01 July 2008

Honey Cake for your honey

Ok, so this recipe didn't come out as well as we wanted it to, which is why "Sunday" Baking is on Tuesday this week! Was it that I don't have the right shaped pan? That I'm not totally used to my new oven? That between my sister and I, the cake didn't know where to put all those good cooking vibes?? Anyway, there was something unexpected about the texture. Still, we won't have any trouble finishing it off...and D's happy for us to try again until we get it exactly right ;-)


This Saturday was Gay Pride in Paris (some fantastic pictures -- very possibly taken by someone you know -- are to be found at this post on D.K.'s website) and Laney and I wanted to do something related with our baking. We thought of something fruity, but D. had recently made such a lovely clafouti that we thought we ought to go a different direction. We decided to make this Honey Cake (based on a Moosewood Desserts Cookbook recipe), perfect for your honeys whatever their sex and gender!


Ingredients:

1 cup sugar
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1 1/2 cups honey
3 eggs
1 tsp lemon zest
3 cups all purpose flour
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp ground ginger
2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp allspice
1/2 tsp nutmeg
1 cup strong coffee, cooled
2 Tbsp Kahlúa (optional)

Preheat the oven to 350F. Lightly oil a tube pan or bundt pan (or whatever you happen to have around if, like me, you sorely lack the right baking pans to make anything fun).

With an electric mixer (if you have one, or a whisk if you don't), mix together the oil and sugar. Beat in the honey, eggs and lemon zest. In a separate bowl sift together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, ginger, cinnamon, all-spice and nutmeg.

Add the dry ingredients to the wet, and add the coffee and Kahlúa (if using). Mix well.

Pour the batter into the pan and bake for 50-60 minutes, until the cake pulls away from the side of the pan and a knife inserted into the center comes out clean. Cool and serve to your honey or other people who are hanging around looking longingly at your cake!


D. has complained about the ginger in the cake (there's no getting anything past those tastebuds!), so next time I'll try the cake without ginger, and maybe with orange zest and Grand Marnier instead of lemon and Kahlúa.

14 comments:

Anonymous said...

So when is it exactly that you are trying it with orange and grand marnier ? ;-)

Anonymous said...

Ooooh! Orange and honey is one of my favorite flavor combos! :)

I don't know what the specific problem was with the texture, but you may want to try the dry-wet-dry-wet-dry method instead of adding all the dry followed by all the wet. Let me know how it goes!

p.s. Sounds like another good breakfast candidate...

Hopie said...

D.K. - soon, soon! Stick around...

Camille - Hey! How did you know what I had for breakfast?! Good idea: i'll try the dry-wet-dry-wet thing next time (which looks like it'll have to be soon!).

Rosa's Yummy Yums said...

That honey cake lookd great and fluffy! Delicious!

cheers,

Rosa

Katharine said...

It sure looks good. Can you taste the coffee and Kahlua? Seems like a lot of flavors going on: honey, lemon, cinnamon/allspice/nutmeg, ginger and then the coffee/Kahlua contribution. Think I might leave out the lemon and the ginger to give the other spices, honey and coffee flavors the stage. Maybe the zest gives it all an indescribable boost, though? (Perhaps you or croquecamille would know.) Fun to experiment anyway! And, always good to have cake on hand for one's honey :) Love, Mom

Anonymous said...

this cake is gorgeous! I don't mind ginger in the slightest!

Here, There, Elsewhere... and more said...

Hi,
thanks for your visit to my blog and your kind words...
This cake looks yummy, I love ginger...I'll have to try it :)

Hopie said...

Rosa - Thanks Rosa! Always nice to have you stop by. :-)

Mom - Yep, you can taste all the flavors and they go pretty well together. There's a lot going on in the cake...but in a good way. I'll let you know how the 2nd version comes out.

Colloquial Cook - Thanks! I'm a fan of ginger myself. Yummy stuff!

Here, there, elsewhere - Stop by anytime, and let me know how you like the cake :-)

Anonymous said...

ça à l'air bon sur la photo... En texte, j'avoue que j'ai trouvé ça un peu indigeste, c'est juste parce que je suis toujours parfaitement monoglote;-)

Hopie said...

Merci ;-) Je vais peut-être traduire la recette, mais je veux jouer avec les ingrédients et temps de cuisson encore un peu pour améliorer la texture qui n'était pas totalement réussi...

Anonymous said...

Perfectionniste va ! ;-)

Hopie said...

Ah, là j'avoue que je suis coupable !

Anonymous said...

Oh this sounds fantastic!

Hopie said...

Thanks Kristen! There are so many yummy ideas in the Moosewood cookbooks...