Iced Honey and Spice Cake
/
This charming bee made it to the Missouri State Beekeepers Association fall cooking contest. (Photo by Charlotte Ekker Wiggins)
Iced Honey and Spice Cake
Doesn’t the little cake topper bee look like she’s looking at us? This was Gina Draker’s latest entry in the Missouri State Beekeepers Association fall 2019 cooking contest.
Gina is my bee buddy David’s lovely wife. She loves to cook and is VERY good at it. It took David a year to convince her to enter the cooking with honey contest and its good she did, she won two first prizes that first year.
Making the cake is only half the challenge, it then has to be carefully transported to the venue, unscathed. The cooking contest is held in conjunction with an annual beekeeping conference, stiff competition some years.
David Draker, and the Iced Honey and Spice Cake entry, safely in Moberly. (Photo by Charlotte Ekker Wiggins)
Once in Moberly, David said he texted his wife the cake made it safely. And he added so did he, just in case she was wondering.
Here is the recipe, translated into ounces.
Iced Honey and Spice Cake Recipe
Ingredients
1 cup flour
1 level teaspoon ground ginger
1 level teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
2/3 cups *caster (or regular) sugar
3 1/2 tablespoons honey
1 level teaspoon baking soda
2/3 cup mixed candied peel, finely chopped
1 stick butter
1 large egg, slightly beaten
Zest of 1 small orange and 1 small lemon
For the Icing:
1 1/2 cups fondant icing sugar, sifted (confectioner’s sugar)
1-4 teaspoons lemon juice
8 pieces crystallised ginger
Equipment:
One 8” round loose-based cake pan, base lined and lightly buttered.
*Caster sugar is between regular sugar and powdered sugar. You can make it in a blender by blending regular sugar for about a minute. Or you can substitute regular cane sugar, which will make the dough just a little more dense,
To Make Iced Honey and Spice Cake:
Place small bowl in saucepan containing barely simmering water. Warm the honey until well, warm.
Sift flour and spices in large mixing bowl; add sugar, orange and lemon zest. Add butter in small pieces, using fingertips to rub butter lightly into flour until mixture becomes crumbly. Lightly mix in beaten egg using a large fork followed by warm honey.
In a small bowl mix the soda with 3 tablespoons of cold water; stir until dissolved, then add it to the cake mixture and beat, quite hard, until the mixture is smooth and soft. Stir in the mixed peel and spoon the mixture into prepared tins, spreading it out evenly.
Bake the cake near the oven center for 30-40 minutes at 325F or until well-risen and springy to touch.
Cool for 10 minutes, then turn it out onto a wire rack to get quite cold.
Sift the icing sugar into a bowl. Add lemon juice gradually, stirring well with a wooden spoon until the mixture coats the back of the spoon. Pour the icing all over the cake, letting it run down lightly at the sides.
Decorate the top with the pieces of ginger. Store in a tin until needed, or a cake plate will work as well.
Finally safely at its destination and ready for judging. (Photo by Charlotte Ekker Wiggins)
The Iced Honey and Spice Cake did not win this year but it was a winner in the heart of those of us who tasted it. Gina was kind enough to make another one for one of our bee club meetings and all the attending beekeepers deemed it a winner.
I can see making this into muffin-shaped cupcakes and enjoying with a cup of tea!
