Polish Honey Cake
If you ask me if I want a coffee, the answer will always be no. I am a tea person. I used to have the occasional mocha (hot chocolate + coffee), but I practically only drink tea and water these days. My main two favourites are Earl Grey and green tea (Chinese or Japanese, I’m not fussy!), but my tea collection at home is a bit out of control. I even picked up a Green Earl Grey whilst in Wellington last year, and it’s probably my favourite tea so far, but I keep it for times when I want to relax, as it reminds me of the tea I’ve had at day spas.
Cooking with tea isn’t something I often do. The possibilites are endless though; tea smoked duck, tea infused ice cream, tea broth… but I wanted to bake a cake with tea, and it wasn’t an easy task finding a recipe. Luckily I’m trying to archive 3 boxes of magazine tear out recipes, and came across this recipe from Belinda Jefffery. Nerada Tea had also sent me a little tea package to assist in making tea cake.
I’ll be honest, Nerada is not really a brand I buy, I’m not sure why. The tea is grown in Australia, up in tropical north Queensland, and they have a great variety of teas on offer, including peppermint, lemon myrtle, rooibos, chai, and rosehip. But for this cake, I used their original blend. (For more information on Nerada, head to their website: www.neradatea.com.au )
The cake itself it lovely. The recipe suggests drizzling extra honey on to serve, but I suggest you don’t unless you want to have a sugar coma. The 350g in the cake is plenty! Whilst you can’t really taste the tea in the cake, it helps keep the cake *moist*, and served with a cup of tea, it’s the perfect afternoon tea combination.
Polish Honey Cake
Belinda Jeffery
¼ cup (20g) flaked almonds
400g unsalted butter
1 cup (350g) honey, plus extra to drizzle
1 firmly packed cup (200g) brown sugar
3 cups (450g) plain flour
1½ tsp bicarbonate of soda
1½ tsp ground ginger
1½ tsp ground cinnamon
300g pitted dates, roughly chopped
2-3 tsp very thinly sliced glace ginger
1 egg, lightly beaten
¼ cup (60g) sour cream
½ cup (125ml) hot black tea
2 tsp vanilla extract
1. Thick cream or vanilla bean ice cream to serve
2. Preheat oven to 160º. Grease a 25cm non-stick bundt pan well, then press almonds into base and a little up the sides.
3. Place butter and honey in a saucepan over low heat, stirring, until the butter has melted. Stir in brown sugar.
4. Meanwhile, combine flour, soda, ground ginger and cinnamon in a large bowl. Add dates and glace ginger and toss to coat.
5. In a separate bowl, whisk the egg, sour cream, hot tea and vanilla, then whisk the egg mixture into the melted butter mixture.
6. Make a well in the centre of flour and pour in butter mixture. Lightly whisk to a loose batter, then pour into the prepared pan.
7. Bake for 50 minutes or until a skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean. Cool cake in pan on a wire rack for 15 minutes, then invert onto the rack and cool completely.
8. Slice and serve drizzled with extra honey, with cream or ice cream.
Serves 12-16.
Iron Chef Shellie received Nerada Tea thanks to Dennis Rutzou Public Relations.
leaf (the indolent cook)
I am also a tea person, though part of that is because I sometimes have bad reactions to coffee. This cake recipe looks super sweet! Definitely will go nicely with a hot cup of tea (and I’d go for unsweetened in this case). I also baked something with tea recently (and can actually taste it in the batter!), the post will probably come up next month.
Iron Chef Shellie
Definitely unsweetened. I don’t have sugar in my tea these days. Can’t wait for your recipe 🙂
Kristy @ Southern In-Laaw
Green earl grey? That sounds delicious! I’m a tea girl too, I can’t handle caffeine so coffee isn’t an option. Green tea is my hot beverage of choice. I even convince one of the flight attendants on the plane to get me some from first class, tehe 😛
Iron Chef Shellie
Woah, you have the power! I must make sure that happens for me too the next time I travel!
