Recipe Honey Cake

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A coworker friend of mine is a beekeeper as a part-time hobby. He sells giant mason jars of honey reasonably cheaply. But, most importantly, it's beautifully fresh...fresh from the hive.

With Valentines Day coming up, I found this recipe, which uses 2 cups of honey. As I started to make it, I soon realized that there was far more batter than I needed for the simple heart-shaped cake I was making, so I poured it into a bundt cake pan...and there was still more, so I made 12 muffins. Fortunately, the recipe is delicious.

I've just updated the picture to show one of the cakes I made. The bundt cake is about half gone, and the muffins are just muffins. But, I think this turned out pretty well.

Ingredients

1 cup vegetable oil, plus additional for greasing pan
2 tablespoons ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
1/2 teaspoon ground allspice
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
3/4 cup freshly brewed strong coffee
2 teaspoons grated zest from 1 orange (I only had mandarin oranges, so I used 2 of them)
1/2 cup (about 3 1/2 ounces) granulated sugar
1 1/4 cups (about 8 1/4 ounces) packed dark brown sugar
3 1/2 cups (about 17 1/2 ounces) all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
2 cups honey, divided
3/4 cup apple cider (I was out of apple cider, so I squeezed an equivalent amount of oranges)
1/3 cup whiskey or bourbon (also out of both, and out of rum, so I used apple schnapps. This seems like a heresy, but it really worked well)
3 large eggs, at room temperature

Directions

1. For the Cake: Adjust oven rack to middle position and preheat oven to 350°F (175°C). Brush tube pan with oil. (I also dusted with flour and tapped away any excess, since this works incredibly well to free cakes from pans)

2. Combine cinnamon, cloves, allspice, and ginger in large bowl. Stir in hot coffee. Set aside and cool to room temperature. Rub orange zest into granulated sugar (I used a whisk) until sugar is damp and no strands of zest remain. Add brown sugar and stir to combine.

3. Whisk together flour and salt in medium bowl. Add 1 1/4 cups honey, 1 cup oil, cider (or orange juice), and whiskey (or apple schnapps) to coffee mixture and whisk to combine.

4. With electric mixer on medium speed, beat together eggs and sugar mixture in large bowl until well combined, about 3 minutes. Reduce speed to low, then add honey mixture and mix until blended, about 1 minute. Add flour mixture and mix just until combined.

5. Pour batter into prepared pan (batter will be thin) and bake until tester inserted in center comes out clean, about 1 hour. Transfer to rack and cool cake in pan 15 minutes, then invert directly onto rack and cool completely, about 1 hour.

NOTE: making 12 muffins and 2 smaller cakes at the same time meant that the muffins were done after 22 minutes, the heart-shaped cake was done at 35 minutes, and the bundt cake was done after 42 minutes.

6. For the Glaze: Warm remaining 3/4 cup honey in microwave or small saucepan. Brush the sides of the cake, then drizzle remaining honey over cake. Serve.
 
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You need one of these to make this cake. Someone on another forum bought one of these and it also has a recipe for a honey cake with it that she said was very good if you want to branch out. It's a Nordic Ware pan BTW.
I couldn't tell from the picture of the pan, but this is what it does to the cake:

nordicware-85477_honeycomb_pull-apart_pan-1.jpg


:hyper:
 
Like the coffee aspect which surely provides incredible aromas .. Lovely idea surely ..

Question: If you are using such a large amount of honey, then why so much Brown sugar ?

Could one use Espresso ground beans brewed verses " normal coffee " ground from beans ?

I would definitely find this way over board sweet with both the honey and the Brown sugar ..

Have a nice day ahead ..
 
20120925-127677-LTE-Honey-Cake-PRIMARY.jpg


A coworker friend of mine is a beekeeper as a part-time hobby. He sells giant mason jars of honey reasonably cheaply. But, most importantly, it's beautifully fresh...fresh from the hive.

With Valentines Day coming up, I found this recipe, which uses 2 cups of honey. As I started to make it, I soon realized that there was far more batter than I needed for the simple heart-shaped cake I was making, so I poured it into a bundt cake pan...and there was still more, so I made 12 muffins. Fortunately, the recipe is delicious. The picture above is not mine...I finished early in the morning today, and wasn't in the mood to take photographs (especially because there was a colossal amount of cleanup). But, I will add my pics as time permits, assuming no one eats the cakes before I get home today.

