I love cake. It is a weakness of mine. I try to always have some sort of cake in the house, preferably homemade. Perhaps that is why I look the way I do. 😁
Be that as it may, I am a happy person, and cake is one of my little joys in life.
This recipe for Portuguese Honey Cake is one I adapted from The Redpath Canadian Bake Book, by Redpath Sugar. It is filled with over 200 recipes for cakes, cookies, breads, pies, etc. I love it!
But then again, I love to bake. I had never considered myself to be much of a baker, but I have come to realize late in life that I am. If I was a much younger woman, I would probably study the art of patisserie and baking, but I am a bit too long in the tooth now.
The original Portuguese Honey Cake comes from the Island of Madeira, off the coast of Portugal. I have never been there myself, but it was on my bucket list at one time.
Madeira is one of two autonomous regions of Portugal, the other one being the Azores. It is known for its fortified wine, beautiful seafood and this delicious cake, which you will find there baked into much smaller cakes that are traditionally broken not cut.
This cake has a beautiful unique flavor, owing to the use of honey, as well as lemon, cinnamon and olive oil, and by that I mean extra virgin olive oil.
Normally in a cake you wouldn't use the assertive flavor of an extra virgin olive oil, but here it totally works. You will see evo used in a lot of cakes in this region and the Mediterranean.
It has a lovely dense texture and yet at the same time it is very light. I found it to be really lovely.
You will want to use a honey in this with a beautiful flavor. Redpath suggests a honey with a floral bouquet and flavor. Something like a clover or a wildflower honey would be good.
And yet, now having tasted this delicious cake, I find myself wondering how it would taste if I were to make it using Greek Honey.
Greek honey is considered to be some of the finest honey in the world. I adore it personally. It almost as a bit of an anise flavor to it. The darker the honey, the more like anise it tastes.
I think the flavor of it would go very well with the lemon in this cake, as well as the cinnamon.
I used Dori Greenspan's technique of rubbing lemon zest into sugar when baking. This really helps to bring out the natural oils of the lemon and makes for a very fragrant combination.
I used to belong to a baking group that was baking its way through Dori's book, Baking From My Home to Yours. Each week we would bake, ensemble, a recipe from the book.
It was great fun and I have to say I made a few really great friends from the group, some of whom I am still friends with today. I am pretty sure that is how Monique (La Table de Nana) and I discovered each other!
So anyways, I have been doing that with my citrus zests ever since. It does make a difference in the end result, I have to say. I highly recommend you try it at least once.
You would think that with such assertive flavors in a cake, they might overwhelm each other, but they simply don't
They work beautifully well with each other . . . with no one flavor dominating.
With each bite of cake you get the essence of the honey, a bit of citrus and the hint of cinnamon, not forgetting the richness of the olive oil.
It also smells really wonderful when it is baking. Open your doors so that the whole neighborhood also gets to enjoy it!
I sent half of the cake over to a friend that I had prepared a meal for. I have not heard what they thought of it, but I am sure it went over well.
The flaked almonds on top add a lovely look and crunch to this cake. I do so love a cake topped with almonds, don't you?
I didn't bother to toast these first as they are only sprinkled on top of the cake and I knew they would get a nice toasting in the heat of the oven.
This cake seems to become even more delicious as the days pass. I just had a piece (three days later) and it was even nicer than it was on the first day.
I have been tempted to toast it, and spread it with butter . . . glutton that I am.
This is a cake that is perfect for the tea table, served with a hot cuppa, or with coffee for breakfast. It would make a lovely dessert served with fresh berries.
If you are a drinker, you may want to serve it thinly sliced along with a small shot of madeira wine or sweet sherry.
Or, if you are like me, you will just want to enjoy it any time with any thing! Fact being, you WILL enjoy it!! I am so happy it tempted me into doing just that!
Portuguese Honey Cake
Yield: 0ne (8 by 4-inch) loaf, 10 servings
Prep time: 20 MinCook time: 35 MinTotal time: 55 Min
Make sure you use a really nice flavored honey for this moist and delicious cake!
Ingredients
- 1 1/4 cups (175g) plain all-purpose flour
- 1 tsp ground cinnamon
- 1 tsp baking powder
- 1/4 tsp fine sea salt
- 3/4 cup (160g) fine granulated sugar (caster sugar)
- the finely grated zest of 1 lemon
- 4 large free-range eggs, divided
- 1/3 cup (80ml) liquid honey
- 1 TBS freshly squeezed lemon juice
- 1/3 cup (80ml) extra virgin olive oil
- 4 TBS flaked almonds
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350*F/ 180*C/ gas mark 3. Butter an 8 by 4-inch loaf tin. Dust lightly with flour, shaking out any excess. Set aside. (Alternately you may line the tin with baking parchment. I like to leave an overhang to lift the baked cake out with.)
- Sift the flour, cinnamon, baking powder and salt together into a bowl. Set aside.
- Measure the sugar into a bowl. Add the lemon zest and rub it together until very fragrant. Add the egg yolks and beat the sugar and egg yolks together for three minutes at high speed. Add the honey and the lemon juice and beat for a further minute.
- Add the flour mixture to the egg/sugar mixture, alternately with the olive oil, beginning and ending with the dry ingredients. Beat until there are only a few streaks of flour.
- Using clean beaters, whisk the egg whites until they are stiff. Fold half of the egg white mixture into the batter. Fold the remaining egg white mixture in until just combined. Don't over mix, a few white streaks should remain.
