Honey and Coconut Cake

I had some dessicated coconut in the cupboard, so decided to make another cake. I also had a lovely pot of local honey bought in a recent farmer's market, so would use this too. I found a lot of recipes online for a honey cake, but they weren't exactly what I wanted.
This recipe is a mixture of bits of several recipes I've used before.

Grease and line a 200g loaf tin.
Preheat oven 180C/gas4

Beat 125g butter with 100g brown sugar till nice and creamy; then add 2 beaten eggs, 1 tspn vanilla extract and 60ml honey. Add 25g dessicated coconut and mix in. Fold in 250g sr flour, 1 tspn nutmeg, 1/2 tspn cinnamon and 1/4 tspn allspice. Stir in 125ml milk and mix gently till smooth.
Pour into the tin and bake for 30 mins. Leave in tin for 10 mins then turn onto a wire rack.

Cream cheese and honey icing:

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Lime, Walnut and Date Tray Bake.

Bought a bundle of cookery magazines from a charity shop the other day, and this recipe was in an Australian one. I like traybakes.
The bake has lots of good things in it - dessicated coconut, lime zest, walnuts, dates, and it's easy to make. The biggest problem was changing the Aussie cups into grams. The cake turned out fine, so I must have my conversions fairly accurate!

Preheat oven 180C/gas4

Grease and line a rectangular tin about 28 x 8 cm.

For the cake:
Put 150g flour, 110g caster sugar, 85g dessicated coconut, finely grated zest of 1 lime [you'll need another lime if you're going to make the candied lime peel, 150g chopped dates and 60g chopped walnuts into a bowl. Stir together.

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Strawberry Meringue Cake

With Wimbledon just started, thought I'd make something special with strawberries. It was my daughter's birthday and she came up for the weekend, so needed a cake - this was just the thing.
It's made with oil not butter and is very easy to make, yet it looks 'an occasion' cake.

Preheat oven 190C/gas5
Grease and line 2x18cm [7"] sandwich tins

For the cake you need to sieve 150g plain flour, 25g cornflour and 2 level tspns baking powder into a bowl.
Mix together 100ml veg oil [I used sunflower] and 100ml water in another bowl.
Separate 2 eggs and add the yolks to the oil/water mixture and mix together. Stir the dry ingredients in and mix to a batter. Whisk the egg whites till stiff then fold into the mixture.

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Chocolate Chip Cake

This recipe is my adaptation of one from an American cookery book called ' Mom's 100 Best Cakes' by Annette Bley. To be honest, most of the cakes in the book don't appeal to me as they're too fussy and complicated, but I've made this one a few times, usually in a plain springform tin; but my lovely dil gave me a tin which had a tube insert a while ago, so I thought I'd try it out.
There seems to be a lot of ingredients, but it's not difficult to make, tho' it is a bit more effort than a chocolate sponge. The original recipe was of course in cups, hence the strange amounts.
It's quite a big cake, so one to make for an occasion [and not if you're on a diet!].

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Walnut and Courgette cake

Another one of my favourite loaf cakes. This one's another quite healthy cake, as it uses wholemeal flour, sunflower oil and nuts. It came about because in France we always had a glut of courgettes and were finding ways to use them up. The recipe came from a neighbour who had the same problem!
I suppose this is a bit of nostalgia too, as we don't have room to grow courgettes in our small garden, so the ones I used were lurking in the veg drawer.

3 eggs
90g light muscovado sugar

125ml sunflower oil

250g wholewheat flour

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Walnut and Orange Cake

This is a nice easy, healthy cake made using a food processor.


I love Claudia Roden's orange cake with whole cooked oranges, but this recipe uses a whole orange, chopped up and not cooked.
We're trying to eat less and lose a bit of weight. I know eating any cake won't help, but at least this one has oil instead of butter and  is a healthier option [or IS it? I'm confused by all the research on butter, oils and fats]
You need a thin skinned orange, a navel if possible, as it has little bitter pith and no seeds - I found some in my local supermarket which were fine. They were sold singly, not in a net.

