Date, honey and walnut cake

Whenever we go on a trip out there are usually two purchases I make: a fridge magnet, and a jar of local honey.  My latest honey acquisition came after a visit to an Essex Wildlife Trust centre at the wonderfully named FingringhoeWick.  It doesn’t sound like it should be a real place!

I’ve spent a lot of time recently sorting through my cookbook collection; it had got out of hand and so disorganised following our house move (over 18 months ago now – eek! No excuse anymore!) that I couldn’t find anything.  Now it’s all nicely arranged by type, so I had no trouble locating an old cookbook I have dedicated entirely to honey.

This simple cake stood out as the one to make; I’ve boosted the quantities a bit but the ratios remain the same.  With the weather predicted to be warm, I didn’t want anything too fiddly or involving buttercreams – and this cake couldn’t be easier or quicker to make.

Don’t be fooled by this cake’s plain Jane looks; it packs a glorious punch with comforting flavours and a soft texture punctuated by walnuts and chewy dates.  It’s a more old fashioned sort of crumbly sponge and the walnuts stop it getting too sweet, which you might think it would be given the inclusion of sugar, honey and dates. It really is worth making.  Keeps well too…which might not be an issue!

Ingredients

185g unsalted butter, at room temperature
115g castor sugar
75g runny honey
3 eggs
115g dates, chopped
115g walnuts, chopped
300g self raising flour

Method

Preheat the oven to 180C/fan oven 160C/350F/gas mark 4.

Line a 20cm round springform tin with baking paper.

Beat together the butter, sugar and honey until light, soft and whippy.

Beat in the eggs one at a time.

Mix in the dates, walnuts and flour and ensure everything is well combined.

Spoon into the prepared tin, level the surface and bake for approximately 1 hour or until a skewer inserted into the cake comes out clean.  Start checking it after 40 minutes, as ovens vary.

Leave to cool in the tin until you can safely handle; de-tin and leave to cool completely on a wire rack.

Bask in the glory of the wonderful thing you have created.

Eat

Pistachio and almond cake

Sometimes, a cake comes about simply because you have an ingredient that you are desperate to use.  My wonderful friend Jasmin has recently been on holiday to Sicily and, amongst other foodie goodies, kindly bought me back some intriguingly green pistachio marzipan.  It has sat on my baking shelf for almost a month as I mused how best to use it…and now I’m ready!

The marzipan wasn’t enough to use around a battenburg-style cake so I decided on baking it into a nutty sponge cake.  I rather like the idea of the cake looking like a normal sponge only to reveal a layer of marzipan when cut into.  Enclosing it entirely in the batter also meant that it retained its bold colour.

No icing needed for this rich fragrant sponge; the topping is simply some chopped pistachios mixed with honey.  I put this on top of the sponge while it was still warm so any excess honey would be absorbed into the sponge making it even more soft and moist.  Cakes like this age so well too as the nuts release their oils over time and the flavour and texture is enhanced.

If you don’t have (or indeed, don’t like) marzipan, the cake would still be lovely without it.  You could have it as a plain sponge, or cut the sponge through on baking and fill with buttercream.  What I hadn’t banked on (this is my last attempt to sway you to use marzipan!), was that the sponge under the marzipan absorbed the oils from it as it baked and ended up crisp and delicious.

Personally, I see this as more of a dessert cake simply because of the rich nuttiness of the sponge.  It isn’t a dry crumbed sponge.  Serve either warm or at room temperature with ice cream, whipped cream or even some natural yoghurt.

Thanks for the gift Jasmin - wish I could send you a slice!

Ingredients

For the cake:

250g unsalted butter, at room temperature
200g caster sugar
4 eggs
120g ground almonds
100g ground pistachios – make this yourself by grinding pistachios to fine powder in a food processor
50g plain flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
150g pistachio or almond marzipan

For the topping:

60g pistachios, roughly chopped
1 tablespoon runny honey – just enough to coat the nuts

Method

Preheat the oven to 180C/fan oven 160C/350F/gas mark 4.

Line a 20cm round springform tin with baking paper.

Beat together the butter and sugar until light and whippy.  Do not skimp on this stage – keep going until the mix is pale and fluffy.

Beat in the eggs one at a time.

Beat in the ground almonds and ground pistachios.

Beat in the flour and baking powder.

Spoon just over half the batter into the prepared tin and level the surface.

Roll the marzipan out into a disc slightly smaller than the size of the tin – you want the batter to completely engulf it, so it’s a surprise when you cut into the cake.

