Honingkoek (Dutch Honey Cake)
- Yield: one 9" x 5" cake 1x
Ingredients
Scale
Cake:
- 2 cups + 2 ¾ Tbsp (260g) all-purpose flour
- pinch of salt
- 1 ½ tsp baking powder
- 1 tsp baking soda
- 3 ¼ Tbsp (45g) butter
- 8 Tbsp (170g) Honey Next Door Pure Raw Atlanta Honey
- 2 Tbsp (45g) molasses
- ½ cup (120ml) whole milk
- 2 eggs, lightly beaten
- ¼ cup (60ml) strong black tea
- 4 ¾ Tbsp (55g) turbinado sugar [1]
- 1 tsp fresh ginger, freshly grated
- 2 tsp ground cinnamon
- ½ tsp ground cloves
- ¼ tsp nutmeg, freshly grated
- ¼ tsp ground anise [2]
Optional Topping:
- Lars Own Swedish Pearl Sugar
Instructions
- Heat oven to 320°F. Grease a 9" x 5" loaf pan and line it with parchment paper.
- In a large bowl, whisk together flour, salt, baking powder, and baking soda. Set aside.
- In a medium saucepan, melt butter. Remove from heat.
- In a medium bowl, whisk together honey, molasses, milk, eggs, tea, sugar, and ginger. Temper mixture with a small amount of melted butter. Pour honey mixture into warm saucepan with remaining butter. Add spices, then whisk well.
- Pour wet mixture into the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with paddle attachment. Add half of flour mixture. Mix on low until slightly combined. Add rest of flour mixture. Mix until ingredients just come together. Batter will be a little lumpy and rather loose.
- Pour batter into prepared loaf pan. Sprinkle with pearl sugar, if desired.
- Bake for 43–47 minutes. Cake is done when a wooden pick inserted in the centre comes out clean with only a few fluffy crumbs attached.
- Allow cake to cool for 10 minutes before removing from pan. This cake is fabulous eaten warm and slathered with butter!
Notes
- If you don’t have turbinado sugar, you can use light brown sugar instead.
- If you can’t find ground anise, you can grind anise seeds in a spice grinder or with a mortar and pestle.
- To retain its moisture, honingkoek keeps best wrapped in wax paper and stored in a lidded container.
Slightly adapted from: Eat In My Kitchen
Mia
Hello! I just wanted to say how much I enjoyed making this Honingkoek recipe. The combination of honey, molasses, and spices gives the cake a rich and complex flavor that is absolutely delicious. I also appreciate the use of fresh ginger, as it adds a nice kick to the overall taste. I followed the recipe as written and found that the baking time was spot on for my oven. I did choose to use the optional topping of Lars Own Swedish Pearl Sugar and it added a nice crunch to the top of the cake. This recipe is definitely a keeper and I will be making it again soon.
Thank you for sharing it!
Best,
Arturo
Becky at Fikabröd
Thank you so much for your kind words and your review! I am so glad that you enjoyed this cake ☺️