Vanilla Bean Mini Cake with Orange Vanilla Bean Frosting

Vanilla bean mini cake with orange vanilla bean frosting

Vanilla Bean Mini Cake with Orange Vanilla Bean Frosting

Just a general public service announcement that if you haven’t tried the Trader Joe’s Chantilly Cream Vanilla Bean mini sheet cake, you need to give it a try. I’d argue that Trader Joe’s version of the cake isn’t a true Chantilly cream but rather a buttercream icing, but regardless, the cake is amazing and addicting. It’s really moist and flavorful, and you can see the speckling of vanilla beans throughout both the cake and the icing. K, going to stop gushing now.

I really wanted to try to make the cake, since it seemed as though a simple vanilla sheet cake wouldn’t be too complex (and because I recently ordered vanilla bean paste), but I only wanted a small tray of it and thus ended up stumbling upon The Semisweet Sisters’ recipe for an Easily Vanilla Sheet Cake in an 8x11” pan.

Since I had some whipped cream cheese frosting leftover, I decided to make an ermine icing, which is basically just a boiled-milk roux-like frosting. I ended up halving the ratio that Baking A Moment uses for their Magical Cream Cheese Frosting. It usually gives a better structure for piping, which is a struggle for tangy cream cheese frostings, and cuts down the amount of butter or cream cheese that’s typically needed to give that super-smooth texture. The key to this is making a very smooth puddinglike mixture; in order to achieve that finish, it’s very important to cook the mixture patiently over low heat and to sift all the ingredients prior.

The resulting cake had an amazing crumb in addition to the most beautiful crispy crust. When topped with the smooth orange vanilla bean frosting, the whole thing really came to life.

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Ingredients

Vanilla Bean Sheet Cake

• 113g (1/2 cup) salted butter

• 118mL (1/2 cup) water

• 120g (1 cup) all-purpose flour

• 198g (1 cup) granulated sugar

• 61g (1/4 cup) sour cream

• 1 large egg, beaten

• 1/2 tsp vanilla paste

• 1/2 tsp baking soda

Orange Vanilla Bean Frosting

• 50g (1/4 cup) granulated sugar

• 15g (1/8 cup) all-purpose flour

• 94mL (3/4 cup) lactose-free milk

• 1 1/2 tbsp cornstarch

• 90g (1/2 cup) whipped cream cheese

• 57g (1/4 cup) salted butter, softened

• 1/2 tsp vanilla paste

• zest of 1 orange

Items

• saucepan for ermine frosting

• saucepan for boiling butter

• 8x11” tray

  • optional: mini-cake silicone molds

Instructions

Make the ermine

The ermine ratio came from Baking A Momen't’s magical cream cheese frosting recipe

1. Sift granulated sugar, flour, cornstarch, and salt into the saucepan.

2. Whisk the mixture to combine.

3. Place the mixture on low heat.

4. Gradually whisk in the milk, ensuring that there are no lumps.

5. Continue to whisk until the mixture thickens (depending on your stove, approximately 7-10 minutes).

6. Transfer contents into a Tupperware and place in the refrigerator to cool.

Make the vanilla bean sheet cake

The Semisweet Sisters’ Easy Vanilla Sheet Cake

1. Preheat oven to 375 F.

2. Place butter and water in a saucepan. Bring the mixture to a boil.

3. In a large bowl, sift flour and sugar together.

4. Add egg, sour cream, vanilla, and baking soda. Mix.

5. Slowly pour in the boiling butter-water mixture.

6. Stir until smooth.

7. Pour in the desired baking vessel.
   Their recipe calls for a greased 8xll” baking pan. However, I wanted small loaves, so I put in 62g of batter in each silicone mold and stuck them in the 8xll” baking pan.

8. Bake for 20-22 minutes or until the cake turns golden brown and the toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.

9. Transfer to a cooling rack and cool completely.

Making the orange-vanilla bean frosting

1. When the ermine mixture is cool to the touch, transfer it to the stand mixer and whip it on high with a whisk attachment until fluffy.

2. Add in the zest and vanilla bean paste and whisk until incorporated.

3. Alternate between adding cream cheese and softened butter a chunk at a time into the mixture and whip.

4. Taste and add more cream cheese if needed.

Assembling

1. Wait until cooled before popping cakes out of their molds. If working with a sheet tray, wait until cool.

2. Pipe frosting onto the cake.
   I threw everything into a freezer quart Ziploc bag, snipped off the edge, and then piped everything on.

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Thoughts

1. The next time I bake these cakes in the tiny molds, it’ll probably be better to leave them upside down when frosting, because the top of the cake delivered a very delectable crust that was just the right amount of crunch.