One of my favorite bakeries in Cambridge is Hi Rise Bread Company right outside of Harvard Square. They make excellent sandwiches and their breads are incredible. My all time favorite item there is their elusive vanilla loaf. This loaf is absolutely amazing. It has a gorgeous crust that I just can’t stop eating. The sugar crystallizes a bit on the edges while baking, giving the loaf an amazing slightly burnt sugar buttery crusty edge. It’s hard to explain, but it’s oh so good.
When I wrote my wistfully dreamy post about Hi Rise Bread Company a few months ago, more than one person wrote to me telling me that an adaptation of the vanilla loaf recipe was available. I was so excited!
It took awhile to gather the ingredients together (especially the vanilla beans and the vanilla sugar), but once I had everything I couldn’t wait to make my favorite loaf!
You will need 3 vanilla beans for this loaf, which makes this loaf relatively expensive to make. I was able to pick up vanilla beans at Costco for about $1 a bean (I had to buy 10). I also saw them at the local grocery store for $5 each. So, the prices do vary.
You have to plan a few days in advance for this bread, since one of the ingredients is vanilla sugar. This just involves splitting open a vanilla bean and putting it in a container of sugar (2-3 cups) for a few days.
For a printable version of the recipe, click here.
Adapted from Hi-Rise Bread Company in Cambridge, MA, via Amanda Hesser
(makes 2 loaves)
Ingredients
Cream the butter and sugar until pale and fluffy (upper left photo). Scrape the first vanilla bean and get all the seeds into the bowl, along with the vanilla extract (upper right).Add the eggs one by one and beat to combine (lower left). Sift the flour, salt, and baking powder. Add the dry ingredients to the batter and fold in, mixing minimally with a rubber spatula, until just combined (lower right).
Divide the batter between the loaf pans. Bake for 30 minutes, then turn the pans and bake another 25-40 minutes or until a cake tester comes out almost clean.
While the loaves bake, make syrup. In a small saucepan, dissolve the sugar in the water over medium heat. Note: it takes a while to dissolve the sugar since the ratio makes a pretty concentrated sugar solution. Just be patient and keep watching the solution – don’t make burnt sugar here! Add the vanilla beans and seeds and stir a little to loosen the seeds. Remove pan from heat.
When the loaves are done, cool them for 10 minutes in the pan on a rack, and then turn them out onto the rack.
Brush the loaves generously on all sides with the syrup. Repeat the brushing with syrup a few more times as the loaves cool. Note: I did not have a brush, but I was able to successfully spoon small amounts of vanilla syrup over the bread.
Enjoy!
Our Verdict
This loaf is delicious, but it’s not the same as the Hi Rise Bakery vanilla loaf. This loaf is a little less sweet and less dense. It’s fluffier – a bit more cake-like and less pound cake-like than the original Hi Rise version.
Considering that this recipe already involves 8 eggs and 3 sticks of butter, it’s a bit scary to imagine what more must be added to make the denser and sweeter Hi Rise loaf!
In any event, this loaf is still very good and I still can’t stop eating it. I’ve been having it every morning with a nice cup of espresso. The espresso is the perfect balance to the buttery, rich cake. This loaf still has the signature burnt sugar crusty edge that I love, and it has a deliciously strong, fragrant vanilla flavor.
All Rights Reserved
Wow, this looks amazing. I’ve never tried real vanilla beans before. That picture of you glazing the baked loaf is absolutely stunning!
wow. i love the photos and the loaf looks wonderful! I can’t imagine how well your kitchen must have smelled 🙂
Another great source for vanilla beans is Beanilla Trading Company. They have an online store at http://www.beanilla.com. The company carries 8 different types of vanilla beans, many starting at only $1. I found the quality of Beanilla’s vanilla beans is far superior to most stores.
Hope this helps! Happy cooking 😉
Oh man…these sound so sinfully delicious. 3 vanilla beans is like vanilla overload! Bit more expensive to make in comparison to your usual loafs like you said but I think it’s worth it.
