Irish Honey Cake with Fairy Icing
Prepare: 1-2 hours
Cook: 30 mins to 1 hour
Serve: Serves 6–8
Ingredients:
For the Irish honey cake
150g/5½oz salted butter, plus extra to grease
60g/2¼oz dark muscovado sugar
160g/5¾oz runny honey
2 medium free-range eggs, beaten
200g/7oz self-raising flour, sieved
2 tsp ground cinnamon
½ tsp ground ginger
For the fairy icing
175g/6oz unsalted butter
300g/10½oz icing sugar
2 tsp orange blossom water
½ orange, zest only
For the honeycomb
butter, for greasing
225g/8oz glucose
225g/8oz caster sugar
75g/2¾oz golden syrup
25g/1oz bicarbonate of soda
For the honey syrup
½ lemon, juice only
3 tbsp runny honey
2 tsp orange blossom water
To serve
50g/1¾oz pistachio nuts, shelled and unsalted, roughly chopped
a few edible flowers
1 tbsp fresh mint leaves
1 orange, zest only
1 lemon, zest only
Directions:
To make the cake, preheat the oven to 200C/180C Fan/Gas 6. Grease a 20cm/8in round cake tin with butter and line with baking paper.
Put the butter, sugar, and honey in a large saucepan and heat until melted together. Stir to make sure the sugar is melted. Allow to cool.
Pour the cold honey mixture into a large heatproof bowl and whisk in the beaten eggs, gradually (you need to do it gradually or the eggs will scramble).
Place the sieved flour into a separate large bowl. Add the dried spices and mix well.
Add the wet mixture into the dry mixture and whisk to combine. Pour the mixture into the prepared tin and bake for 20–25 minutes.
When removed from the oven, allow to cool, then turn out from the tin. Use a metal skewer to poke holes all over the cake.
To make the honeycomb, grease a 20x25cm/8x10in baking tray and line with baking paper.
Put the glucose, sugar, golden syrup, and a splash of water into a large, deep saucepan. Heat until melted and the mixture reaches 150 °C on a sugar thermometer. (CAUTION: boiling sugar is extremely hot. Handle very carefully. Use a deep pan to avoid bubbling over.)
Add the bicarbonate of soda and whisk until it starts to bubble up (take care as it will bubble up very vigorously and boiling sugar is extremely hot). Carefully pour into the lined baking tray and leave it to set at room temperature.
To make the fairy icing, place the butter into a freestanding mixer fitted with a paddle attachment. Beat until smooth and pale in color. Gradually add the icing sugar, beating all the time, until it is all incorporated. Mix in the orange blossom water and orange zest. Set aside.
Once cooled and hardened, cut the honeycomb into pieces. (Any leftover honeycomb can be kept in a sealed container for at least a week.)
To make the honey syrup, put all the ingredients into a small saucepan and cook for 2–3 minutes, then brush all over the cooled cake.
To serve, spoon the fairy icing onto the cooled syruped cake and spread it all over the top. Top with the pistachios, honeycomb pieces, edible flowers, fresh mint, and the lemon and orange zest.
What Is Muscovado Sugar? Uses and Substitutes
How To Make Orange Blossom Water
Recipe courtesy of BBC.com
