Mmmmm.... Cake

The cake yesterday? Was good.

My mother and I had gone to the mall on Saturday just to make a brief run in for my birthday. We had it all timed and mapped out to cost us both the fewest number of stops possible, which was weird because usually we're happy to wander around the place just looking for awhile. But with me being under orders to be "as sedentary as possible" and her reinjuring her ankle (she'd screwed up a tendon in it a few months back), there was no dashing madly from store to store.

We did, however, make a stop at the Williams Sonoma shop. I love that store more than words can express. And on Saturday, they had a sample of a vanilla bean cake, made from a mix they stocked.

Eating it was like eating that Breyers Natural Vanilla Bean ice cream, just in cake form. I loved it. My mother, though, thought it was a little dry. On reflection she was right, but the taste of it for me totally outweighed that little issue.

And it set off a craving for a cake. A vanilla bean cake.

I didn't buy the box mix at the store, but when we got home I had to go to the grocery store anyway, and there I picked up a vanilla bean.

To the tune of $7.00. Holy cow.

So on Sunday, since it was the one-year-quit-smoking anniversary (and also because my highest calorie allowance is on Sunday, for good reason), I baked a vanilla bean cake.

I found a standard white cake recipe that called for 2 teaspoons of vanilla extract, so I subbed in the scrapings from the vanilla bean for that, and then I put the scraped pod in with the butter I melted for the glaze.

It is amazing, wonderful, and over 400 calories a slice.

I had two.

Regrets? None.

Happy Monday!