Honey Cake

I have some news concerning my blog format (for all 5 of my faithful subscribers).  I have decided to expand the content that I discuss here and make a more consistent effort to share my mad culinary skills.  I will now post twice a week – every Tuesday and Friday.  Fridays will be to highlight desserts (both my own and linking you to other amazing desserts I find throughout the week.  Tuesdays will be for discussing general food/cooking.  I will share recipes and tips on my favorite dishes (because if I am being honest I have spent way more time perfecting my stuffed pepper recipe than I have on my honey cake).

Speaking of honey cake…

Did you know that it is pretty much impossible to make gluten-free phyllo dough?  I found recipe attempts online for creating the paper-thin sheets of crispy baked goodness…but the fact is you NEED gluten to form the dough.  Long strands of gluten are formed in the dough which are stretched thinner and thinner until the sheets are as thin as tissue paper.

Why is this relevant to honey cake?

I have four friends here in California (actually, I have more than four friends, but right now I am just referring to a specific four) and we like to get together for potlucks.  These are basically an excuse for us all to gather at someone’s house, drink half a dozen bottles of wine, and play Dance Central.  Our last potluck was “greek” themed food.  Of course I immediately thought of baklava!  However, two of my friends can’t have gluten; hence the search for gluten-free phyllo dough that ended in bitter disappointment.

So I bought regular phyllo dough and made little apple pies for me and my husband.  But this isn’t about little triangles of crispy apple deliciousness, it’s about honey cake.

I considered making a dessert with figs, but the fresh ones weren’t in the grocery stores yet (all fruit should be available at all times of year in California, but apparently the grocery store disagrees).

And so, Honey Cake was born!  This is a very sweet dessert and easy to make.  I made it gluten free by simply substituting an all-purpose gluten free flour mix for the regular flour.

Other notable desserts found on the web this week include:
Seven Sins Chocolate Cake from Sprinkle Bakes
Clean Eating Strawberry Scones from Sugar Free Mom
Fun and Easy Treats for Memorial Day from Confessions of a Cookbook Queen (including a delicious looking Cherry Limeade Pie in a Jar!)

Honey Cake
Adapted from Allrecipes.com
Makes 16 pieces

• 1 cup flour
• 1 ½ tsp baking powder
• ¼ tsp cinnamon
• 1 tsp orange zest
• ¾ cup butter
• ¾ cup white sugar
• 3 eggs
• ¼ cup milk

• ½ cup honey
• ⅓ cup water
• 1 tsp lemon juice

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).  Grease and flour a 9 or 8 inch square pan.
2. Combine the flour, baking powder, cinnamon, and orange zest.
3. In a large bowl, cream together the butter and sugar until light and fluffy.  Beat in the eggs, one at a time.  Alternately add the flour mixture and milk (start and end with flour).  Mix until just incorporated.
4. Pour the batter into your pan and bake for 40 minutes (or until toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.  Allow to cool for 15 minutes.
5. In a small saucepan, combine honey and water.  Bring to a simmer and cook for 5 minutes.  Stir in the lemon juice and simmer 2 minutes more (it will have the consistency of a thin syrup).
6. Cut the cake into small triangles (quarter the cake and then cut each square diagonally into four triangles to make 16 total pieces).  Pour the honey syrup over the cake.

*The cake is best served warm or at room temperature.  The more the cake sits, the more it will soak up the syrup!