Eggless Vanilla Bean Pound Cake

The desire for making a perfect egg less pound cake saw me standing in my hot kitchen beside hotter oven on a hottest afternoon.I know it is not really a great thing to stand in front of oven in summer,but again I have been yearning  this cake for long, really long time. Ever since I started baking at home,I am intrigued to learn more about cakes and try my hands on as many egg less versions as possible and pound cake has joined the line :). Pound cake is a old fashioned cake where in a pound of each-egg,flour,sugar and butter are used and it is baked in a loaf or bundt pan.It is a very rich and buttery cake obviously.I have been amazed many a times seeing those beautiful cakes,especially the texture of the cut slices is just wonderful with these cakes. These days there are so many changes and modifications being done to the old fashioned recipe,there are N number of recipes for pound cake around the web and I would like to add mine too.I searched really hard and could not arrive at an egg less recipe that I was exactly looking for then it occurred to me I had already blogged a recipe for pound cake,phew :P.I decided to modify the recipe a create a vanilla bean pound cake.I am really happy that the modification recipe worked really well and the cake lived up to its name,really :). It had the same texture that I wanted,buttery and full of vanilla bean studs and flavor. The best part of this cake is the vanilla sugar,I have read a lot about vanilla sugar and was looking for a chance to make and use it. I first prepared vanilla sugar and the used it in the cake,it was marvelous indeed.An afternoon worth spent,do try it and you will love it.
Egg less vanilla bean pound cake recipe
Star ingredients:Sweetened condensed milk and vanilla bean
Preparation time:30 minutes
Baking time:50 minutes
Yield:1 9"inch bundt cake

Ingredients:
2 1/2 cups cake flour (see notes)
3/4 cup vanilla sugar (see notes)
1/2 cup (100 grams) softened butter
1/2 cup sweetened condensed milk
1/2 cup yogurt/curds
1/3 cup milk
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/8 teaspoon salt(if using unsalted butter)
1/4 vanilla bean(optional)
Method:
1.Preheat oven to 160C.Grease a bundt pan with butter and set aside.
2.In a mixing bowl,cream together butter and vanilla sugar until light.Make sure you beat in one direction swiftly.
3.Add condensed milk,curd and mix well.Add the 1/4 vanilla bean now if using.
4.Sift all the dry ingredients.
5.Add the dry mixture to wet ingredients in stages.Add milk every now and then,start and end with dry mixture.Do not over beat the batter.The batter will be stiff comparatively.
6.Now transfer the batter to bundt pan and tap around the corners.Bake for 45-50 minutes at 160C
7.Once completely baked,remove from oven and allow to rest for 10 minutes.Slice and serve warm with chocolate or caramel sauce.

Notes:
1.Last time when I made this cake,the crumb turned to be very dark,so this time I tried decreasing the temperature and it worked out.
2.The additional vanilla bean is for very additional flavor,you can leave that out too.
3.Vanilla sugar:
Though vanilla sugar is available in select stores,it is a child's play to make at home.Scarp the pith from one vanilla bean and mix well with 2 cups of sugar.Store airtight.Here I directly chopped the vanilla bean and powdered in the mixer along with sugar,as I wanted those studs to be seen.You can choose whichever way you want.
If you are unable to source vanilla bean,use 3/4 cup castor sugar or powdered sugar and 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract.
4.Cake flour:
1 cup cake flour:
Take one cup all purpose flour and remove 2 tablespoons from it.Now replace the 2 tablespoons with corn starch or corn flour.Mix well and use according to the recipe.