Michelle
i once made green tea cakes using green tea as well. it worked out fine so i am sure this would be lovely
Iron Chef Shellie
I’ve made green tea cakes before too 🙂
Tina @ bitemeshowme
I am a bit like that too – I get too impatient and try to remove the cake therefore ends up in breakage or cracks! BOO! oh well, at least it tastes good 😛
Iron Chef Shellie
I had places to go, people to see, I didn’t have time for it to cool completely 😛 Plus I wanted to give some of it away!
Nic@diningwithastud
YUM 🙂 Im def more of a tea person too. I’ll have the occassional latte or hot choc but tea is my drink of choice.
Iron Chef Shellie
That’s okay, I can forgive you 😛
Maureen @ Orgasmic Chef
I’m not a big coffee person either. I’ve never developed the coffee OR tea habit unless it’s hot in the summer and the American part of me makes iced tea. If I’ve seen Nerada tea it didn’t register with the brain cells. If they’re in Queensland I should support them if their tea is as good as the Dilmah I buy.
This cake looks really good and a piece of it for breakfast with a cup of hot teawould make me smile. (and warm me up!) 🙂
Iron Chef Shellie
I should have had some for breakfast, but I forgot! 🙁
April
I’m not a coffee drinker either. It’s either tea or wine… normally the latter haha! 🙂
What a great looking cake! I haven’t been baking much but you’ve inspired me to bake a cake soon. Maybe even this one 🙂
Iron Chef Shellie
bahaha! I’m not much of a wine drinker 😛
Tania @ A Perfect Pantry
Oh this looks good… and it’s good to see cakes made with tea rather than just coffee. I’m a huge tea lover. I will be making this next week:)
Iron Chef Shellie
I agree, too many cakes have coffee! Hope you enjoy it 🙂
Martyna @ WholesomeCook
Oooh sounds lovely, and looks fantastic too! And sounds very Polish with all that butter and honey and sugar 🙂 BTW there’s a little typo in brown sugar “up”. I’ve tried Nerada before and quite liked it although I am more of a lemon tea drinker so can’t speak for how it tastes black or white.
Martyna @ WholesomeCook
PS It actually looks more like the Dutch breakfast cake (almost like a gingerbread loaf). And I know that if THAT is yum, so is this one!
Iron Chef Shellie
oooo thanks! Fixed it 🙂
Love lemon in tea, but I only seem to do it when I’m sick!
Hotly Spiced
What a beautiful looking cake. I love how it has all those spices in it and the honey and dates. I’m sure this cake has wonderful flavours.
Iron Chef Shellie
Thank you 🙂 Definitely had some lovely flavours!
Daisy@Nevertoosweet
Wow you’re so good Shellie 🙂 I never use to like coffee, but now that i’m working I really need the caffiene to keep me awake! LOL I love the look of this cake ~ And i’ve actually never seen or heard of a polish cake so I’d love to make it and try for myself 😀
Iron Chef Shellie
I never wanted a coffee dependency 😛 I had never heard of a Polish cake either until I made this!
Lorraine @ Not Quite Nigella
I’m definitely a tea person too! Do you drink your Earl Grey with milk? If so, I came across a fabulous tea drink called London Fog which is amazing. So far, I’ve only seen it in Canada but it has a foamy head much like a cappucino but is milky like a chai but made with Earl Grey 🙂
Iron Chef Shellie
I do drink it with milk! I sometimes have a cappuccino top when I froth milk for coffees at Grandma’s house 😛 I’d like to try a London Fog though!
Adrian (Food Rehab)
aw yah! This would be a perfect ‘I need freakin suga at 3 pm’ work snack
Iron Chef Shellie
hehe cake is always the answer at 3pm!
Libby
One coffee as soon as I get to work is usually enough for me. If I’m feeling super tired, I’ll force myself to have another one but it’ll also mean that I’ll be annoyingly jittery for the rest of the day 🙁 I do like having green tea during morning tea and after a greasy lunch though – funnily enough, I’m going through a box of Nerada organic green tea at the moment.
Iron Chef Shellie
I’m always up for green tea after greasy food, or too much food! haha!
Amy
Yum! I love honey, I love tea and I love cake. I’ll be sure to give this one a whirl. Thanks Shellie.
Iron Chef Shellie
Hope you enjoy it Amy 🙂
Thanh
High 5 fellow tea lover. The cracks makes the cake look rustic. 🙂