One of my favorite things about the library — and oh! how I love the library! — is the cookbook aisle. I try to control myself when it comes to buying cookbooks, but there’s no need to do that at the library. So my modus operandi there is usually to check out ALL THE BOOKS, flip through them at my leisure and then take them back to the library. It usually follows those steps exactly, too; I hardly ever actually make anything from the library’s cookbooks.
Last week, though, I brought “Vintage Cakes” by Julie Richardson home after the perfectly pink frosted cake on the front called out to me. The book is chock-full of exceptionally tasty looking cakes — Texas sheet cake, a chocolate macaroon cake, double-dip caramel cake — but the one I couldn’t bear not to try was the Honey Bee Cake.
The Honey Bee recipe, Richardson says, originated in the ’50s in the Procter & Gamble Bakery Research Department. The cake has a beautiful texture with a moist, dense crumb. Honey is used to sweeten the batter, and its also poured over the cake in the form of a glaze. That’s a lot of honey flavor, so make sure you choose a quality one when you make this. The Honey Bee Cake is best served just a bit warm with a glass of cold milk.
- 2 1/4 cups all purpose flour
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 3/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons unsalted butter (at room temperature)
- 3/4 cup sugar
- 1/3 cup honey
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 2 eggs plus 1 egg yolk (at room temperature)
- 3/4 cup buttermilk (at room temperature)
- 1/2 cup honey
- 1/4 cup packed light brown sugar
- 1/4 cup unsalted butter
- heaping 1/2 cup sliced almonds, toasted
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Grease a 9-inch springform pan and line the bottom with a circle of parchment paper or wax paper.
- In a bowl, sift together the flour, baking powder and salt, then whisk the ingredients by hand to ensure they are well mixed.
- In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, combine the butter, sugar, honey and vanilla on low speed until blended. Increase the speed to high and mix until very light and fluffy, 5 to 7 minutes. Stop and scrape the bowl down often.
- Blend in the eggs and egg yolk one at a time, adding the next one as soon as the previous one has disappeared into the batter.
- With the mixer on low speed, add the flour mixture in three parts, alternating with the buttermilk in two parts, beginning and ending with the flour. After each addition, mix until just barely blended and stop and scrape the bowl. Stop the mixer before the last of the flour has been incorporated and complete the blending by hand with a rubber spatula to ensure you do not over beat the batter.
- Spread the thick batter evenly into the prepared pan. Rap the pan firmly on the counter to release any air bubbles. Place the pan in the center of the over and bake for 45 minutes. The cake will turn a deep golden color and be firm on top, and a wooden skewer inserted in the middle will have moist crumbs attached.
- Make the glaze while the cake is baking. Add the honey, sugar and butter to a small saucepan and heat over medium heat until combined. Bring the mixture just barely to a simmer. Turn off the heat but leave the saucepan on the burner to keep warm.
- When the cake is done, remove it from the oven and poke holes all over the its top with a skewer. Pour half of the glaze over the cake, evenly sprinkle the almonds over the cake, then pour the rest of the glaze over the almonds. Place the pan back in the oven for 5 more minutes. Cool the cake on a wire rack for about an hour. Then turn the cake upside down onto a plate to remove it from the pan and turn from that plate back right-side-up onto your serving plate.
Hi Nichole! I made my way here via Hollywood Housewife. I noticed you replied to my reply. LOL! … By the way, your cake recipe made my mouth water! 🙂