Spiced Vanilla and Honey Cakes

This is the recipe that April Carter of Rhubarb and Rose and I developed which won top prize at the Cafédirect Food and Coffee Matching Event last week. Over the weekend, I doubled the ingredients and made the recipe as a bundt cake.

It’s such a quick recipe to make, and I was really pleased with the results. I served it to friends with a coffee on Sunday afternoon and it tasted wonderful. The leftover cake went into my covered cake dish on the side, and we ate it over the next couple of days. The flavour actually seemed to improve with age and when we finished it on Wednesday, it was still moist and fresh. To make the larger, bundt cake version, double the recipe below.

Spiced Vanilla and Honey Cakes

Adapted from Smitten Kitten’s Majestic and Moist Honey Cake
Makes 10 – 12 muffin sized cakes, 6 mini cakes, 1 loaf cake or 1- 8” round cake
Double the recipe to make a bundt cake

For the cakes:

1¾ cups plain (all-purpose) flour
½ teaspoon baking powder
½ teaspoon bicarbonate of soda (baking soda)
¼ teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons mixed spice (plus extra for decoration)
1 vanilla pod (seeds only)
¾ cups golden caster sugar
¼ cup brown sugar
½ cup vegetable oil
½  cup clear honey
2 medium eggs at room temperature
(if you are doubling the recipe, just use 3 eggs)
½ cup warm coffee (preferably Cafédirect Mayan Palenque)
¼ cup orange juice
2 tablespoons whiskey

For the glaze:

1 cup icing sugar
1 tbsp clear honey
1 tbsp water

Preheat oven to 350℉ (about 170℃ for fan ovens) and generously grease and flour a 12 hole muffin tin, a loaf tin, or an 8” round tin. To make a larger bundt cake, or a two layer cake, double the recipe and grease and flour the larger pan(s).

In a large bowl, stir together the flour, sugars, baking powder, bicarbonate of soda, salt, vanilla and mixed spice. Set aside.

In another bowl, whisk together the remaining ingredients.

Make a well in the centre of the flour mixture and using a strong wire whisk or in an electric mixer on slow speed, stir together well to make a thick, well-blended batter.

Spoon the batter into the muffin cups or cake pan(s) and bake for 20 to 25 minutes or until an inserted skewer comes out clean. (Loaf or round cakes will take longer; the doubled recipe in the larger bundt cake pan took about 50 minutes in my fan oven).

Remove the cake(s) from the oven and allow to cool for 15 to 20 minutes before removing from the baking pans and cooling on a wire rack.

For the glaze, whisk together the icing sugar honey and water and drizzle over your cooled cake(s). If you prefer flat topped small cakes, level off the tops and serve them upside-down. It’s best to glaze the cakes on a wire rack with some greaseproof paper underneath so that excess icing doesn’t collect on the serving plate. Sprinkle some mixed spice on top of the glaze to decorate.