Lay the marzipan on the batter.

Spoon the remaining batter into the tin and level the surface.

Bake for approximately 45 minutes or until a skewer inserted into the cake comes out clean – don’t worry if it takes longer; mine took almost an hour.

NB. When you bake the cake, especially if you use a springform tin, you will see the nut oils dripping from the tin – we’re only talking a little, not a flood, but it’s a good idea to either stand the cake tin on a baking sheet, or place a baking sheet on the shelf below with some kitchen paper to catch any drips.

Now make the topping: roughly chop the pistachios.

Mix with enough honey to coat the nuts but not pool in the bowl.

Spoon onto the top of the cake.

Leave to cool for 20 minutes in the tin, before de-tinning and leaving to cool completely on a wire rack.

Serve in generous slices.

Bask in the glory of the wonderful thing you have created.

Eat.

Honey and poppy seed cake with honey buttercream

I am a terror for a gift shop, be it at a museum, gallery, stately home, or anywhere really.  They have always been utterly irresistible to me and I will always come out clutching a bag of ‘treasure’ which you can be pretty sure will contain, amongst other things, a fridge magnet or several fridge magnets should I have found the choice too difficult to make.  Luckily, Mr CC is supportive of the purchase of tat (sometimes through gritted teeth, but mostly with a good heart).  However, during our visit to the stunning Audley End House last weekend, Mr CC had his sensible hat on and suggested that – given our impending move – we limit ourselves to ‘edible items only’.

All this explains why I chose to bake a honey cake this week; we bought a jar of beautiful honey made by industrious Essex bees living and working in Saffron Walden.  I am funny with honey (rhyme not intended).  I love it baked into cakes or biscuits but do not like it at all on bread or toast.  I matched the honey sponge with a honey buttercream to allow the honey to be the star of the show; it is often teamed with other flavours and gets a bit lost.  Poppy seeds always add lovely texture – little bursts of crunch, and look so pretty when you cut a slice of cake.

This was a very popular cake indeed; the soft sponge and silky sweet buttercream had a vintage feel to them – the sort of cake that you’d see on an old fashioned tea-time table.  I kept the decoration simple with some wafer flowers; my logic being that bees like flowers.  I added a layer of honey lime curd in the centre of the cake, but it was only to justify the purchase of the pot of curd at my local town fair this weekend; the cake was planned without this addition.

Footnote: Limiting my purchases to edible items resulted in the purchase of: honey (good – edible!), two bags of duck food (edible…if you’re a duck), a book (eating paper won’t do you much harm, I suspect), a fridge magnet (not so edible), and a horseshoe (have a dentist on standby if you try and bite into that).

Ingredients

For the sponge:
260g unsalted butter, at room temperature
150g golden caster sugar
130g clear, runny honey
4 eggs
210g self raising flour
35g cornflour
3 tablespoons poppy seeds
1 tablespoon milk

For the buttercream:
115g unsalted butter, at room temperature
225g icing sugar
2 tablespoons clear, runny honey
1 tablespoon milk – if needed

Optional: honey curd or any fruit curd of your choice

Method

Preheat the oven to 180°C/fan oven 160°C/350°F/gas mark 4.

Line two 20cm loose bottomed round sandwich tins with baking paper.

Start with making the sponge: beat together the butter and sugar until pale and well combined.

Add the honey and beat until fluffy and whipped looking – don’t skimp on this stage.

Beat in the eggs, one at a time, adding some flour if it looks like it might curdle.

Fold in the flour, cornflour. poppy seeds and milk.

Spoon into the prepared tins and level the surface.

Bake for approximately 25 minutes or until a skewer inserted into the sponges comes out clean.  Mine took a bit longer - nearer 40 minutes.  Cover the cake loosely with foil if it's browning too quickly.

Leave to cool in the tins for about 15 minutes, before de-tinning and leaving to cool completely on a wire rack.

The sponges can be made a day in advance of assembling the cake – simply store in airtight containers.

Now make the buttercream: beat the butter until it is smooth and whippy.

Beat in the icing sugar until the ingredients are well combined.

Add the honey and beat, at a high speed, to lighten the buttercream and get lots of air into it.

If needed, add the milk to loosen the buttercream and give a nice spreadable consistency.

Now you can assemble the cake: place one sponge on the serving plate.

Spread over some curd – if using.

Spread just over half the buttercream over the sponge, placing the other sponge on top.