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White Chocolate Truffle Cake

Recently my friend asked me to make her a special cake, and inspired by some white chocolate truffles I'd been given, I decided that a creamy truffle type topping over a light sponge cake would be ideal . I wanted to add some body to the truffle topping, so used an idea I saw in a magazine and added fromage frais.

It's not a big cake, but is rich, so you only need a small slice.

You need a 20cm springform cake tin, base lined.

Preheat oven 180C/gas4

For the sponge:

Whisk 2 eggs with 50g of caster sugar till light and frothy. Fold in 50g of plain flour and then 50g of white chocolate, which has been melted in a microwave or over a pan of hot water.

Pour this batter into the cake tin and bake for 25 mins till the cake is springy to touch.

Leave cake to cool for a bit in the tin and then turn out onto a wire rack.

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Moka Cake

Part of my husband's Christmas present to me was a 2 day Cookery course, which included making and decorating cakes.

I went to the first day last Saturday and brought home this Moka cake. We made tuiles and langues de chats too, but they were eaten before I had a chance to take a photo! I asked, and got, permission from the tutor to put this recipe on my blog, so it's legal, but I've written it in my own words anyway.

It's quite a complicated cake, and it pushed me out of my comfort zone, but it's worthwhile making for an occasion. As it was Mothering Sunday last w/e, it was the perfect special cake for tea.

It's a Genoese sponge cake which is cut in half and sprinkled with some coffee syrup. Then you make some crème au beurre [it's much posher than a buttercream, hence the French term!] and use this to fill the sponge, to cover the cake and to pipe around the top of the finished cake. It's a luxurious 'treat yourself' kind of cake.

For the Genoese cake:

4eggs

225g caster sugar

225g flour

15g butter

A 20cm springform cake tin and a sugar thermometer

Coffee syrup:

100g granulated sugar

75ml water

2 tbspns strong black coffee or coffee extract

Crème au beurre:

150g granulated sugar

75ml water

2 egg whites

225g unsalted butter

10g vanilla sugar

coffee essence

50g grilled flaked almonds

Preheat oven 160C/gas3

Use the 15g of butter to grease the cake tin.

For the cake:

Break the eggs into a bowl, add the sugar and set over a simmering saucepan. Beat with a wire whisk till doubled in size and warm when you touch it. Take the bowl off and beat till cold.

Beat in the sieved flour then pour into the tin.

Bake for 18-20 mins and don't open the oven door [a couple of people on the course had to have a look and their cakes were flat!].

Cool on a wire rack.

For the coffee syrup:

Boil the sugar and water together over medium heat for 5 mins. Let it cool a bit and then add the coffee.

For the crème au beurre:

Cook the sugar and water till it registers 220 on the sugar thermometer [or you can drop a bit of the syrup into some cold water and you should be able to make a soft ball when you roll it between your fingers].

Beat the egg whites to a stiff peak, then slowly add the boiling syrup beating all the time. Keep beating until the mixture is cold.

Soften the butter till creamy, then add the vanilla sugar and fold in the egg whites. Add a few drops of coffee essence to give it a bit of colour.

Cut the cake across and sprinkle the cut surfaces with the syrup.

Put cake onto a plate and spread the bottom half with some of the cream and put the other half on top.

Using a spatula dipped from time to time in water, spread some cream over the top and side of the cake, keeping as bit back to decorate the top.

Coarsely chop up the grilled almonds and press them over the top and side of the cake.

Put the rest of the cream into a piping bag with a fluted nozzle and pipe around the top edge of the cake.

Chill the cake in the fridge for a few hours before using.

Like I said earlier, this cake really took me out of my comfort zone. I hadn't made this kind of butter cream before - I really had to concentrate hard pouring the boiling syrup into the egg whites. I feel very proud of my effort - it's good to learn new techniques. The second day of the course is next month, and we'll be using yeast and making some biscuits.

