Earlier this week I shared how Dorothy, The Traveling Swirly Pan came in and out of my life in just ten short days! She and I had some magical moments together in the kitchen. The best of them, was making a Beehive Honey Cake, that I have wanted to make for the past two years!
When my daughter was pregnant with Mini Sous, we had a big family baby shower and I was nervous about the menu (of course, I worry about the food before anything else!) So, I reached out to a my friend Emily to ask for suggestions. Emily sent me a huge list of recipes and ideas! I used several of them, but didn’t get to make her Beehive Honey Cake! The recipe lingered around in the back of my mind, waiting patiently for me to find the time to bake it.
Dorothys arrival was the perfect time!
This pan has lovely swirls which were perfect to highlight the sliced almonds on top of the cake. I wasn’t sure if the almonds would even stay in place once I poured the batter, but I closed my eyes, said a prayer to the cake gods, and went for it! When I asked Emily about the inspiration behind this cake, she said, “… no real story except I was given about a pound of florida honey as a gift and I wanted to celebrate it. Around that time I was looking through a pile of recipes that were scratched on recipe cards (from my friend Sally Brugman…91 year old friend from Mantua, OH)…the recipe was not really legible but it got me thinking I need to look at honeycakes…started playing around and voila.”
Emily and Sally Brugman know what they’re talking about! Plus, don’t you love the nostalgia of old, hand-written recipe cards? This cake came out a glorious medium brown with delicious smells of warm spices and honey wafting up from the pan. I had to wait an agonizing 20 minutes before I could flip the cake over and see if the almonds were still in place.
Twenty minutes is a long time to wait.
A very, very long time.
Then of course, I started to worry the cake would stick or crumble when it came out or…
or…
or…
Pfffff. I shouldn’t have worried.
Isn’t it gorgeous?!? The almonds shifted a little, but not too much. Time to break out my happy dance! This was definitely a recipe and a cake worthy of The Peoplehood of the Traveling Swirly Pan! The Cake Gods must have been listening. Thank you Cake Gods – and thank you Emily for the recipe!
The pretty journal in the background is Toto. It is FULL of stories, pictures and recipes of cakes previously baked in Dorothy. It’s a history book of delicious tales. I’m so happy to add Emily’s recipe to that saga! If you missed it, the Traveling Swirly Pan post is HERE.
The hardest part of baking with this pan is figuring out where to slice it so it would still look pretty! Food bloggers have such weird problems, don’t they? I didn’t want to do it, but since the pan is most definitely NOT a single serve pan, it had to be done. I think it came out as well!
Emily’s Beehive Honey Cake Recipe is slightly sweet with hints of cinnamon, honey and rum. The almonds are a nice crunch to the velvety crumb of the cake. If you don’t have a swirly bundt pan, don’t worry! Any bundt pan will do. The almonds are optional, but if you don’t have allergies or anything else, please don’t skip them. It’s a nice touch!
Emily graciously agreed to let me share her recipe with all of you! This recipe and all the directions are straight from her. She’s rad that way, or should I say Retro Rad?
Emily's Beehive Honey Cake
Ingredients
- 3½ cups all-purpose flour
- 1 tablespoon baking powder
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- ½ teaspoon kosher salt
- 4 teaspoons ground cinnamon
- 1 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice
- 1 cup vegetable oil
- 1 cup honey
- 1½ cups granulated sugar
- ½ cup light brown sugar
- 3 eggs at room temperature
- 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- 1 cup brewed coffee warm
- 1 large orange juiced
- ¼ cup dark rum
- ½ cup slivered or sliced almonds optional
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350°F. Generously grease bundt pan with non-stick cooking spray. Even if your pan is non-stick, still spray!
- In a large bowl (or in the bowl of an electric mixer), whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, and pumpkin pie spice. Make a well in the center and add the oil, honey, white sugar, brown sugar, eggs, vanilla, coffee, orange juice and rum, if using.
- Using a strong wire whisk or with an electric mixer on slow speed, stir together until all ingredients are well-blended, scraping the sides and bottom of the bowl, making sure that no ingredients are stuck to the bottom.
- Sprinkle the almonds into the bottom of the bundt pan and then spoon batter into pan. Place cake pan on a baking sheet.
- Bake until the cake springs back when you gently touch the cake center and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out with just a few moist crumbs, almost clean. For a bundt pan, this will take 60 to 70 minutes.
- Let cake stand fifteen minutes before removing from pan. Serve warm or at room temperature. Leftover cake can be stored at room temperature, covered tightly.
Thank you, Emily! Oh, if you live in Florida, catch Emily at one of her many culinary demos and appearances! Her web-site is: http://www.emilyellyn.com
Till next time, everyone! Happy Baking! <3
