We all know vanilla is a staple ingredient in any baker's kitchen. I probably put vanilla into almost every dessert. Whenever I can, I prefer to use vanilla bean or vanilla bean paste over extract. I love seeing the vanilla
The inspiration from this cake came from Tartine's pumpkin tea cake. I wanted to make a lighter, cake-ier cake, closer to a dessert you'd eat at a dinner party than to a quickbread you'd eat for breakfast. The frosting recipe is based on my idol Dorie Greenspan's Tangy Cream Cheese Frosting.
