Please welcome guest author Garrett McCord as he shares a favorite cupcake. ~Elise

It raises my hackles when someone calls something “plain vanilla.” Plain? Plain?! Are they insane?! There’s nothing plain about vanilla!

Given, I’m a little more passionate about the spice than most (if it wasn’t apparent enough). Heck, I named my blog after the stuff. I have no less than 9 varieties of vanilla beans in my pantry. Not to mention 6 kinds of vanilla extract – three of them homemade. Vanilla oil, vanilla sugar, chopped up vanilla beans. I even keep a dried bean in the filter of my vacuum so the place smells like vanilla when I clean.

Even when we discuss the flavor of vanilla, there’s nothing plain about it. Mexican vanilla has a velvety, sweet and creamy scent that begs to be made into puddings. Tahitian vanilla has a heady aroma of figs, that reminds me of summers eating the sticky fruits stuffed with cheese and honey. The dark and rummy smell of Madagascar beans that hint at a slight, musky nose of tobacco. My favorite, the Tonga vanilla bean which, after deep inhale, will bombard you with images of black cherries.

Any of these beans are perfect in this delightful vanilla bean cupcake, one I’m very proud of. It’s a fantastic way to show off vanilla, a spice that does love center stage. If you don’t have a vanilla bean you can get away with just the vanilla extract, but they’re infinitely better with the beans. While they can be expensive (buy online), keep in mind that even after you scrape the seeds out of the pod, you can use it many times over. Steeping it into cream for ice cream, pop it in a bottle of vodka for homemade extract, or in a jar of sugar for vanilla sugar are just some suggestions.

I like to think of vanilla as my humble, endearing, sweet smelling obsession. Personally, I feel these cupcakes will seduce you to the way of vanilla as well.

Double Vanilla Cupcakes Recipe

  • Yield: Makes about one dozen cupcakes.

Ingredients

Cupcake

  • 1 ½ cups + 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
  • 1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
  • 1 1/4 teaspoons baking powder
  • 1/2 cup unsalted butter, room temperature
  • 1 cup sugar
  • 1 egg plus 2 egg whites
  • 1/2 cup whole milk
  • 1/4 cup sour cream
  • 1 1/2 teaspoons of vanilla extract
  • 1/2 vanilla bean (or one whole bean if you can spare it)

Frosting

  • 1/2 cup unsalted butter, room temperature
  • 1 1/4 cups of powdered sugar
  • 1/2 vanilla bean (or 1 teaspoon of vanilla extract)

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