Chocolate Honey Cake with Honey Glaze

I LOVE THIS CAKE! The bees would be proud to know that their honey was used to make this. It almost reminds me of a brownie. And who doesn’t LOVE brownies?

I just purchased a large amount of honey from a farm - 3lbs to be exact. I decided that I needed to make a cake with some of it and came across a recipe for a Honey Bee cake by Nigella Lawson.

My only complaint (and I rarely complain about such a thing) is that the recipe made too much glaze. I would say you could probably glaze 4 cakes with it! I glazed my one cake and put the rest in the fridge. I haven’t checked on it yet but I’m hoping it’ll firm up so we can use it as a dip for fruit. When I made the glaze it seemed a bit thin so I added more confectioners sugar than was called for in the recipe. I would recommend only making half a batch of glaze.

Since Valentine ’s Day is coming up, I decided to sprinkle it with little hearts instead of bees. I’m also planning to make this cake next week for Valentine ’s Day since we’re putting together a sweet table at work.

Chocolate Honey Cake with Honey Glaze

Adapted from Nigella Lawson

Ingredients

For the Cake

• 4 ounces semisweet chocolate, chopped
• 1 1/3 cups brown sugar, not packed
• 1 cup butter, softened
• 1/2 cup liquid honey
• 2 eggs
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 tablespoon unsweetened cocoa
• 1 cup boiling water

For the Honey Glaze

• 1/4 cup water
• 1/2 cup liquid honey
• 6 oz semisweet chocolate, chopped
• 1 cup confectioners' sugar

Directions

1. For the cake, Preheat the oven to 350F. Grease and flour a spring form pan.
2. Take the first 4oz of chocolate and melt it in the microwave. Mine took about 60 seconds. Let it cool for a few minutes.
3. Beat the sugar and butter for about 2 minutes then add the honey and beat again until well combined. Mine didn't get fluffy. I probably didn't beat it long enough. I had no patience.
4. Beat in the eggs just for a few seconds until combined, then the chocolate and vanilla. The recipe said to combine each egg with a spoon of flour then beat it in. I've never heard of such a thing. I just put the eggs in as they were.
5. Sift in the flour, baking soda and cocoa. I started using a spatula at this point. Mix until well combined. It will be thick. Add the boiling water. I switched to a whisk for this. You could do both of these steps with your electric mixer, but I didn't feel like having flour and water go flying everywhere. Stir it until everything is smooth and combined. Now the batter will be thin.
6. Pour the mixture into your prepared pan and bake for 40 minutes or until a tester comes out clean.
7. For the glaze, combine the water and honey in a small pot and bring up to a simmer.
8. Turn off the heat and stir in the remaining chocolate until melted. Whisk in the sugar.
9. Again, you're supposed to let the glaze cool before putting it on the cake. I just let it sit for a few minutes and poured it on. We let it sit for a few minutes after glazing, too. I put it outside in the cold thinking it might cool faster. It was still warm inside when we ate it. We just couldn't wait any longer! Yum yum!

Linking To Gooseberry Patch Valentine's Recipe Round-up