And the cake? Lovely flavour from the coffee [I bought some extract from Lakeland], a light sponge cake, delicious cream filling, and added texture from the almonds. A little piece of heaven!

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Blueberry Yoghurt Bundt Cake

Have had a silicone bundt mould for ages, but haven't used it. It's a friend's birthday today so I decided to make her a bundt birthday cake.
Her favourite fruits are blueberries, and they were on offer in my local supermarket - perfect. I decided to add some lemon flavour with the blueberries. I also had a pot of  natural yoghurt to use up, so added some to the mixture to make the cake nice and moist. I finished it off with some lemon glace icing drizzled over the top.
I love Ina Garten's lemon yoghurt cake link is here  which Smitten Kitten made into a lovely lemon and blueberry one -  link is here .
The cake mixture is really a sandwich mix, or pound cake or quatre quarts - most countries seem to have their own version.
I bought one of the Cake Release sprays so the cake would come out of the mould [my dil had problems getting her cakes out of bundt tins, so advised me to buy some].
So, it's a simple cake made to look more interesting by using a fancy mould!

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Louisiana Banana Cake

I'm going through a 'nostalgic phase' at the moment, having made coconut ice, coconut pyramids and an orange coconut cake in the last few weeks - all recipes from my Mum's notebook, and which I remember from my childhood.

I wanted to continue with the coconut theme, and I remembered a recipe I'd always meant to try. I have a few US cookery books and magazines brought back from when we lived there, and I've adapted this cake from a book called 'Cakes That Mom Baked' - it has 2 of my favourite ingredients in it - bananas and coconut. I've changed to metric measures and altered some of the ingredients.

When living in the US, we got used to the fact that a cake wasn't a cake unless it had 'frosting' on top.
This was usually a heavy butter cream, flavoured or coloured. This cake has a 'frosting' which is flavoured with banana and rum, and it's then sprinkled with shredded coconut [which I bought on Amazon UK]. I made it in a 900g loaf tin, but the original was made in a 24cm springform tin. It's quite a lot of ingredients, but I think the end result is well worth the effort.


Preheat oven 190C/gas5 and grease a 900g loaf tin [23x13cm] or a 24cm springform tin.

In a bowl mix together 300g of plain flour, 40g of cornflour, 2 tspns of baking powder, 1 tspn of bicarbonate of soda and 1/2 tspn of nutmeg.
Beat together 200g of soft butter and 200g of soft brown sugar till nice and fluffy, then add 3 beaten eggs and 2 tspns of vanilla essence; mix together well.
In a small bowl, mix together 100ml of buttermilk and 3 medium ripe bananas which have been mashed.
Add half of the flour mixture and half of the banana mixture to the batter and mix well.
Then add the rest of the flour and banana mixtures and stir to mix.
Add 45g of toasted pine nuts and 45g of shredded coconut. I found the coconut in a local Asian shop, but dessicated coconut would do. Mix it all together and spoon into tin.
Bake for about 45-50 mins till the cake is springy when touched.
Cool cake in the tin for 30 mins then put onto a wire rack.
For the frosting - beat 200g of soft butter with 450g of icing sugar till it's pale and fluffy, then fold in 2 small mashed ripe bananas, 125ml  rum, 1/2 tspn cinnamon,1 tbspn vanilla extract and 1 tbspn lemon juice.Beat it well to mix thoroughly then spread over the top of the cooled cake. Sprinkle with 150g of toasted shredded coconut to cover all the frosting.
To toast both the pine nuts and the coconut, I browned them in a dry pan on the hob, over a lowish heat; I know you can toast them in the oven, but you have to be very careful they don't burn, so I prefer to watch them.

I love the great mix of flavours - banana, vanilla, pine nuts, coconut etc. It's a lovely moist cake, and we loved the topping. I know it's a lot of calories, but for a treat, it's great!

