In search of a honey cake recipe

[spinbaby]

About forty years ago, I had a honey cake recipe I used to make for my kids. It had no sweeter besides honey, used whole wheat flour, and baked up in a square 9" pan to make a very moist, slightly sticky cake. I lost the recipe and have been trying to recreate it with no luck so far. I’ve been mostly trying gingerbread recipes using honey and whole-wheat flour and getting very dry results. Any suggestions welcome.

[viva la]

1. I had this very old English honey cake in a teashop--

in Lacock (one of the filming sites for Hogwarts!).
https://www.theenglishkitchen.co/2016/04/17th-century-honey-cake.html

It might be a bit 'crumbier" than you want.

[spinbaby]

3. Interesting, but not it

This cake had a lot of honey and no table sugar whatsoever. It also had spices, which I remember as vaguely gingerbread spices.

[fierywoman]

2. Have you tried google-ing "recipe honey cake whole wheat flour" ?

I find AMAZING recipes that way.

[spinbaby]

4. Yeah

And have tried several. No luck so far.

On edit, the King Arthur recipe was closest. I may try tweaking it.

[lillypaddle]

5. here ya go

The first link had a 5 star rating.

https://www.tasteofhome.com/recipes/rustic-honey-cake/

https://allwaysdelicious.com/rosh-hashanah-honey-cake/

[Marthe48]

6. I did a quick search through my vintage cookbooks

not all of them, but the ones likely to have a recipe like that. No luck. Hope one of the suggestions in the replies work for you.

You might try asking beekeepers in your area, or the extension agent.

[spinbaby]

7. I think I got it

After some fiddling with recipes, I came up with what I would consider to be an acceptable honey cake that’s all whole wheat and is not sawdust dry. The secret is oil instead of butter. Here’s how I did it:

Sift together:
2 cups whole wheat flour
2 teaspoons ground ginger
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon cloves
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
Pinch of salt

Whisk together:
1 cup olive oil ( light, not extra virgin)
1 cup honey
4 eggs
1/ 4 cup plain yogurt

Mix the dry and wet ingredients, dump into a 9-inch square pan, and bake at 325 for an hour.

[Marthe48]

8. Great job!

Here's to kitchen experimenting that leads to a good solution