Honey Cake Recipe

This honey cake recipe is made with real honey and only needs ONE bowl! This is a very moist cake but is stable enough for use in a layer cake, bundt cake, or shaped cake pan.

Course Dessert

Cuisine American

Prep Time 5

Cook Time 45

Chilling Time 2

Total Time 2 50

Servings servings

Calories 408kcal

Author Elizabeth Marek

Equipment

1 Stand mixer with paddle attachment
1 6" bundt cake pan

Ingredients

Honey Cake

8 ounces buttermilk slightly warm
2 large eggs slightly warm
4 ounces unsalted butter melted, not hot
2 ounces vegetable oil or canola
2 ounces coffee slightly warm
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
0.5 teaspoons almond extract
2 ounces wild flower honey
15 ounces all-purpose flour
6 ounces brown sugar sifted to remove lumps
1.5 teaspoons baking soda
1.5 teaspoons salt
1.5 teaspoons ground cinnamon

Honey Orange Glaze

8 ounces sifted powdered sugar
2 Tablespoos orange juice
1 teaspoon honey
2 drops white food coloring

US Customary - Metric

Instructions

Honey Cake

Preheat the oven to 335°F (170°C) and grease a bundt pan with cake goop or your preferred pan release. Don't forget about the center and sides of the pan! You can use a loaf pan or cake pan if you prefer, just adjust your baking time.
Pour the buttermilk, eggs, melted butter, oil, coffee, vanilla extract, almond extract, and honey into a large measuring cup and whisk to combine.
Place a fine mesh strainer over the bowl of your stand mixer and sift the brown sugar to remove the lumps. There might be a few fine crumbs that you need to remove. This will ensure that there are no clumps of brown sugar in the batter.
Add the flour, baking soda, salt, and cinnamon to the brown sugar in the bowl of your stand mixer with the paddle attachment and mix for a few seconds to combine. You can also use an electric hand mixer or a whisk.
Slowly pour the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients while mixing on medium speed until the batter is just combined.
Pour the cake batter into the prepared pan and fill it up ⅔ of the way full. If your bundt pan doesn't have handles, place it on a baking sheet.
Bake the cake in the oven for 45-50 minutes or until it is golden brown and a toothpick comes out clean.
Rest the cake in the pan for 15 minutes and cut off the top so that it’s level with the pan. Save it for snacking!
Place a wire rack on top and flip the cool cake upside down then remove the pan. Cool the cake for about 2 hours before adding the glaze.

Making the Honey Glaze

Combine the powdered sugar, melted butter, orange juice, and honey in a large bowl with a whisk. Add a little bit of orange zest if you like a brighter flavor.
To make the glaze more opaque, add a few drops of white food coloring and mix it together.
Place the cake on a wire rack and drizzle the glaze on top of the cake and let it drip down the sides.
Decorate the cake with some fresh flowers, honey, and gold leaf, or leave it plain. This cake is best served immediately but can be refrigerated and covered in plastic wrap for up to 3 days.

Notes

This honey cake recipe comes together very quickly but does need to cool for at least 2 hours after baking, so you want to plan ahead.
Bring all your ingredients to room temperature or even a little warm (eggs, buttermilk, butter, etc) to ensure your batter does not break or curdle.
Use a scale to weigh your ingredients (including liquids) unless otherwise instructed (Tablespoons, teaspoons, pinch etc). Metric measurements are available in the recipe card. Scaled ingredients are much more accurate than using cups and help ensure the success of your recipe.
Practice Mise en Place (everything in it's place). Measure out your ingredients ahead of time and have them ready before you start mixing to reduce the chances of accidentally leaving something out.
If you do not have buttermilk to make the cake, you can use one of my buttermilk substitutes.
I like using wildflower honey or raw unfiltered honey for the richest flavor.
You can use warm water if you don’t want to use coffee.

Nutrition