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Almondy Apple Dessert Cake

I'm always looking for new ways to use apples, and I found this recipe on Mary Berry's site. She calls it 'The very best Apple Dessert Cake'.
 It's a sponge cake mixture with an added tspn of almond extract, and you put half of the mixture in the bottom of a 20cm springform or loose bottomed cake tin, lined, then you put a layer of thickly sliced apples then the rest of the cake mixture. You sprinkle the top with flaked almonds and bake for about 45 mins.

You'll find the recipe here .

It's got a great almond flavour and a lovely moist sponge; I like the contrast between the cake and the apple layer, then the crunch of the almonds on top. We ate ours with some creme fraiche. I liked it cold, but my OH preferred it warm.

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Crumbly Blackberry Traybake

I try and buy things in season, but the punnets of shiny blackberries caught my eye this week, so I bought some. I know they have air miles, but nobody's perfect!

I love tray bakes,and I got the idea for this one from this Good Food site recipe.

It seems to be fashionable at the moment to add crumble tops to cakes and muffins, and I think it gives a great contrast of textures to a cake.I like my crumble a bit clumpy, not too much like breadcrumbs.

115g butter, softened

175g caster sugar
1 egg
280g sr flour
125ml milk
200g blackberries

Crumble topping:
115g caster sugar
85g pl flour
finely grated rind of 1 lemon
50g butter

Preheat oven 180C/gas4. 

Butter an oblong cake tin.

Beat sugar and butter together till pale and fluffy.Beat in the egg, then fold in flour and milk and mix well. Spoon into tin and sprinkle the blackberries over the top.

The crumble - mix sugar,flour and lemon rind together then rub in butter till you have large crumbs,then sprinkle over blackberries.
Bake for about 45 mins 

When cake is cool, cut into squares.

You could use other fruits instead of blackberries, and I'm going to make it again with blueberries.

I love the crunchy crumble, then the soft fruit and then the soft sponge.It would be great with some ice cream or creme fraiche as a dessert.

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Toffee Apple Cake

Recently it was Bramley Apple week, so I decided to make an apple cake, and found this WI recipe amongst my mil's collection, but to be honest, for me, it doesn't really live up to its name. It needs a stronger toffee flavour, but I liked the idea of enhancing the apple flavour by using Calvados. We love apple cakes, and I have lots of recipes, but this is the first toffee apple cake I've tried.
I had a look online and there are lots of different ideas  - I liked  this one from Rosie Bakes It blog, but there seems to be a bit too much topping for me and she adds dates, just as I did for my Sticky Toffee cake, and I didn't want to use dates - I want the toffee flavour to come from something else. Another idea was to put some Carnation Caramel in the cake mixture - this recipe uses it, one from the Good to Know site.


225g self-raising flour
150g soft butter
150g soft dark brown sugar
50g  mixed nuts, chopped
1 large Bramley cooking apple, peeled, cored and chopped finely
4 tbspn Apple Brandy [ I used Calvados]
2 large eggs
4 tbspn milk
½ tspn cinnamon

50g (2 oz) pecan nuts
1 tbspn demerara sugar

A 20cm springform tin, greased and base-lined

Preheat oven 180°C/Gas 4.

Beat butter and sugar till fluffy; add eggs one at a time. Then add the milk and apple brandy and beat in. Add the nuts and chopped apple and fold in. Fold in flour and cinnamon and mix well.
Spoon into the tin and smooth the top. Decorate edge and middle of  cake with pecan nuts. Then sprinkle over the demerara sugar.
Bake for 40 – 45 minutes or till firm to touch.
Leave the cake in tin for 10 mins before turning onto a wire rack.

In the original recipe the apple was grated, but I chopped it up finely, as I wasn't in a grating mood!

The cake has a good soft crumb, is a light texture, and I like the little bites of apple and the background flavour of the Calvados, but as I said, it could do with something to give it more toffee flavour. There is a hint from the topping and from using the dark brown sugar, but I'm going to see if I can make my perfect toffee apple cake. Watch this space!

I think the cake would make a good dessert if you served it with a toffee sauce.