Spread the remaining buttercream on top.

Decorate as you wish – I used wafer flowers.

Bask in the glory of the wonderful thing you have created.

Eat.

Pine nut and honey tart

A lot of my baking recently has been selected based on the limited time I had available and how low faff the recipe was.  Rather gloriously, this weekend I was able to accommodate a bit of faff, which was fortuitous as I had a hankering for pastry.  I’ve adapted this recipe from the BBC Good Foodwebsite and used dates and sultanas instead of glace fruit.  I still find glace fruit hard to love and had a box of dates a friend had bought me back from Oman (thanks, Jasmin!) so the stars seemed in alignment to make this happy substitution.

Normally, when a recipe gives the option of soaking fruit in either rum or orange juice I will ALWAYS pick rum.  But I fancied a change this time so surprised myself by opting for orange juice.  It did a nice job of plumping up the fruit and added a fruitiness to proceedings.

The filling is reasonably runny pre-baking so, although you mix the fruit into it do not be disheartened when you cut into the tart and see the fruit has settled at the bottom.  This is what’s meant to happen.

Fruit aside, the tart filling is virtually identical to a bakewell tart.  If you’re fed up with jam or berries in your bakewell this recipe provides a nice variation.  The pine nut and honey topping also makes a tasty change.  I don’t use pine nuts very often in my baking but they work very well and take on a lovely toasted flavour.

The flavours in this tart are gentle and harmonious.  There are many different influences in this recipe and I struggled to think how to describe it.  If you like bakewell tarts, baklava, Eccles cakes, marzipan and sticky toffee pudding you will love it!

Ingredients

For the pastry:

175g plain flour
85g unsalted butter – cold
30g caster sugar
1 egg yolk
1 tablespoon water

For the filling:

100g raisins
40g sultanas
100g dates – chopped so they are a similar size to the raisins and sultanas
3 tablespoons or either rum or orange juice
175g unsalted butter, at room temperature
175g golden caster sugar
50g plain flour
175g ground almonds
5 eggs
85g pine nuts
2 tablespoons clear honey

 To serve: thick cream

Method

Start by making the pastry: place the flour and butter in the food processor and blitz until you have fine crumbs. 

Add the sugar and blitz briefly.

While the machine is still running tip in the egg yolk and the water.

Stop the processor when clumps are starting to form.

Tip the clumps out onto a sheet of clingfilm and, using your hands, bring them together to form a ball of pastry.  Handle only enough to achieve this – you don’t want to overhandle the pastry and make it tough.

If you wish to make the pastry by hand rub the butter into the flour until you have breadcrumbs.  Stir in the sugar, egg and water and, using your hands, bring together to a ball of dough.

Roll the pastry out between two sheets of clingfilm so it is large enough to line a 23cm round loose bottomed tart tin.  Don’t expect lots of spare pastry overhanging the tin – this recipe makes just enough!

Prick the base of the pastry with a fork.

Cover with clingfilm and refrigerate for 1 hour.

While the pastry is chilling, start the filling: place the raisins, sultanas and dates in a bowl and add the orange juice or rum. 

Stir so all the fruit is covered with liquid and leave to soak, stirring occasionally if you happen to pass by.

Preheat the oven to 200°C/fan oven 180°C/400°F/gas mark 6.

Cover the chilled pastry with baking paper or non-stick foil and weigh down with baking beans.

Bake for 10 minutes, before removing the paper and beans and baking for a further 5 minutes or until the pastry is just starting to turn golden.

Remove from the oven and put to one side while you make the filling.

Reduce the oven temperature to 180°C/fan oven 160°C/350°F/gas mark 4.

Now make the tart filling: beat together the butter, sugar, flour, almonds and eggs.

Stir in the soaked fruit, including any liquid left in the bowl.

Spoon into the pastry case and level the surface.  It will look full but don't worry - it doesn't rise much on baking.

Scatter the pine nuts over the top.

Drizzle over the honey.

Bake for approximately 40-50 minutes or until a skewer inserted into the filling comes out clean.

If your tart browns too quickly (I’d check after 40 minutes) cover it loosely with foil and continue baking.

Leave to cool, in the tin, on a wire rack and de-tin for serving.

Serve at room temperature with thick cream.

Bask in the glory of the wonderful thing you have created.

Eat.

