A traybake with attitude, this iced honey spice cake is warming, sticky and flavoursome. The lemon icing on top is a good foil for the sweet honey and spices. It’s easy to make and perfect for parties, potlucks and the colder months of the year.
What do you do with the letter I for goodness sake? This is the letter we are all to use for Alpha Bakes this month. Well there is icing of course, but that seems a bit of a cheat. Luckily Delia came to my rescue.
I’m doing a mammoth bake today (and yesterday) for a friend’s 60th birthday party. I was looking for a range of bakes with different colours and textures that could be picked up with one hand and eaten with minimum fuss and mess.
Leafing through my newest cookbook, Delia’s Cakes, for inspiration, I came across her Iced Honey & Spice Cake. Perfect: a spicy dark cake would make an excellent addition to the birthday feast and it was an official “I” for iced because Delia said so.
Iced Honey Spice Cake
Honey always gives cake such a lovely moist and slightly sticky quality. It also gives it a delicious flavour – assuming you like honey of course. Mention honey cake and I’m in.
Not so long ago, the New Zealand Honey Co sent me some honey to try. This iced honey spice cake seemed like just the right bake to showcase its distinctive oaky flavour.
I upped the quantities of Delia’s recipe, changed the method and added cocoa. Chilli, I reckoned, would be a good bet too. It gives additional interest and a bit of warmth. But mostly I wanted to use it because that is the choice for One Ingredient this month.
I had to try it, of course. So I cut a tiny sliver off, before slicing it up, which I shared with CT. It tasted like a good spice cake should do with a little hint of chilli to liven things up. We both thought the honey gave it a distinctive and unexpected flavour which lingered on the palate; CT likened it to whisky and was all in favour.
Cornish Organic Eggs
Fortuitously, this big baking session coincided with being given two dozen local organic eggs to try. I was very pleased to have this opportunity. Since losing both our organic shop and our shop selling local Cornish produce last year, I have been struggling to source the ingredients I used to use.
I’m still lucky enough to get local duck eggs at our weekly Country Produce Market, but they are not organic.
Penbugle Farm produces organic hens eggs to Soil Association standards and they are only three miles down the road from Liskeard – hooray! I’ve written all about the farm and the eggs in this Breakfast Bites post.
Other Honey Cakes You Might Like
- Ginger & pear honey cakes
- Grapefruit & honey almond cake
- Honey apple cakes
- Honey madeleines
- Lavender honey cake with lemon & honey cream cheese icing
- Rhubarb honey cakes
Keep in Touch
Thanks for visiting Tin and Thyme. If you make this iced honey spiced traybake, I’d love to hear about it in the comments below. And do please rate the recipe. Have you any top tips? Do share photos on social media too and use the hashtag #tinandthyme, so I can spot them.
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Choclette x
Iced Honey Spice Cake. PIN IT.
Iced Honey Spice Cake
Ingredients
- 100 g honey (I used NZ Beech Forest Honeydew)
- 140 g unsalted butter
- 275 g flour (half wholemeal spelt, half white)
- 25 g cocoa powder
- ½ tsp ground cayenne pepper
- 1½ tsp ground ginger
- 1½ tsp ground cinnamon
- ¼ tsp ground cloves
- 100 g golden caster sugar
- 1 small lemon
- 1 small orange
- 40 g marmalade
- 1 ½ tsp bicarbonate of soda (baking soda)
- 4 tbsp water
- 2 medium eggs (preferably organic)
Icing
- 150 g icing sugar
- 1 tbsp lemon juice
- 16 pieces crystallised ginger
Instructions
- Melt the honey in a small pan with the butter over a gentle heat. Leave to cool a little.100 g honey, 140 g unsalted butter
- Sieve the flours into a bowl along with the cocoa and spices.275 g flour, 25 g cocoa powder, ½ tsp ground cayenne pepper, 1½ tsp ground ginger, 1½ tsp ground cinnamon, ¼ tsp ground cloves
- Stir in the sugar.100 g golden caster sugar
- Grate in the lemon and orange zests.1 small lemon, 1 small orange
- Chop up any chunky strands of marmalade and stir it into the flour to coat.40 g marmalade
- In a small glass or cup, mix the bicarbonate of soda with the water.1 ½ tsp bicarbonate of soda (baking soda), 4 tbsp water
- Make a well in the centre of the flour and add the eggs, honey and butter.2 medium eggs
- Mix from the centre outwards, adding the water at the end.
- Spoon into a greased 23 cm sq (9") cake mould or lined tin and bake at 180℃ (160℃ fan, 350℉, Gas 4) for 35 minutes or until the cake is well risen and firm to the touch.
