I actually just joined EG, as I had been following this thread and finally got my copy of the book! I just made the "Rum Soaked Vanilla Cakes" last night (minus the rum, as I too have a little one), and they are AMAZING - simply the best pound cake I've had. The crumb is just perfect, they're sweet without being *too* sweet, and the overall flavor is just spot on. Thank you, Dorie! I had a quick question for you all, though - when I was scraping my vanilla beans, I got some weird, gelatinous stuff. It looked like clumps of bean scrapings, but it was like they were bound in goo. These clumps never really broke up or dissolved - I would up scooping as many of them out of the batter as I could. The cakes were fine - but had I not removed the clumps they likely would have appeared in the finished cakes. Does anyone know why this happened? Could my beans have been the problem? I'd never seen this before. Anyway - on to the Apple Spice bars next!