German bee-sting cake

 

I begin with a confession: traditional German bee-sting cake (Bienenstich) is usually a yeasted batter, but regular readers will know my fear/horror/dislike of using yeast, so when I found this non-yeasted version I made a bee-line for it (pun intended).

Like many traditional cakes the origin has been lost.  One legend claims that a bee was attracted to the honey topping and stung the baker who made it (I don’t like dissing legends but that one is quite lame, as legends go).  Another legend claims that 15^th century German bakers successfully fended off raiders by throwing bee-hives at them and celebrated their victory by inventing this cake (this is more like it – I choose to believe this one!).

This cake uses popular flavours – honey, almond and vanilla – but has a twist in its method that makes them seem fresh and new.  When you spoon the cake batter into the tin you add a thick layer of runny honey on top over which you scatter a lot of flaked almonds.  The weight of all this suppresses the rise of the sponge but what your reward for this is a sticky spongy topping with lovely toasted nuts. It’s not dissimilar to the lovely bit of sponge that’s absorbed all the syrup on a steam sponge pudding.

As if all that wasn’t enough, the cake is then sliced and filled with vanilla custard cream.  I almost wept with happiness when I read the recipe!  I began with a confession but I must also end with another one – I messed up.  Big time.  To create the filling you make the custard and let it set in the fridge, then whip some cream and fold them together.  Stupidly, I added the custard to my whipped cream and let the kitchenaid whip them together which made it far too runny to sandwich the cake with.

Even more stupidly, asI was adding the custard to the mixer I thought, ‘I’ve done this before and it didn’t go well’.  Doh!  So, I didn’t cut the cake into layers; I left it whole and served my custard cream on the side.  Just as delicious but tinged with shame!  Please don’t let my idiocy put you off because this is a gorgeous cake.

Ingredients

For the cake:

125g unsalted butter, at room temperature
150g caster sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 eggs
225g self raising flour
6 tablespoons milk
125ml runny honey, warmed
150g flaked almonds

For the filling:

50g caster sugar
2 tablespoons cornflour
3 egg yolks
125ml milk
75ml double cream

Method

Preheat the oven to 180°C/fan oven  160°C/350°F/gas mark 4.

Line a 20cm round springform tin with baking paper.

Beat together the butter and sugar until light and fluffy.  It won’t go pale and creamy because of the proportions, but you will notice it become lighter.

Beat in the vanilla.

Beat in the eggs, one at a time.

Beat in 1/3 of the flour followed by 2 tablespoons of milk.

Repeat until the flour and milk are fully incorporated.

Spoon into the prepared cake tin and level the surface.  Make a good attempt at levelling it so that the honey doesn’t pool into one side when you pour it on.

Pour the honey over the unbaked sponge and use the back of a spoon to gently guide it over the cake.

Sprinkle the almonds over the cake ensuring the cake and honey is completely covered.  It will look like a lot of almond.

Bake for approximately 45-50 minutes or until a skewer inserted into the cake comes out clean.

Leave to cool in the tin before turning out.

The cake can be made a day in advance and stored in an airtight container if you so wish.

Now make the filling: whisk together the sugar, cornflour and egg yolks until smooth.

Gradually whisk in the milk.

Pour into a saucepan and cook over a low heat, stirring all the time.

When the mixture is thick enough to coat the back of the spoon remove from the heat and pour into a bowl.

Press clingfilm onto the surface of the mixture to stop a skin forming. 

Refrigerate.

Whip the cream until firm peaks form before folding in the chilled egg yolk mixture.  Do this by hand – don’t be tempted to let the mixer do it – it will make it runny!

To serve, slice the cake in half horizontally and place one half on a plate.

Spread the custard cream over the cake and place the nut-topped layer of cake on top.

Dust with icing sugar if you desire.

Bask in the glory of the wonderful thing you have created.

Eat.

Spiced honey loaf

This cake marks my 6^th anniversary of blogging and, amazingly, my ‘to bake’ list is perhaps longer today than it’s ever been.  Baking really is a never-ending hobby of loveliness!

Tempted though I was to pick something extravagant and fancy, I was very short of time this weekend and decided to pick something truer to what I consider my baking ethos.  I have always been drawn to the homely, simple and rustic cakes (not that I don’t love a bit of fancy patisserie as well – I am all-embracing where cake is concerned!) and this is a perfect example.

This loaf has a close, dense texture and is perfect to have with a cup of tea.  Being honest, if you were having it sans tea I would be tempted to butter it as it is on the dryer side of cake. The first flavour to hit is the cinnamon before the warm honey cuts in – it leave a lovely taste and makes you want the second bite!

