Honey Cake

Amazing Honey Cake made from scratch. This beautiful, buttery Honey Cake is incredibly moist with layers of honey sponge, vanilla whipped cream and honey buttercream. It’s perfect for birthdays, parties and special occasions.

Meet my dream cake.

A beautiful, layered Honey Cake with four honey-filled sponges sandwiched between delightful vanilla bean whipped cream. All covered in a rich honey buttercream, it’s one showstopping cake.

The crumb of this cake is incredibly moist and stays that way for days. Sweet, spiced and oh-so-soft, it’s the ultimate celebration cake.

Why you will love this cake

• Soft and moist: You will love how moist and tender this cake is – no dry cake here!
• Full of honey flavour: With honey in the sponge and the buttercream, this cake is bursting with rich, caramel-like, honey flavour.
• Lovely layers: This cake has four beautiful layers of honey-filled sponge.
• Perfect for special occasions: This stunning cake is ideal for birthdays, holidays and celebrations and will easily feed a crowd.

This is a truly beautiful and unique cake. The honey flavour is lovely and pairs so well with the layers of whipped cream and honey buttercream.

– Joanna

Recipe testing

I love using I love using honey in my baked goods like Honey Joys, Cornflake Crunch, and my Honey Cookies.

But have you had Honey Cake before? Maybe you’ve had a slice for a Jewish holiday like the Jewish New Year, Rosh Hashanah or Yom Kippur, or you’ve tasted an impressive layered Russian Honey Cake (Medovik).

I love that Honey Cake is a part of Jewish culture and considered a Rosh Hashanah staple. I hear that it symbolises a sweet year ahead and I’m all for that.

I’ve only had Honey Cake a few times in my life but I remember it well.

My childhood friend’s mum used to make an incredible layered Russian Honey Cake which tasted magical to me as a kid.

And I’ve had a slice at bakeries here and there, but I’ve often lamented that store-bought Honey Cakes can be so dry.

So I decided to make my own homemade version.

I wanted a layer cake, not a loaf cake like a Jewish Honey Cake recipe. And I didn’t want an elaborate 10 or 12 layer cake like traditional Russian or Medovik Cake.

I just wanted an easy-ish Honey Cake with a really soft sponge (no dry cakes here thanks 🙅‍♀️) and plenty of honey flavour.

So I started by tweaking my favourite Lemon Cake recipe minus the lemon. I used all brown sugar, reduced the number of eggs and added honey and cinnamon.

I continued to play around with the recipe and was fairly happy with the cake itself, but I noticed that over time it became quite dry.

Day one they were ok but by day two, they were a bit dry and crumbly – particularly around the edges.

So eventually I tried swapping half the butter for oil and volia! The ultimate Honey Cake was born. One with a ridiculously soft crumb that stays moist and shines with buttery, honey flavour.

I also took my favourite Buttercream recipe and added extra honey to make a simple Honey buttercream.

Since I didn’t want the cake to be too sweet, I added whipped cream between the layers and only covered the top and sides of the cake with honey buttercream.

One bite and I knew I had found the perfect recipe.

This moist Honey Cake is a must for your dessert table. Serve with a scoop of vanilla ice cream for an extra sweet treat.

Ingredients

Here are some of the key ingredients that make this Honey Cake extra special. The full list of ingredients can be found in the recipe card below.

• Butter AND oil: This Honey Cake recipe calls for both butter AND oil. Butter gives the cake oodles of flavour and structure, while oil ensures it is soft and moist – and stays that way for days. I recommend using a flavourless oil like grapeseed oil or vegetable oil.
• Brown sugar: To enhance the caramel notes in this cake, I recommend using all brown sugar as opposed to white sugar. Brown sugar has molasses in it so it contributes to the flavour profile and also aids in creating a moist cake.
• Honey: You can use any kind of store-bought honey you prefer. I recommend one with a deep or strong flavour so it comes through in the cake and the buttercream.
• Cinnamon: Just a hint of spice from the cinnamon ensures the honey flavour in this cake shines, without overwhelming those delicious caramel notes.
• Greek yogurt: A small amount of Greek yogurt to ensures this sponge is extra soft and moist. You could also use sour cream.

See recipe card below for a full list of ingredients and measurements.

How to make Honey Cake

This Honey Cake is easy to make, but you will need an electric mixer. Either a hand mixer or a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment will work.

Here’s a quick overview of how to make my Honey Cake. The full instructions and method are included in the recipe card below.

1. In a large mixing bowl, add butter, oil and sugar – ensuring your butter is nice and soft (photo 1). Beat with an electric mixer on medium speed until mixture is creamy and pale (photo 2).
2. Add vanilla, eggs and honey (photo 3) and beat briefly to combine. Then scrape down the sides of the bowl.
3. In a separate bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, cinnamon and salt. Add half of the dry ingredients to the cake batter, along with the yogurt and milk (photo 4). Start to mix on low speed.
4. Add remaining dry ingredients. Continue to mix on low speed until cake batter is smooth and creamy – try not to over-mix (photo 5).
5. Divide cake batter between two cake pans and gently smooth the top using a spatula (photo 6). Bake cakes for 25-30 minutes or until a skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean.

