, but I want cupcakes. Doesn’t look like I can do that with that recipe.
Maybe I will try the egg yolk thing.
FRENCH VANILLA CAKE
1 cup butter
2 cup sugar
6 eggs
2 cup flour
1 tsp. baking soda
1 cup buttermilk
1/2 cup vegetable oil such as Crisco oil
Frosting:
1/2 cup butter
1 cup coconut
1 (8 oz.) cream cheese
1 cup pecans, ground fine
1 box powdered sugar
Cream butter and sugar until fluffy. Add eggs, one at a time and mix. Add flour,
baking soda and buttermilk; mix well. Add oil. Bake in layer cake pans for 40
minutes until done. Frosting: Mix all ingredients together well and frost cake.
Here’s another one
French Vanilla Cake
I love you siberia. As a sister, or brother, or whatever you might be 
How the hell did you find these recipes?
Ahhh, thanks for the sister love! I found the recipes with a little bit of Google massage. I hope one of those will work out for you.
I’m not sure what you’re saying exactly here, but keep in mind that baking relies on very specific chemical reactions, which require exact ratios of stuff like acids and bases. So screwing around with an established recipe can yield questionable results.
FWIW, I think **Motorgirl ** [ul]
[/ul] is right - it seems to me the designation “French Vanilla” is meaningless when applied to cakes.
If you use **siberia’s ** recipe, I’d recommend these changes:
Use butter that is slightly softened, but still holds its shape well
Add some actual vanilla to the recipe, when you add the eggs
Mix the flour and baking soda separately before adding
Mix the buttermilk and oil separately before adding
Add half the flour, half the buttermilk, the remaining flour, and the remaining buttermilk.
Also, here’s a link to Alton Brown’s yellow cake recipe, which unfortunately uses butter-flavor shortening, but I suspect will be pretty good anyway.
For heaven’s sake, don’t use a recipe that includes non-dairy whipped topping. Blech!