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Chocolate and Peanut Butter Traybake

This isn't a sophisticated chocolate cake; this is for lovers of milk chocolate and peanut butter. My grandsons were coming for tea, so I made the basic cake and they helped me ice it - or at least one of them did, the other 2 got bored! It's a WI recipe that my mil gave me - I've been sorting out my recipe folders and came across some great recipes I must try, and this was one of them. My grandsons love peanut butter, so to have it in a cake AND in the icing, was great.
It's almost an all in one mixture, as nearly everything goes in the bowl and you beat it together. Then you add the chocolate drops and some milk.

Preheat oven 180C/gas4 and grease and line a 28x18cm tin .

You put 115g of crunchy peanut butter, 115g of soft margarine or butter, 175g of soft brown sugar, 3 eggs and 1 tspn of vanilla extract in a bowl. Sieve together 175g of sr flour and 11/2 tspns of baking powder and add to the bowl. Beat with an electric hand mixer for about 2 mins, making sure you scrape the mixture off the sides. Add 80g of milk chocolate drops and 2 tbspns of milk and mix again.
Spoon into the tin and bake for 30-35 mins till golden. Leave in tin for 5 mins then put on a wire rack to cool.

For the fun part - the topping - you melt 80g of milk chocolate with 50g of crunchy peanut butter and 3 tbspns of milk in a bowl over simmering water, or in the microwave. Stir it till it's smooth, and gradually beat in 115g of icing sugar.
Spread this over the cooled cake and allow icing to set before cutting the cake into pieces.

I'm not a great peanut butter fan, but enjoyed these. Good texture in the sponge, and nice contrast with the pieces of chocolate and peanut. Topping is rich, but finishes the cake off nicely.

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Chocolate Cake with Meringue

I wanted to make something special for my friend's birthday. She's a great fan of chocolate cakes, so I decided to combine another of her loves, meringue, with a chocolate cake. I looked through my cookery books and online for ideas, and there were plenty of them. Too many were very complicated and had lots of layers. I wanted a much simpler cake, but with a twist. So I decided on  a sandwich cake with a meringue layer on top and in the middle, and there's also some lime curd in the middle to give the cake an extra bit of zing. I bought a jar of this curd from a farmer's market recently, and don't know what to do with it! It's not a very green colour, so really it doesn't look very different from a lemon curd. The flavour seems to me to be a bit sharper.

For the cake  - beat 115g of butter with 115g of caster sugar till nice and fluffy. Add 3 egg yolks one at a time,  then add 100g sr flour which has been mixed with 55g cocoa powder. Pour in 50ml of milk and stir till smooth.
Grease 2 x 20cm sandwich tins and preheat oven 170C/gas3.
Spoon half the batter into each tin and smooth the tops.

For the meringue - whisk the 3 egg whites with a pinch of salt and 1/4 tspn of cream of tartar till you have soft peaks, then gradually add 140g of caster sugar and carry on whisking till the mixture is thick and shiny.

Spoon half of the meringue over each cake and bake for about 20 mins till the meringue is a golden colour. Leave in the tins to cool.

When cool, take out of the tins and put one cake, meringue side up on a plate, spoon on 2 tbpsn of lime curd and smooth is evenly over the cake. Put the other cake on top, meringue side up.

You can't keep this cake for long, so put it in the fridge or use it within a few hours.

It's an unusual cake and was very popular with my friends. The lemon curd is most unexpected, but gives a lovely sharp contrast to the crunchy meringue and the moist chocolate cake. It would make a great dessert, and you could use some cream instead of the curd, or even fruit - I certainly think you need another texture on top of the meringue. Don't think I'd like just 2 layers of chocolate cake and meringue. This is certainly a cake I'll make again.

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Cranberry, Pear and Pecan Cake

This is one of those cake that uses up the leftover Christmas bits and pieces. I had some cranberries, half a bag of pecans and some pears that needed using up. It's based on a recipe I picked up from one of the supermarkets - Sainsbury's I think. It has quite a thick topping, but it's delicious. It does take a bit of effort to make, but I think it's worth it. Pears and cranberries are 2 of our 5 a day!

