The Cake Slice : Honey Bee Cake

I'm finally blogging again and the Cake Slice group was so nice to keep me in after such a long iatus.  Here is my first recipe from the new book 'Vintage Cakes' by Julie Richardson .

This month the recipe is from the Every day section. It's a simple cake to prepare and was very fast to disappear ! I actually baked another one the next day seeing how sad my honey loving husband was while eating the last slice...

I made it using corn's kernel organic oil instead of  butter  and soy milk with lemon juice instead of buttermilk in the cake but made the glaze with butter. I really loved the smooth crumb and the honey smell.

RECIPE

from Vintage Cakes

Cake:
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)

Glaze:
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" cake pan (round or springform) 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 (or just in a large bowl) 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. If the cake cracks on the surface while baking, that's ok. It will just soak up more glaze 

- While the cake is baking, make the glaze. 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 top of the cake 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 (still at 350) 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 (not the serving plate), and turn from that plate back right side up onto your serving plate.