Honey Cake: My Dad's Childhood Favorite

Well, about one month later and I still have a ton of mincemeat left over. Since it is preserved in plenty of alcohol, it was still fine, but it needed to be used up! As much as I enjoy my mincemeat palmiers and mince pies, I thought I would do something a it different...

As a little boy, my dad's favorite dessert was his grandmother's "honey cake." Essentially it was fruit cake, but with a honey flavor. A few years ago, my dad asked me to bake him gingerbread cake since he loves it. I obliged. He took one bite and was over the moon, saying it was the best gingerbread he had ever tasted. It also made him think of his grandmother's honey cake. He asked me to make the cake again, but to somehow make it more honey tasting and to use fruit. Let me also take a moment to say, he has no recipe, so recreating this dessert was completely up to my own ingenuity.

I used my gingerbread cake recipe as a base, to which I then began to manipulate it. I figured, if I need 1/3 cup molasses, why not match it with the same amount of honey? That's exactly what I did. For the fruit, I used a variety of dried fruits. Apparently my great-grandmother used to use candied fruits...something my dad did not love, but still ate.

Anyway, here is my recipe for what I think my great-grandmother's honey cake tasted like. I don't really know, but from what dad says, my cake makes him nostalgic for his youth. He goes crazy for this cake and once he starts eating it, he can't stop!

Ingredients

- 1.5 cups all purpose flour

- 1/4 tsp baking soda

- 1/4 tsp salt

- 1.5 tsp ground ginger

- 1 tsp ground cinnamon

- 1 tsp ground pumpkin spice

- 1 tsp ground allspice

- 1 tsp ground nutmeg

- 1 stick unsalted butter, room temperature

- 1/2 cup packed brown sugar*

- 1 tsp orange zest*

- 1 large egg, beaten

- 1/3 cup cooking molasses

- 1/3 cup honey

- 3/4 cup whole milk

- 1/2 cup raisins*

- 1/2 cup golden raisins*

- 1/2 cup dried cranberries*

- 1/2 cup sliced almonds*

- splash of cointreau, brandy, rum, etc...

*these items are negotiable. Also, you may not even need them if you use mincemeat

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350F.

2. Line a 8x8 in baking pan with parchment paper and butter with extra butter. 

Alternatively, you can prepare two loaf pans.

3. In a medium size bowl, mix the flour, salt, baking soda, and spices together. 

4. In a larger bowl, mix the butter, sugar, and orange zest. Use a hand mixer. 

5. Add the molasses, honey, and egg to the bowl. Mix well.

6. Add half of the dry mix. Mix in. Add half of the milk. Mix well. Add half of the remaining dry mix and the rest of the milk. Add the rest of the dry ingredients. 

7. Add the rest of the ingredients (dry fruit/booze). If you are using mincemeat, just dump that in. 

8. Mix everything well. You are going to have a thick and lumpy consistency, depending on how much stuff you put in. 

9. Pour the batter into the prepared pans. Bake in the oven for about 45-60 minutes. Check cake. Insert a toothpick through the center to see if it is cooked. If it is cooked, if should come out clean. If the center is still liquid, but you are worried about the cake burning, you can loosely cover the cake(s) with aluminum foil. 

Et voila! Honey cake done.