It's an upside down cake, so you need a heavy bottomed pan about 26cms, as it has to go on the hob and in the oven. I used a Le Creuset saute pan, which worked well.

Preheat oven 180C/gas4

Make the topping - melt 75g butter and sugar in the pan over a low heat. Peel and core 900g of pears [about 6] and cut them into about 1cm slices then put them in the pan on top of the butter and sugar. Cook over a gentle heat till the pears are just soft; turn the heat up to caramelize them. Sprinkle 140g of cranberries and 75g of pecans over the mixture and gently mix the fruit together.

Make the cake - cream 120g of butter with 200g of caster sugar. Add 2 yolks [from 2 separated large eggs and a tspn of vanilla extract. Mix in half of 210g of plain flour [which has had 2 tspns of baking powder added to it], add 175ml of milk and then the rest of the flour. Mix it till smooth.

Beat the 2 egg whites till peaks, then fold into the batter gently.

Spread the mixture over the pears and bake for 35-40 mins,

Leave the cake to cool in the pan for 10 mins, but no longer, or the caramelized fruit and nuts will stick to the pan!

Turn out onto a serving plate so that the caramelized side is on top. 

I love the topping on this cake; it's crunchy, soft from the fruit, and goes really well with the soft textured cake.

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A French Apple Cake

Our computer has had gremlins, so haven't been able to post. Hopefully this is now sorted!

I'm always happy to find a new recipe for an apple cake, and this one comes from a French friend. It's nice and easy to make, is different from the usual apple cake, and is a nice change from the heavy Christmas pudds and cakes. I've translated it from French, hence the odd looking recipe with tbpns and grams!

200g of plain flour
10 tbspns of caster sugar + 100 g
2 eggs + 1 extra
6 tbspns of milk
2 tspns of baking powder
4 tbspns of sunflower or rapeseed oil
4 apples [I used Braeburns]
100g of butter
1 tbspn of vanilla sugar [or 1 packet]
Icing sugar for the top

Preheat oven 190C/gas5
Grease and bottom line a 23cm springform tin.

Beat the 2 eggs with the 10 tbspns of sugar; add the flour, baking powder, milk and oil.
Peel and slice the apples thinly, then add to the mixture and mix in.
Pour into the tin and bake for about 30 mins.

Meanwhile, in a bowl, beat together the 100g of butter, 100g of caster sugar, 1 egg and the vanilla sugar.

Take the cake out of the oven and pour this batter on top * then put back in for another 15 mins till the top becomes golden. Take out, and cool on a wire rack. Sprinkle with icing sugar.

*I forgot to say that I kept some apple slices back, and put them into the batter on top of the cake. They made it look more interesting!  The cake has a good apple flavour, a nice soft texture.

What does the topping taste like? It seems a strange mixture without any flour. The nearest texture I can think of to describe it is a British macaroon - the one with rice paper on the bottom and an almond on the top. It's not crunchy, but has a similar texture to the inside

. It doesn't really show up in this photo, but it makes a nice contrast with the apple cake.  

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White Chocolate Mousse Cake

I made this as my dessert contribution to my OH's family's Christmas get together. I had a couple of bars of white chocolate in my baking cupboard, so these were the basis for the cake.
I wanted to make a chocolate sponge base with a light topping, and I'd made a similar topping for a cake before, only using a 50% dark chocolate. It's a bit of a faff to make, as it uses gelatine [not my favourite ingredient], but the results are worth the effort. Hope you think so too!

Preheat oven 180C/gas4
Grease and line a 20cm springform cake tin with baking paper.

To make the sponge base, whisk 2 eggs with 60g of caster sugar till thick and creamy. Add 60g plain flour and 1 tbspn cocoa powder into the batter and fold in. Gently add 30g of melted butter and mix together.
Spoon or pour into the tin and bake for 20-25mins till firm to touch.

