Vanilla bean cake with salted caramel buttercream. Doesn’t that sound delicious?
And doesn’t it look delicious:
Well let me tell you, it tastes delicious too.
One of my favorite things to do with my mom is bake. Bake and then eat our baked goods. Sip on some black coffee or wine (depending on the time of day). And chat. All while not caring that there is flour everywhere and the counter is full of eggshells, used measuring cups, sugar, dirty bowls, and cooling racks.
There is always time to clean up. It is important to slow down and savor the treat that was pulled right out of the oven.
Unfortunately for a cake such as this, it first needs to be completely cooled and frosted before digging in.
It’s totally worth the wait.
And as a bonus, this gives you time to clean up the kitchen first. I guess that’s a bonus…
Ok. As an actual bonus, this cake uses vanilla bean. If you have never baked with a vanilla bean before, try it out (like now, in this cake). It’s fun and makes you feel real fancy.
Look at all those gorgeous little specks!
Also, look at this salted caramel buttercream frosting. Drool.
I am a total frosting person. Few things in life are more amazing than a fresh homemade batch of buttercream frosting. Especially when it is paired with pretzels, champagne, and some girlfriends.
Anywho. Now we have two vanilla bean cakes, a jar of this salted caramel sauce, and a bowl of salted caramel buttercream frosting. Take one of the cakes, poke some holes in it with a fork, drizzle caramel sauce all over it, spread on a layer of frosting, stack on the next cake and repeat the caramel and frosting layers. Add another drizzle of caramel over the entire cake and some sprinkles of sea salt.
Cut a slice. Eat a slice. Repeat.
I strongly suggest you enjoy this with a glass of milk, a scoop of ice cream, and a few loved ones.
- 2⅓ cups cake flour
- 2 ¼ tsp baking powder
- ½ tsp salt
- 12 tbsp unsalted butter, softened
- 1 ½ cups sugar
- 1 vanilla bean
- ¾ cup milk
- 3 eggs, room temperature
- 1 recipe salted caramel sauce
- 12 tbsp butter, softened
- 4 cups powdered sugar
- ½ cup salted caramel sauce
- ½ tsp vanilla
- 1 tbsp milk
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
- Grease and lightly flour two 9-in cake pans, line the bottom with wax paper, and grease again.
- Combine the flour, baking powder and salt in a small bowl and set aside.
- In the large bowl with an electric mixer, cream the butter until smooth. Add the sugar and beat until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes.
- Scrape the vanilla bean into a small bowl, then add it to the butter and sugar mixture, beat for an additional minute.
- Add the eggs one at a time, beat well between each addition.
- Add the dry ingredients in three parts alternating with the milk. Beat well between each addition.
- Divide the batter between the cake pans.
- Bake for 20-25 minutes or until you can press down in the cake center and it bounces back.
- Cool in the pan for 10 minutes and then on a rack until completely cool.
- Place the butter in a bowl of an electric mixer and beat for 3 minutes.
- Add sugar one cup at a time, beating between each addition.
- Add the caramel sauce, vanilla, and milk. Beat until incorporated.
- Store on the counter in an airtight container.
- Take one of the layers and turn upside down so that the flat part is on top. Use a fork to poke holes on the cake.
- Spread a thin layer of the salted caramel sauce followed by a thin layer of the salted caramel buttercream.
- Place the next layer on top of this (flat side down) and follow the same process.
- Drizzle the top with more caramel sauce and a few sprinkles of sea salt.
PS – This cake was a group effort. My mom helped bake and frost, my little brother cracked the eggs, and my dad supervised and observed the photography. He will soon be starting a blog called “just b.lee”. Get excited.
