Greek Honey Cake

CaliforniaJan's Note:

A Greek cake that tastes a little like the much more complicated Greek dessert, baklava. Posted for ZWT #6.

• Total Time: 55 mins
• Prep Time: 15 mins
• Cook Time: 40 mins

Ingredients:

Servings: 12

• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon orange zest
• 3/4 cup butter
• 3/4 cup white sugar
• 3 eggs
• 1/4 cup milk
• 1 cup chopped walnuts
• 1 cup white sugar
• 1 cup honey
• 3/4 cup water
• 1 teaspoon lemon juice

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease and flour a 9 inch square pan. Combine the flour, baking powder, salt, cinnamon and orange rind. Set aside.
2. In a large bowl, cream together the butter and 3/4 cup sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in the eggs one at a time. Beat in the flour mixture alternately with the milk, mixing just until incorporated. Stir in the walnuts.
3. Pour batter into prepared pan. Bake in the preheated oven for 40 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean. Allow to cool for 15 minutes, then cut into diamond shapes. Pour honey syrup over the cake.
4. For the Honey Syrup: In a saucepan, combine honey, 1 cup sugar and water. Bring to a simmer and cook 5 minutes. Stir in lemon juice, bring to a boil and cook for 2 minutes.

Reviews

[Misspliskin]

Okay, firstly... I am gluten, dairy and egg free, so I had to alter a lot of things for this recipe but I loved it so much I just had to leave a comment! This would be totally delicious without any alterations, but I'll list what I did anyway. I'm rating 4 stars because the cake was a bit greasy and would have been too sweet for my liking if I didn't cut out some of the sugar.

I used 6 tbsp coconut oil and 6 tbsp soy oil in place of the butter. Next time I make this (and there will be a next time!) I will cut the oil in half and use applesauce for the rest. I would recommend everyone use the coconut oil; it was divine in this recipe! Half butter, half coconut... Yum!

For the cake, I reduced the amount of sugar I used by a little more than half and added about a tbsp of honey. I increased the orange zest to 2 1/2 tsp and cinnamon to about 1 1/2 or 2 tsp. I also used soy milk instead of moo-moo.

And as for syrup, I reduced the sugar to a scant 1/4 cup and honey to 1/2 cup. In addition, I added close to a tbsp of lemon juice.

I made flaxseed gel to replace the eggs.

To me, it tasted best when the syrup had only about 10 minutes to soak into the cake, so I would suggest drizzling individual servings with syrup instead of the whole thing, especially if you'll have leftovers.

[Jamilahs_Kitchen]

What a nice sticky cake. We will enjoy this tonight after dinner with some tea. I love all the ingredients. I melted the honey with a little orange juice and skipped the extra sugar for the syrup. I also added some coconut that I had to use up as I thought it would work well with this. Next time I might try this with raisins.Thanks! Made for ZWT 6 for Looney Spoon Phoodies. Update just had some and it's DELICIOUS. A definite keeper for my family. Thanks :)

[**Tinkerbell**]

This is a very delicious treat, but very, very sweet & I wasn't sure about all the extra syrup. I did pour it all over the top & let it soak down, but the cake eventually started to float in the honey. I then removed it from that pan with a slotted spatula & put it in another pan to eat it from. What I really love about this cake is it's texture. It's a lot like cornbread, without the corn flavor (more of an orange-cinnamon cake), and since I always eat my cornbread smothered in maple syrup this recipe was a very nice surprise! I made just as directed, using homemade Sun Dried Orange Peel - for Tagines, Daubes and Sweet Things! for the orange zest. I did have trouble with cutting it into diamonds. It didn't seem THAT difficult in theory, but when it came down to doing it I couldn't seem to figure out the pattern. Some are good diamonds, some are more square. :) Also, a word to the wise: Use a LARGE saucepan for the syrup... and when your DH asks if he should wear his shirt tucked in or left out of his jeans, just pick one. Don't try to evaluate the situation & have him model both options. And never take your eyes off the stove. I had one very burned-on, sugar-glazed stove top with a small saucepan glued to it this morning. LOL