- Allow to cool completely, then turn out onto a board.
Icing
- Sift the icing sugar into a bowl and add just enough lemon juice to make a very slightly runny icing.150 g icing sugar, 1 tbsp lemon juice
- Spread this over the top of the cooled cake.
- Place the crystallised ginger over the top then leave to set.16 pieces crystallised ginger
- Cut into 16 squares.
Notes
Nutrition Estimate
Sharing
I is for Iced Honey Spice Cake. Alpha Bakes is a monthly challenge, hosted alternately by Caroline of Caroline Makes and Ros of The More Than Occasional Baker.
I’m a big fan of chilli and as Laura chose this as the theme for One Ingredient this month, I just had to enter. I was hoping to do a specific chilli bake; chilli and chocolate are just such a great pairing. But time is against me, so I’m hoping the addition of chilli to this iced honey spice cake will suffice. I am certain sure, it’s an improvement. This monthly challenge is hosted alternately by Laura of How to Cook Good Food and Nazima of Franglais Kitchen.
Isabella says
Anything with ginger in and I am there! These look so delicious, can’t wait to make them, yum!
Choclette says
Thanks Isabella. I adore ginger too, especially with chocolate 😉
Ananda Rajashekar says
Hello choclette its good to hop in after ages, the cake with spice and honey combination sounds wonderful….infact i have dreaming of something different to try , which also should give feel of warmth, can’t be any better than this cake…loved the 2nd picture…they way you have stacked it is gorgeous 🙂
Laura Loves Cakes says
What lovely little squares…these look perfect and I love the sound of that combination of honey, spice, chocolate and icing!!! Yum! 🙂
Caroline says
Looks lovely, thanks for entering Alphabakes!
snowy says
Love spicy cakes, and these look delicious.
Dee Johnson says
Yummy they look lovely. Im sure my lot would polish them off no bother
Jo says
As much as everyone is moaning about the cold snowy weather at the moment, at least it gives us the chance to hold on to wintery spice flavours in baking a little longer! Love the sound of chocolate with all the spices although I’m a bit of a wimp and would avoid the chilli. By the way I tried your passionfruit cake recipe from the Clandestine Cake Club book and thought it was absolutely brilliant.
Susan says
Lovely recipe, have tons of honey to use up and free range duck eggs so this will do nicely thank you. x
Charlotte Charlotte'sKitchenDiary says
These cake slices look so good Choclette. I love the sound of the flavours you’ve used. I am very lucky and have my eggs delivered weekly from a local farm – you can’t been fresh local eggs!
Alida says
Yummy! I love honey too! In fact I am addicted to it and I use it in most hot drinks instead of sugar.
I have never made a spicy cake before and this post is quite inspiring. Very nice Choclette.
Katharine says
Looks lovely, comfortingly traditional but then with the spices and chilli to surprise when you actually eat it and all set off to perfection with a light lemony icing – gorgeous!
The Caked Crusader says
I love the combination of chocolate and spice – there is always something so tempting about traybakes!
Gloria Baker says
Look delicious!!!
thelittleloaf says
I love these kind of simple iced slices and honey is a favourite in baking. Gorgeous.
belleau kitchen says
What wonderful pictures. These remind me of an old school fete. I can just taste that icing and the sweetness it adds to the crumbly cake underneath. Glorious! And a great i bake too.
Jean says
It looks lovely, kind of old fashioned and simple but with complex modern flavours.
Susie @ Fold in the Flour says
These do look wonderful and the flavour combination sounds lovely. Have never tried chili in a chocolate bake before but it certainly sounds intriguing! 🙂
Phil in the Kitchen says
That reminds me of some of the cakes I ate when I was just a little thing – although they didn’t have chilli in them. They sound really lovely.
laura@howtocookgoodfood says
I am all for adapting recipes and your choice of flavourings are so perfect. Spices with honey, ginger and chilli in the form of cayenne is fine by me. I have been impressed by the list of cakes you have made for this party and inly wish I could be there to sneak a few slices for myself! Have a great time at the party!
Thanks for entering One Ingredient this month. I think we all need a bit of hilli heat considering the amount of snow that has just fallen today x
Katie says
I’ve seen this cake in her books too and often wondered what it was like. Your alterations sound delicious! Great idea to use chili instead of ginger to add a warming spicey note. Just what we need at the moment with all this snow!
Jacqueline Meldrum says
That sounds and looks wonderful Choclette. I haven’t made a cake like this in such a long time.
Hope you had fun at the party.