Simple Honey Cake Recipe - Those Someday Goals

This week, I decided to try my hand at a simple honey cake recipe. Honey cake (or “butter cake” as it is sometimes known) has a texture more like banana bread – moist and loaf-like, rather than strictly cake. There are Greek versions of this, Russian versions, and Scandinavian versions that I’ve seen, and probably dozens more that I haven’t. But for my first time out, I wanted to try a simple recipe without many steps and some flexibility on the spices. In the end, we were pleasantly surprised at out much we liked this simple honey cake recipe.

Ingredients simple honey cake recipe baking those someday goals

Simple Honey Cake Ingredients

1 1/4 Cups Enriched All-Purpose White Lily Flour (Note: Any all-purpose should do the trick)

1/2 Teaspoon Salt

1/2 Teaspoon Baking Powder

1/2 Teaspoon Baking Soda

1/4 Teaspoon Nutmeg

1/4 Teaspoon Cinnamon

1 Large Room Temperature Egg

3/4 Cup Dark Brown Sugar

3 Tablespoons Honey (Note: We used Wild Mountain Raw Honey, but you can use whatever brand is your favorite)

3/4 Cup Whole Milk

Recipe Steps

Step 1 Preheat the oven to 300 degrees F.

Step 2 In a mixing bowl, whisk together your dry ingredients: flour, salt, baking powder, baking soda, nutmeg, and cinnamon. Set it aside.

Note: You can also add a ¼ of cloves, allspice, or even pumpkin pie spice if you want to. I stuck with nutmeg and cinnamon because they are my favorites, and nutmeg has a pretty big flavor on its own.

Flour, salt, baking soda, baking powder, spices, whisk simple honey cake recipe baking those someday goals — Whisk and set aside the dry ingredients.

Step 3 In a separate large mixing bowl or stand mixer bowl, beat the egg, brown sugar, honey, and milk until blended. Do not overmix.

Eggs, honey, brown sugar in steel mixing bowl simple honey cake recipe baking those someday goals — Combining the wet ingredients and getting ready to add the milk.

Step 4 Slowly add the dry ingredients to the bowl with the wet ingredients. Stir until combined.

Note: I started doing the mixing in a mixing bowl but moved to the stand mixer for 60 seconds at the end to better blend the flour. In the end, I probably didn’t need to do that, as the flour bakes in even if you see little flour pockets just before baking.

stand mixer in action simple honey cake recipe baking those someday goals — I used a stand mixer in an attempt to more thoroughly incorporate the flour.

Step 5 Pour the batter into a standard loaf pan. We used a non-stick 8.5 x 4.5 x 2.75 inches loaf pan.

mixture ready to bake simple honey cake recipe baking those someday goals — It’s very liquidy when you are putting it into the oven — that’s okay!

Step 6 Place the pan on the middle rack of the oven and bake for 50-55 minutes. Check the middle with a toothpick or knife to ensure it is done.

Cooling in the pan simple honey cake recipe baking those someday goals — Cooling!

Step 7 Cool the honey cake in the pan for at least 15 minutes before slicing and serving.

sliced simple honey cake recipe baking those someday goals — Almost ready to serve!

Serving This Honey Cake

Typically, in Scandinavian countries, this honey cake is toasted and then served with butter. We tried that the following day, and it was delightful. However, Andy suggested serving it with cream cheese, and that sounds perfect. We are definitely doing that tomorrow.

Brainstorm: We decided that adding walnuts to the last 10 minutes or so of the bake would also yield a delightful treat.

Final ready to serve slices on a cheese/bread board simple honey cake recipe baking those someday goals — This simple honey cake recipe produced something very moist — even more so than our banana chocolate chip bread recipe.

Simple Honey Cake Recipe Thoughts

We were surprised how much we liked this, given how little work goes into making this simple honey cake recipe. Next time, I might try adding some different spices, but this was very moist and flavorful, so this could become our go-to recipe.

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