Ingredients

1 cup vegetable oil, plus additional for greasing pan
2 tablespoons ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
1/2 teaspoon ground allspice
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
3/4 cup freshly brewed strong coffee
2 teaspoons grated zest from 1 orange (I only had mandarin oranges, so I used 2 of them)
1/2 cup (about 3 1/2 ounces) granulated sugar
1 1/4 cups (about 8 1/4 ounces) packed dark brown sugar
3 1/2 cups (about 17 1/2 ounces) all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
2 cups honey, divided
3/4 cup apple cider (I was out of apple cider, so I squeezed an equivalent amount of oranges)
1/3 cup whiskey or bourbon (also out of both, and out of rum, so I used apple schnapps. This seems like a heresy, but it really worked well)
3 large eggs, at room temperature

Directions

1. For the Cake: Adjust oven rack to middle position and preheat oven to 350°F (175°C). Brush tube pan with oil. (I also dusted with flour and tapped away any excess, since this works incredibly well to free cakes from pans)

2. Combine cinnamon, cloves, allspice, and ginger in large bowl. Stir in hot coffee. Set aside and cool to room temperature. Rub orange zest into granulated sugar (I used a whisk) until sugar is damp and no strands of zest remain. Add brown sugar and stir to combine.

3. Whisk together flour and salt in medium bowl. Add 1 1/4 cups honey, 1 cup oil, cider (or orange juice), and whiskey (or apple schnapps) to coffee mixture and whisk to combine.

4. With electric mixer on medium speed, beat together eggs and sugar mixture in large bowl until well combined, about 3 minutes. Reduce speed to low, then add honey mixture and mix until blended, about 1 minute. Add flour mixture and mix just until combined.

5. Pour batter into prepared pan (batter will be thin) and bake until tester inserted in center comes out clean, about 1 hour. Transfer to rack and cool cake in pan 15 minutes, then invert directly onto rack and cool completely, about 1 hour.

NOTE: making 12 muffins and 2 smaller cakes at the same time meant that the muffins were done after 22 minutes, the heart-shaped cake was done at 35 minutes, and the bundt cake was done after 42 minutes.

6. For the Glaze: Warm remaining 3/4 cup honey in microwave or small saucepan. Brush the sides of the cake, then drizzle remaining honey over cake. Serve.

Wow looks so scrummy! I like it!
 
Like the coffee aspect which surely provides incredible aromas .. Lovely idea surely ..

Question: If you are using such a large amount of honey, then why so much Brown sugar ?

Could one use Espresso ground beans brewed verses " normal coffee " ground from beans ?

I would definitely find this way over board sweet with both the honey and the Brown sugar ..

Have a nice day ahead ..
I think espresso beans would be a great substitution. And, it is sweet, but I wouldn't say it's overpoweringly so. The spices balance that out, much the same way that a spicy chili can be balanced out by adding sweet elements. But, of course, proportions can always be adjusted to suit the baker. For instance, it's easy enough to not do the honey glaze at the end, which would leave you with something on the level of a zucchini bread (and not such a great honey flavor). Also, note that there's a LOT of batter in this recipe: if all this were in a single cake, it could be overpowering, but this recipe led to 2 cakes and 12 muffins!
 
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I think espresso beans would be a great substitution. And, it is sweet, but I wouldn't say it's overpoweringly so. The spices balance that out, much the same way that a spicy chili can be balanced out by adding sweet elements. But, of course, proportions can always be adjusted to suit the baker. For instance, it's easy enough to not do the honey glaze at the end, which would leave you with something on the level of a zucchini bread (and not such a great honey flavor). Also, note that there's a LOT of batter in this recipe: if all this were in a single cake, it could be overpowering, but this recipe led to 2 cakes and 12 muffins!

@The Late Night Gourmet

Got it .. 2 cakes here !!!

Shall do at my parents´ condo next time we drive up .. Looks quite amazing .. I was just concerned about the sweetness ..

Thank you for clarifying ..
 
@The Late Night Gourmet & @MypinchofItaly

Amongst other goodies .. White chocolate with Sea Salt from Tuscany which the Supplier at the Gastro Eno Trade Fair, gave me .. And of course, some Parmesano aged 2 years, from Parma from a lovely Gentleman and wrapped it perfectly for shipping and I should have it within 48 hours ..

I brought back some jars of honey so I shall have to see this recipe as I do not use bleached White flour .. So, I shall go with bio sustainable Italian flour for it ..

I am excited about all my new toys from Italy !!

I also ordered a few other things however, when I can -- i shall do some photographs with récipes when I receive and explain all ..

Goodnight .. 23.45 !!!!
 
@The Late Night Gourmet & @MypinchofItaly

Amongst other goodies .. White chocolate with Sea Salt from Tuscany which the Supplier at the Gastro Eno Trade Fair, gave me .. And of course, some Parmesano aged 2 years, from Parma from a lovely Gentleman and wrapped it perfectly for shipping and I should have it within 48 hours ..

I brought back some jars of honey so I shall have to see this recipe as I do not use bleached White flour .. So, I shall go with bio sustainable Italian flour for it ..

I am excited about all my new toys from Italy !!

I also ordered a few other things however, when I can -- i shall do some photographs with récipes when I receive and explain all ..

Goodnight .. 23.45 !!!!

:thumbsup::hug: Yep! It was a really good time for you, very happy for this @Francesca :highfive:
 
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