Leave cakes to cool on a wire rack. You can then decorate the cooled cakes with whipped cream and honey buttercream.

How to make whipped cream

You only need two ingredients to make this vanilla whipped cream. Just be sure to choose the right cream. You’ll want to a high fat cream that’s designed to be whipped.

• Cream: Find a high fat (at least 35% fat) cream that is designed for whipping. Read the label to find the right cream for you. It may be called thickened cream, whipping cream or heavy cream.
• Vanilla: For plenty of vanilla flavour and those perfect vanilla bean speckles, I like to use vanilla bean extract or vanilla bean paste. You could also scrape the seeds from a vanilla bean pod if you had one on hand. Otherwise, regular vanilla extract works well too!

Here’s how to make vanilla whipped cream in three simple steps:

1. Add cream and vanilla to a large mixing bowl. Use an electric mixer fitted with a whisk attachment (or you can use a hand whisk) and start mixing on low speed.
2. Turn the mixer up to medium speed. Continue to mix and watch closely as the cream changes texture. Instead of going by time, look for visual clues. Your cream will slowly thicken and become smooth, creamy, and cloud-like.
3. Return to low speed or swap for a hand whisk. Continue to beat until you see the cream turn thick and stiff. When this happens, stop immediately or you’ll over-whip your cream (hello butter!).

How to make honey buttercream

My dreamy Honey Buttercream makes this cake complete. We use it to cover the sides and the top of the cake.

You only need four ingredients to make it:

• Butter: Make sure your butter is softened so it is easy to mix. Cold butter will leave you with small lumps of butter in your buttercream – no matter how much you beat it.
• Icing sugar: Or powdered sugar. Don’t use caster sugar or granulated sugar or your buttercream will be gritty.
• Honey: You can use the same honey you use in the cake for the buttercream. Regular storebought honey works really well in this recipe.
• Milk: Full fat or whole milk is best. Make sure your milk is at room temperature. Adding cold milk can cause your buttercream to split or curdle.

Here’s a quick overview of how to make Honey Buttercream from scratch. And don’t forget to read my foolproof tips for perfect buttercream below.

1. In a large bowl or the bowl of a stand mixer, add softened butter. Beat using an electric mixer on medium speed for 1-2 minutes or until butter is smooth and creamy (photo 1).
2. Add honey, half of the sugar and all of the milk (photo 2). Start mixing on low speed, then turn up to medium speed until combined.
3. Add remaining sugar and salt. Mix on low and then turn up to medium speed until buttercream becomes noticeably fluffy and creamy.

Tips for perfect buttercream

1. Use softened butter: The key to smooth buttercream is starting with softened butter. If your butter is too cold, it will be very hard to beat, and despite all the mixing, it’s likely there will be small lumps of butter throughout your frosting. If your butter is nice and soft, it’ll take only 1-2 minutes for it to be smooth and creamy – the perfect base for buttercream.
2. Sift your sugar: Icing sugar (or powdered sugar or confectioners sugar) tends to clump in the packet. Take the time to sift it before adding it to your butter mixture. And at the end of your sifting, when you still have a few lumps of icing sugar left in your sieve, throw them away! Don’t add them back into your sugar. 
3. Use room temperature milk: Adding cold milk straight from the fridge, even just a tablespoon, can cause your buttercream to suddenly seize and split – becoming grainy or lumpy. Ensure your milk is at room temperature.

How to assemble Honey Cake

Once you have the three elements of this cake – the sponges, whipped cream and buttercream, it’s time to put it all together. Here’s what you’ll do:

1. Slice the two cake layers in half so you have four cake layers (photo 1).
2. Add whipped cream between each layer (photo 2), then add the final layer of cake on top (photo 3).
3. Cover the top of the cake and the sides with honey buttercream (photo 4).
4. Pipe extra cream on top for decoration.

Storage and make-ahead instructions

Thankfully, this Honey Cake stays soft and moist for days! Even so, it’s best to assemble this cake on the day that it is being served – otherwise the cream tends to soak into the cake and you’ll lose those definitive layers.

Here are some of my make-ahead instructions.

Honey Cake: This cake will keep well tightly wrapped in plastic wrap and popped in an airtight container at room temperature for 1-2 days.

If you plan to serve it later than that, I recommend freezing it to maximise freshness. Then simply thaw at room temperature, decorate and serve.

Whipped cream: It is best to whip your cream when you are ready to frost and decorate your cake. It does not keep particularly well if whipped ahead of time. A few hours in advance is ok (keep it in the fridge), but not a few days.

Honey buttercream: You can make your honey buttercream ahead of time. Transfer your buttercream to an airtight container and place it in the fridge for up to one week.

When you’re ready to use it, take it out of the fridge and let it sit at room temperature for 30 minutes. Add 1/2 tablespoon of milk and beat it on low speed until it is smooth and creamy again.

Add a little more milk as needed – but add it sparingly, otherwise, your buttercream may become sloppy.

Otherwise, you can freeze your buttercream and follow the instructions above to thaw and use.

STORAGE: Once frosted, you can keep this cake covered in the fridge. Bring it back to room temperature to serve.

Frequently asked questions

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