HONEY CAKE

                                            Remembering is easy, it's forgetting that's hard.- Brodi Ashton

Standing behind the iron railed balcony, I would look at the clock to turn 3.45 p.m. My aunt's office bus would drop her off at the end of the road. I could see her walk from the corner, a little tired but glad to get home. For a 9 year old that was a long 3 minutes to wait.  The moment she reached within eyesight, all I was interested in was if she had a plastic bag in her hands.  If she did, I could not contain my happiness.  I knew what she got for us.  It would either be the Apple cake or Honey cake. After patiently waiting for her to serve it to us, it was so hard not to eat the cake fast. I would take small bites, slowing down as I get to the bottom of the cake, which, by the way, was the best. It was juicy, coconutty, sweet and heavenly.

When I think of this cake, I can feel the taste and my mouth waters immediately.

This was way way back then..feels like yesterday. Fast forward and my boy shares the same passion for this cake as I do. He wishes for this cake to be a'surprise' family birthday cake every year. I guess, he secretly doesn't want to share it with anyone(can't blame him)..:)

This was quite a popular cake in Bangalore(Southern part of India), which is known as the Iyengar Bakery Honey Cake.

What's a girl to do when she craves this in the middle of the day now...now that she is way way way away from home town. Of course GOOGLE it and get to the bottom of the recipe, which I did. I've probably made this 17 times in the last few years.  It's special.

It almost tastes the same and an absolute favorite among friends too.  You have to try it, if you love honey and coconut, this might be something you will fall in love with. I Love my Honey, coconut and this cake.

This version is quite different compared to the Jewish HONEY CAKE which is quite popular here.
It's a sponge cake doused  with orange, honey, cardamom syrup. The cake sits with the sweet syrup on top, slowly getting soaked in.  The more it soaks, the better it gets.  Perfect for potlucks, make it the previous day and take it to a friend place, scoop it or cut it, it's good anyway. 

ENJOY YOUR LONG WEEKEND!!

Yes, I haven't forgotten.  Thanks a lot for commenting on my 50th post and the winner of the giveaway is VEGAN MIAM. Congrats and thanks again for showing me some love, love you back.

HONEY CAKE
(sponge cake drowned with honey,orange and cardamom syrup)

Ingredients:

For the cake:
2 cups all purpose flour
1 tbsp baking powder
pinch of salt
4 large eggs
2 sticks butter
1 cup granulated sugar
4 tbsp of milk
1 tsp vanilla extract

For the syrup:
1 1/2 water
1 cup orange honey
1 cup coconut powder
1/4 cup fresh squeezed orange juice
1/2 tsp fresh cardamom powder
a pinch of red color if you want

Method:
1. In a pan on medium flame add all the ingredients for the SYRUP except the cardamom and boil for 10 minutes.  Take off the stove and add the cardamom powder, let cool.
2. Preheat oven to 325 degrees.
3. In a mixing bowl, whip the butter till light and fluffy. Add sugar 1/4 cup at a time and beat well.
4. Add one egg at a time along with vanilla extract and beat well.
5. Mix the dry ingredients well.  Fold it in the butter mixture and do not over mix.
6. Bake the cake in a 8" casserole dish or a baking pan anywhere from 40-50 minutes depending on how your oven works.  Mine took 50 minutes.  Check with a skewer.
7. Let cool the cake for 20 minutes.
8.  Pierce the cake with wooden toothpick randomly and drown it with the beautiful SYRUP,making sure to mix the syrup well before pouring, because the coconut tends to float.  Let sit at least 2 hours before serving.
ENJOY!!

NOTE: Coconut powder is a coarse dried unsweetened powder. You can check the link out..Here.