31: Honey Cake (with Recipe)

It seems Mondays are to be my food posting days, which is only fitting as another beloved Molly (well, that implies that I am beloved, which is not entirely true, but you get what this heat-sleepy girl is trying to say) posts on Mondays.

This Monday, I bring you honey cake.

These days, it's been all about the honey, and I am glad for it too. While Kelly was in the hospital after having Christian, I would piggyback on her hospital food orderings, selecting what was left--banana muffin with honey, bagel with cream cheese and honey. I wanted to cover everything in honey. We have so many jars of it, from last year's farmer's market and from this year's CSA.



Honey Cake (adapted from this recipe):

From the recipe site: "This is an old German recipe. The cake improves with aging, so bake several days ahead."

Ingredients:
- 4 eggs, separated
- 3/4 cups white sugar
- 1 cup honey
- 1/3 cup vegetable oil
- 3 cups all purpose flour
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
- 1/2 teaspoon ground allspice
- 3 teaspoons instant coffee granules
- 1 cup hot water


Directions:
- We had to warm our honey with just-boiled water as it had wintered over and had coagulated.
- Mix coffee in hot water, then cool.
- In a large bowl, beat the yolks with the sugar until creamy. Add the oil and then the honey, beating after each addition. Beat until the mixture is smooth and creamy.
- Sift and then measure three cups of flour. Combine with salt, baking powder, baking soda, and spices. Add these dry ingredients alternately with the coffee to the honey mixture, stirring only until blended. Do not overmix.
- Whip egg whites until stiff. Fold in three additions into the batter. Pour into two greased eight inch square pans.
- Bake at 325 degrees F (165 degrees C) for 35 to 40 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean.


I love baking cakes from scratch, though it doesn't happen as often as I'd like. This, I'm not so sure I would call cake. It was too heavy for that. And I understand why frosting was not added to the recipe; instead, we had it with whipped cream first, then apple pie filling. I'm thinking it might be better to look at this as a sweet bread and try it with nuts baked into it, as one might with banana bread, and then eat it with cream cheese. (I'm thrilled to add cream cheese to things--maybe even more than adding honey.)