For the topping, sprinkle an 11gm sachet of gelatine over 3 tbspns of cold water and leave to sponge.
Melt 200g of white chocolate carefully and add 60g butter. Stir in the yolks of 4 separated eggs.
Whisk the 4 whites into stiff peaks and also whisk 284ml of double cream into soft peaks.
Melt the gelatine over a pan of hot water, then stir into the chocolate mixture.
Fold in the double cream and then the whisked egg whites.
Pour this over the baked sponge base and chill for at least 4 hours, but better still, overnight, till the mousse has set.
Take the cake out of the tin, peel off the baking paper and put on a serving plate.
The mousse cake will keep in the fridge for 2 days, but don't recommend you keep it any longer than that.

I piped some rosettes on top of the cake to make it look more festive. I know it's not a dessert for the diet-conscious, but it is Christmas! It really just melts in your mouth.

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Orange and Almond Cake

My friend came for tea yesterday and she loves anything with almonds, so I made this cake for her. It's simple but delicious. The recipe comes from my friend who has the little cake shop, so has been well tested!


240g ground almonds
120g caster sugar
6 eggs
50g of plain flour
the juice of 2 medium oranges
zest of 1 of the oranges
1 tspn baking powder
pinch of salt
20g butter
icing sugar to decorate

Preheat oven 180C/gas4
Grease a 23cm springform tin well, and line the base.

Mix the flour and baking powder together in a large bowl.
Separate the egg yolks and whites, then beat the yolks with the caster sugar until white and fluffy. Gently fold in the flour.
Add a pinch of salt to the whites then beat them into stiff peaks with a beater.
Add the ground almonds to the batter mixture and stir in gently, then pour in the orange juice and zest.
Add the egg whites little by little very gently till it's all mixed in, trying to keep the air in the whites.
Spoon into the tin then bake for about 50 mins till golden. Cool on a wire rack.

As you can see, I used a stencil to make a pattern on the top with icing sugar. This just made it look a bit more festive. The cake has a lovely almond flavour, complimented by the orange. It has quite a firm texture from the ground almonds, and the oranges make it a lovely moist cake.

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Pain d'Epices au Miel - Honey Gingerbread.

I was inspired by a recent post on the excellent Strong as Soup blog          http://asstrongassoup.blogspot.co.uk/2013/11/black-sticky-gingerbread-random-recipe.html  to look for a recipe my neighbour gave me for a gingerbread made with honey. This is a very different gingerbread from the dark moist one on Phil's blog.
The method is unusual in that you put the dry ingredients into a bowl, then heat the honey and pour it over.
It's got a good spicy flavour and as Phil said in his post, gingerbread is great for taking on an Autumn walk, or with your afternoon cuppa, or even as a dessert with some custard.
The original French recipe used 'quatre epices' but I don't think there's much difference between that and our mixed spice, and I found some ground aniseed in a local deli, but you could leave it out if you don't like it.

250g runny honey
250g plain flour
100g caster sugar
1 tspn baking powder
1 tbspn vanilla sugar
1 tspn ground aniseed
1 tspn grated nutmeg
1 tspn cinnamon
1 tspn ginger
1 tspn mixed spice
2 eggs
10cl of warm milk

Preheat oven.160C/gas3

Put the flour, baking powder,sugars and spices in a bowl.
Heat the honey in a microwave or in a saucepan then pour the hot honey over the flour mixture.
Mix together with a wooden spoon then add the eggs a little at a time, then the warm milk and mix together.
Grease and flour a 900g loaf tin then pour the mixture in and bake for 1 to 1hr 15mins till golden.
Leave to cool in the tin and wait 24 hours before eating.

This cake keeps well, up to a week, if you wrap it in foil, so a useful standby for Christmas. Maybe a little cinnamon or ginger icing would make it look more festive? But with this cake, it's all about the flavour - spicy with a lovely honey flavour too.

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