The glaze adds a little texture to the top of the cake.  Putting honey in the glaze enhances the flavour and while the cake is perhaps a plain Jane in terms of looks, it definitely isn’t in terms of taste.

When I think back to my early days of blogging I started with no thought for the future – it wouldn’t have surprised me if I’d quit by Christmas as something shinier caught my attention.  But here I am still, six years on – and there aren’t many weeks I’ve missed a post.  I’d be lying if I said my baking mojo didn’t dip occasionally – I’m going through a bit of a lull at the moment.  My blog is a labour of love but whenever I get a lovely email from a reader telling me about a recipe they made from the site, or asking about how they could adapt a recipe to make their daughter’s wedding cake I get little goosebumps and enjoy a renewed love for the power of baking and sharing recipes – after all, that’s what it’s all about.  I hope you’ve enjoyed my first six years!

Ingredients

For the cake:

225g unsalted butter, at room temperature
115g light muscovado sugar
6 tablespoons runny clear honey
4 eggs
450g plain flour
1 ½ teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

For the glaze:

115g icing sugar
1 tablespoon runny clear honey
1-2 tablespoons hot water

Method

Preheat the oven to 180°C/fan oven 160°C/350°F/gas mark 4.

Line a 900g (2lb) loaf tin with baking paper.

Beat together the butter and sugar until light and fluffy – don’t skimp on this stage.

Beat in the honey.  My honey was very runny so I beat it straight in, if yours is firmer set warm it slightly first.

Beat in the eggs one at a time, adding a little of the flour if it looks like it might curdle.

Stir in the flour, baking powder and cinnamon.

Spoon into the prepared tin and level the surface.

Bake for 40 minutes before checking that the top is not browning too much.  If it isn’t bake for a further 15-20 minutes or until a skewer comes out the cake clean.  If the cake is browning too much after 40 minutes reduce the oven to 160°C/fan oven 140°C/325°F/gas mark 3 and cover the brown crust with foil before continuing to bake.

Leave to cool in the tin for 15 minutes before turning out onto a wire rack and leaving to cool completely.

Now make the glaze: place the icing sugar, honey and 1 tablespoon of water into a bowl and beat together.  Add a further tablespoon of water if necessary – you’re aiming for a thick, runny – but not watery – glaze.

Spoon over the cake and let run down the sides.  Any of the glaze that runs down the cake and pools around it can be spooned back over the cake (like basting a piece of meat!).

Let the icing set.

Cut into thick slices – butter if you wish – and enjoy with a big mug of tea.

Bask in the glory of the wonderful thing you have created.

Eat.

Coconut oat biscuits

 

It’s boiling hot and I didn’t want to spend ages baking in the kitchen...but I did want some home baking – obviously.  This is the time for biscuits!  This recipe took under 10 minutes to get into the oven and then only 15 minutes to bake.  Home-made delicious biscuits in under 30 minutes – result!

I love oaty biscuits and the addition of coconut makes them crunchier and flakier; a perfect accompaniment for a cup of tea (I know it’s hot but I cannot forsake my cuppa!).  You’ll notice in the ingredients that you can use either maple syrup or honey in this recipe.  I used maple syrup and it added a strong, almost smoky flavour that I liked, but Mr CC wasn’t sure about.  If you’re not mad about maple syrup definitely opt for the honey instead.

The perfect blend of crunch and chew; these are as close to a hobnob-flapjack hybrid as you’ll probably get!  I was particularly delighted that, after saying I could never get biscuits to spread and bake flat, these did!  Hurray!  Here they are pre-bake:

Here they are post bake:

No blog update from me next week as Mr CC and I are off on a very well deserved (if I say so myself) long weekend away.

Ingredients

75g unsalted butter
2 tablespoons maple syrup or honey
1 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda
2 tablespoons boiling water
75g rolled oats (porridge oats)
75g plain flour
50g desiccated coconut
75g caster sugar

Method

Preheat the oven to 180°C/fan oven 160°C/350°F/gas mark 4.

Line one large, or two smaller, baking sheets with baking paper or non stick foil.

In a small saucepan melt the butter and maple syrup together taking care it doesn’t boil.

Remove from the heat.

Stir the bicarbonate of soda into the boiling water until it dissolves.

Stir it into the melted butter – it will bubble up but not terribly, so no need to stand back!

Place the oats, flour, coconut and sugar into a large mixing bowl and stir together.

