"She looketh well to the ways of her household, and eateth not the bread of idleness." Proverbs 31:27

Monday, January 24, 2011

Honey Spice Cake

I found a really good recipe in the Bob's Red Mill Baking Book, I would definitely recommend it to anyone who likes baking with whole grains.  As a rule, I am not a fan of cakes made with whole wheat flour, but sometimes I come a cross a really good recipe.  I came across a spice cake recipe in there that calls for three different kinds of flour, but I did not have two of the flours.  It also has two sugars, but I swapped it out for a healthier sugar, and substituted cloves for the nutmeg.  So I guess I can probably call it my own recipe now, can't I?  You can use all whole wheat, whole wheat pastry flour or all white flour if you prefer, but since I have not tested those I cannot guarantee how it will come out.  This cake was very sweet and moist.  I hope you enjoy it as much as my friends and I did!

Please note, I went to bake the cake this morning for a friend, and after I had it all mixed up, I realized I wrote down the recipe for 2 cakes not one, so if you are only making one cake, I would recommend halfing the recipe.

Honey Spice Cake (My version)
makes one 1/4 sheet cake, or 9x13, or double 9 inch round
2 cups organic hard white wheat flour
1 1/2 cups organic unbleached all purpose white flour
1/2 cup organic whole wheat pastry flour
5 teaspoons baking powder
2 teaspoons ground allspice
2 teaspoons cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
1 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons vanilla
1 1/2 cups plus 2 tablespoons milk
3 sticks unsalted butter, softened (it's important to use unsalted to control the salt content of your cake)
3 cups thot not sugar (ground palm sugar, regular palm sugar will work but will make a denser cake)
4 eggs
2/3 cup honey (different honeys will produce stronger or weaker tastes, I used Burleson's honey this time)

Make sure all of your ingredients are at room temperature.  Preheat the oven to 350°F.  Grease and flour your pan or line it with parchment paper.
Sift together the flours, baking powder, spices, and salt.  Then stir together with a whisk to ensure even mixing of the spices.  Combine the milk and vanilla together.
Cream the butter with the sugars until light, about 3 minutes.  Beat in the eggs one at a time until incorporated, then beat in the honey, scraping down the sides of the bowl as necessary.  Whisk half of the flour mixture into the butter then add half of the milk.  Repeat with remaining ingredients to make a smooth batter.
Pour the batter into the prepared pan and bake for 35 minutes or until a tester comes out clean.  Cool in the pan on a wire rack.  Eat as is or frost as desired. 

I did not have any frosting because I had a bad cough the next day when I needed to make the frosting and did not want to make anyone sick.  I took it to church and someone had some extra whipped cream they added to it.

I hope you enjoy it as much as I did!  I need to try to make some tutus for my nieces birthday now, I've never worked with tulle before and I do not have a recipe  I mean pattern!.  I hope it turns out good!
Happy Baking,
Missy

No comments:

"Oh taste and see that the Lord is good: blessed is the man that trusteth in Him." Psalm 34:8