honey bundt cake

For the first few weeks at my old job, I was probably known as “the girl whose desk is by the men’s bathroom” due to the unfortunate arrangement of my office. But it wasn’t long before I became “the girl who brings in treats”, and that label stuck for my seven years there. Fortunately, it also wasn’t too long before I got moved to a new office.

Eventually, people started giving me ingredients to use up – apples or peaches from their trees, pecans, and, one of my favorites, the annual Christmas jar of honey from my beekeeping boss. I hoarded the honey. Dave got into the habit of putting some in his tea every day until I made him stop so I could hog it all to myself. But I needed a recipe that would really showcase it, not something that was “honey cake” in name only.

This recipe caught my eye because the cake is sweetened completely with honey. As a result, it actually tastes like honey, but even with no granulated sugar, the texture isn’t compromised. It’s dense and moist, but not soggy or heavy.

Much to the regret of my coworkers, I quit that job last summer. Since then, Dave and I have started new jobs, sold our old house, started working from home, moved to a rental house in my hometown, bought a house, and moved again. Things are good right now. Really good. Pretty much the only thing I miss about that old life was having an office full of people eager for sweet snacks to break up their workday.

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Honey Bundt Cake (from Cook’s Country)

Cake:
2½ cups (12½ ounces) all-purpose flour
1¼ teaspoons salt
1 teaspoon baking powder
½ teaspoon baking soda
½ cup water
4 large eggs
¼ cup plus 2 tablespoons unsweetened applesauce
¼ cup vegetable oil
¼ cup orange juice
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1¾ cups honey

Glaze:
1 cup (4 ounces) confectioners’ sugar
4½ teaspoons water
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Pinch salt

1. For the cake: Adjust an oven rack to the middle position and heat the oven to 325 degrees. Heavily spray a 12-cup nonstick Bundt pan with baking spray with flour. Whisk the flour, salt, baking powder, and baking soda together in large bowl. Whisk the water, eggs, applesauce, oil, orange juice, and vanilla together in a separate bowl until combined. Whisk the honey into the egg mixture until fully incorporated.

2. Whisk the honey mixture into the flour mixture until combined. Scrape the batter into the prepared pan. Bake until a skewer inserted into the middle of the cake comes out clean, 45 to 55 minutes, rotating the pan halfway through baking.

3. Let the cake cool in the pan on a wire rack for 30 minutes. Using a small spatula, loosen the cake from the sides of the pan and invert onto a rack. Let cool completely, about 2 hours. (The cooled cake can be wrapped with plastic wrap and stored at room temperature for up to 3 days.)

4. For the glaze: Whisk together all ingredients. Drizzle the glaze evenly over top of the cake. Let sit until the glaze is firm, about 30 minutes. Serve.