I usually have vanilla sugar laying around the house but not quite enough to make this loaf. Gonna have to stock up again!
Oh my, this cake sound so good! I love vanilla, and this sounds like it’s over the top vanilla-y. Since I’ve never had the original Hi Rise cake, this one might be perfect to me. Thanks for posting the recipe.
I often find vanilla beans in bulk on ebay! They make an expensive ingredient much cheaper (and last for a good long while). I love Hi Rise as well, and your blog is great for us fellow Cambridge citizens…
jen! you should try ina garten’s lemon yogurt cake recipe (obviously you could make it vanilla flavored or some other fruit) sometime. it’s super moist and delicious. not the same as poundcake, but poundcake-like enough to satisfy and a nice healthier alternative. i’ve made it several times and it’s always delicious. i like to use extra virgin olive oil in it to stir in the batter instead of a neutral flavored one. http://dappldthings.blogspot.com/2007/02/lemon-yogurt-cake-courtesy-of-ina.html
I think this sounds wonderful! The Costco tip is great. I wouldn’t have even thought to look there for vanilla beans. Thanks for sharing!
Vanilla is one of my favorite flavors/smells. This sounds wonderful.
Once you’ve made this, save the scraped out bean and, if you’re really frugal, rinse off the syrup bean and let air dry. Add both to some sugar now and it will be ready the next time you need vanilla sugar. There’s still plenty of vanilla goodness in the scraped out bean. I keep a separate container of sugar with “used” vanilla beans in my pantry. Fantastic in coffee.
oh WOW that is one decadent amazing smelling (yes I can smell it through the screen!) loaf! MMMMM!
Jenn, Excited to meet you!! I’ll see you in a couple days, yeah!!!
Is it wrong that just by reading the post and seeing the photos, I can almost smell the amazing fresh-baked goodness of vanilla and cake? I shouldn’t be craving sweets, given the shameful amount of leftover Halloween candy we have, but oh man, I want to make this!!
Hi there, this is a great blog! Try decreasing the amount of butter and the number of eggs and increasing the amount of sugar to get the crisp crust you’re looking for.
Also brushing with syrup can make crust less crisp, so I’d skip that step, but add the seeds of 2 beans to the batter.
That looks so beautiful! And yummy too!
This would be wonderful with a cup of coffee.
It looks delicious!And I love the photos you took when you made this.I came across your blog from the foodieblogroll and I’d love to guide our readers to your site if you won’t mind.Just add your choice of foodista widget to this post and it’s all set, Thanks!
this bread looks fantastic and those must be the vanilla beans you mentioned….anyhow it was great meeting you at the FB festival!!
I haven’t tried the original high rise loaf, though reading your blog is making me want to come by your area, but try using yolks of some of the eggs, prob all 8 would be overkill, but try half, like 4 eggs and 4 yolks. The other thing is cream cheese in the pound cakes also make them denser. i think…..
I just had a piece of HiRise Vanilla Bean Cake from Cambridge store. I savored every morsel. They gave me the end piece, no complaint as this is the best piece I have found. I never knew the roll of the bean syrup in all this – now I know why the end piece is so tasty and sweet. Should be one of the best cakes in the world!
Thanks for this recipe – I can’t wait to try it and compare. I just tried out Dorie Greenspan’s brown butter and vanilla “weekend cake” recipe, and it also makes a pound-cake-like loaf that tastes really close to Hi-Rise’s vanilla loaf! (the HR vanilla is also my favorite, and I’ve been looking for a recipe for *years*). The DG recipe makes a loaf with a lovely crunchy top and super vanilla-y insides. It’s also a bit less sweet (no syrup basting step), and adds a little cream in place of some of the crazy amount of butter in this recipe. I like it because all the vanilla beans go into the cake (I always feel like I’m wasting some when I make syrup!)