Stir in the butter mix until you have a warm, shiny dough.

Take heaped teaspoons of the dough and place on the prepared baking sheet.  Use the back of the teaspoon to flatten and shape into discs.

Leave space for the biscuits to spread as they bake.  I got 12 biscuits.

Bake for 15 minutes or until the biscuits are golden.

Leave to cool on the baking sheet before transferring to the wire rack – if you transfer them too soon they will be soft and break.

Bask in the glory of the wonderful thing you have created.

Eat.

Tea-infused prune cake with honey buttercream

Prunes seem a divisive fruit, possibly because of bad childhood memories of bowls of stewed fruit so favoured by elderly relatives.  Perhaps I was an odd child (and adult) as I have always loved them.  I love their sticky sweetness and dark glossy looks.  With the dark sugar in this recipe, the prunes actually taste a lot like dates.  The CCD (Caked Crusader's Da) thought it was a sticky toffee cake...and I know what he meant;  only the spice suggests otherwise.

When I told Mr CC I was making a tea-infused prune cake this weekend his expression suggested I was joking and would I please tell him what I was really planning on making?  When he realised I wasn’t joking his expression changed to horror.  This occasionally happens re my choice of cake and invariably, a couple of days later Mr CC will try said cake (often at work, as he takes any leftovers in for his colleagues) and report ‘I tried a bit of [insert cake here] and do you know it was actually quite nice.’ This is always said in a tone that implies he finds this the most surprising thing in the history of the universe!

It seems odd adding teabags to a cake...remember to remove them before baking!  NB. I have two teabags in this photo as I doubled the quantities and made two cakes - the recipe below stating one bag is correct.

Perhaps I’m easily entertained but I always enjoy watching the bubbles created when I add bicarb to something:

This is a cake that smells great whilst baking – it’s fruity and the dark sugar gives off toffee aromas.  The cake settles on cooling but this isn’t an issue as it’s a big domed loaf when you take it out the oven.  The settling just makes it normal sized!

The recipe originally had a coffee buttercream and I didn’t see the point in pairing a tea-infused cake with such a flavour.  I changed it to a honey buttercream and thought the combination worked really well.

Ingredients

For the cake:

225g prunes – de-stoned and chopped
250ml water
1 teabag – use whichever tea you prefer, I used English breakfast
½ teaspoon bicarbonate of soda
85g unsalted butter, at room temperature
175g dark brown sugar
2 eggs
175g self raising flour
50g walnuts – very finely chopped
1 teaspoon mixed spice

For the buttercream:

110g unsalted butter, at room temperature
3 tablespoons honey
250g icing sugar

Method

Preheat the oven to 180°C/ fan oven 160°C/350°F/gas mark 4.

Line a 900g (2lb) loaf tin with baking paper.

Place the prunes and water into a saucepan (choose one a little larger than you think you need as the mix will bubble up when you add the bicarbonate of soda) and bring to the boil over a medium heat.

Remove from the heat and add the teabag.  Stir the mix so the teabag is buried under prunes.

Leave to infuse for five minutes.

Remove the teabag and stir in the bicarbonate of soda.  It will bubble up considerably.

Put to one side.

Now make the cake batter: beat together the butter and sugar until creamy.  It won’t become whippy or really light because of the ratios involved and the fact that it’s dark brown sugar rather than caster.

Beat in the eggs one at a time, adding a little of the flour if it looks like it might curdle.

Fold in the flour, walnuts and mixed spice.  You will have a very thick batter at this point – don’t worry!

Stir in the prunes (the liquid as well) and make sure that you mix it well, using a spatula to bring the thick batter up from the bottom of the bowl.

Pour (I used a ladle for greater control) the batter into the prepared tin.  The mix will be liquid enough to level itself.

Bake for approximately 40-50 minutes or until a skewer inserted into the cake comes out clean.  Don’t worry if it takes a little longer.

Leave to cool for 20 minutes in the tin, before removing from the tin and leaving to cool completely on a wire rack.

When the cake is cold you can make the buttercream: beat the butter and honey together until smooth and soft.

Add the icing sugar and beat – on a low speed at first – until the buttercream is smooth and has no hint of grittiness to it.  Grittiness is a sign that you haven’t beaten the buttercream enough to dissolve the sugar.

Pipe or spread the buttercream over the cake.

Serve in thick slices with a mug of tea.

Bask in the glory of the wonderful thing you have created.

Eat.