There are so many wonderful recipes using honey, and with Rosh Hashana just around the corner, I’ve seen lots of recipes for honey cakes and desserts popping up. I wanted to make my own honey cake, and I found an easy one I’m just crazy about.
I was lucky that I was able to use our very own honey from a hive we’d had a few years. A very generous friend came over to help me with the harvest because I’ve never really done anything with our hive before, and I was a bit freaked out. It was very messy, but easier than I imagined.
I still have a ton to learn about caring for our hive, and I recently joined an area beekeeping association. I’m looking forward to going to classes and hopefully getting a mentor! I’ll blog more about our bees as I learn.
After straining the honey into jars and cleaning up all the sticky mess, I was eager to make something with the glorious amber goodness. I found a wonderful, easy recipe for a honey cake in this new cookbook, Sweet and Tart (which is currently on sale at Amazon, by the way).
This is such a beautiful, delicate cake that uses fresh fruit – I used the berries from our bush in the back yard, but you could also use other juicy fruits, like peaches. And, since I used basil from our garden too, it felt very homemade.
- 3/4 cup granulated sugar I use the extra fine Baker's sugar
- 8 oz almond paste
- 1/2 cup unsalted butter
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 3 large eggs at room temperature
- 1/2 cup unbleached all-purpose flour
- 1 tsp baking powder
- 1/4 tsp kosher salt
- 2 cups mixed sliced fresh strawberries and whole blackberries, blueberries or raspberries or any juicy fruit
- 1/4 cup fresh basil leaves rolled lengthwise into a tight cylinder and thinly sliced crosswise
- 2 Tbsp honey
- powdered sugar for dusting
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Grease a 9-inch round cake pan with 2-inch sides. Line the bottom with parchment paper, then grease and flour the parchment.
- Combine the granulated sugar and almond paste in the bowl of a food processor and pulse until finely blended. Add the butter, lemon zest, and vanilla and pulse until smooth. Turn on the processor and add the eggs, one at a time, through the feed tube.
- Remove the lid and add the flour, baking powder, and salt. Cover and pulse a few more times just until blended.
- Scrape the batter into the prepared pan and smooth the top. Bake for 45 to 50 minutes, or until the cake is golden and a wooden skewer inserted into the center comes out clean.
- Let cool in the pan on a wire rack for about 30 minutes, then loosen the sides with a knife if necessary. Invert the cake onto a serving plate, and peel off the parchment.
- Meanwhile, combine the berries, basil, honey and lemon juice in a bowl and refrigerate for 30 minutes, or until juicy.
- Slice the cooled cake with a serrated knife, and serve topped with the berries and a dusting of powdered sugar. Store, covered, at room temperature for up to a day.
If you make this honey cake, please let me know what you think! I've made it for dinner parties and folks always love the surprising combination of garden flavors. I dropped off several pieces for a neighbor who had family visiting, and the cake got rave reviews.
Here's another Honey Cake recipe that I'm eager to try: Majestic and Moist Honey Cake. I follow the SmittenKitchen blog, and I love almost everything she makes.
I posted a recipe for a Lemon Almond cake a while ago, and it is also surprisingly simple and delicious (but no honey). So make this one if you are short on the nectar of the Gods.
XO Trueheartgal
By the way, I'd really appreciate it if you could share this post on the social media you like best - Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest or any others. Thank you in advance, it means so much to me!
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