- Scrape the batter into the prepared pan. Tap the loaf tin lightly on the counter a couple of times to release any air bubbles, then sprinkle the flaked almonds evenly over the top of the cake.
- Bake for 30 to 35 minutes, until risen and golden brown. A toothpick inserted in the center should come out clean. If you think your cake is getting too brown, cover the pan loosely with foil.
- Cool in the pan on a wire rack for 5 minutes before tipping the cake out onto a wire rack to cool completely (Upright). (If you have used baking paper, you should just be able to lift it out.)
- Cut into slices to serve, using a serrated knife.
- Store any leftover cake in an airtight container for up to 4 days.
Notes:
This cake can also be baked in an 8-inch Bundt pan. Butter the pan really well and dust with flour, shaking out any excess flour. Mix and bake as above. Let cool in the pan for five minutes, then run a knife around the edge to loosen and tip out onto a wire rack to finish cooling.
Our Eileen hasn't been feeling very well these past few days. She had her second Covid shot on Thursday and her body has been fighting it ever since. Hopefully she will start to feel better soon.
Its funny how everyone reacts differently to it. I was very tired for a few days afterwards, whilst my sister was very ill, just like she had the stomach flu, and my father, he had no side effects at all.
Who knows really if we will be protected after this fully. I think nobody knows for sure. Its all just conjecture. I did what I was asked to do and am hoping for the best!
Anyways, because she wasn't feeling well, I made a pizza and baked some cookies today to drive over for her and Tim. She is feeling a little bit better today, but not like cooking, that's for sure! So I thought I would help them out a bit.
Homemade oatmeal cookies have always been popular in my family. I dare say they are almost as popular as chocolate chip cookies, and I do make very good chocolate chip cookies!
When I was cooking at the Manor, I had to make chocolate chip cookies for the Mr. at least once a week. He loved my chocolate chip cookies.
Whenever I was baking them, the smell of them baking drew in staff from all over the house. They loved them too, and could not resist scarfing down a cheeky cookie when nobody else was looking!
I can honestly say that I have never met an oatmeal cookie that I did not fall in love with. Crisp oatmeal cookies. Soft oatmeal cookies. It makes no difference. I love them all.
This delicious version is a cross between the two, with crisp buttery edges, and a soft chewy middle. Made even more so from the use of brown sugar.
They also contain plenty of shredded coconut, which adds to the moreish chewiness. Flavored with lime and vanilla.
They use both the juice and zest of lime in the batter. I use my micro-plane grater to grate the zest very find.
Oh, I wouldn't be without a micro-plane grater now. Its not something I ever had when my children were growing up. Just the box grater.
Micro plane graters make short work of grating things like citrus zests, parmesan cheese and nutmeg. I have both small and larger ones.
The lime zest for this recipe gets rubbed into the sugars. Just a little trick I learned from Dori Green span. She does that with lemon zest and sugar.
It helps to bring out the natural oils of the zest and enhance them. I find that also in this particular cookie, it helps to prevent lumps in your brown sugar from forming.
Although to be perfectly honest, I have never minded lumps of brown sugar in my cookies. My mom used to make these slice and bake butterscotch cookies when we were growing up.
They always had lumps of brown sugar here and there in them. They were my favourite bits. Almost like candy.
My mom didn't bake very often, but when she did, those cookies were some of our favorites. You can find her recipe for those here.
Crisp and dunkable and complete with lumps of brown sugar here and there.
I was always baking cookies for my children when they were growing up. I bet I baked cookies every second day or so. They gobbled them up. I didn't mind.
It was a labor of love for me. That's why I am hoping that Eileen will love these cookies that I baked for her and Tim today. I don't think they get home baked cookies very often.
These have a very rustic look to them. Wholesome even. Filled with oats and coconut.
Vanilla and lime. Butter, two sugars, white and brown. And flour. Nothing too out of the ordinary.
A glass of milk always tastes better with a couple of cookies on the side. Likewise a cup of tea or coffee.
And don't get me started on ice cream. A bowl of ice cream and a couple of cookies, turns that ice cream into a very special dessert indeed.
Try it and see if I'm not right about that. Even store bought cookies turn a simple scoop of ice cream into a decadent dessert.
In our older years mom didn't bake much in the way of cookies. She mainly bought cookies, but she was working full time by then.
You don't need to make the glaze for these scrumptious cookies. They are perfectly delicious all on their own.
I really hope you do though, because it adds a special something to these cookies. It really does. In any case, bake these. You won't regret it!!
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Coconut Lime Oatmeal Cookies
Yield: Makes 20 cookies
Prep time: 10 MinCook time: 13 MinTotal time: 23 Min
These crisp edged, soft and chewy oatmeal cookies are filled with coconut and the fresh flavors of lime. The glaze is optional as the cookies are delicious all on their own, but it does go perfectly with these delicious cookies!
Ingredients
For the cookies:
- 1/2 cup (100g) soft light brown sugar, packed
- 1/4 cup (46g) white sugar
- 1 TBS finely grated lime zest
- 1/2 cup (120g) butter, softened
- 1 large free range egg
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 1 TBS fresh lime juice
- 1 1/4 cups (175g) plain all-purpose flour
- 3/4 cup (60g) old fashioned large flake oatmeal
- 1/2 tsp baking soda
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 1 cup (75 g) shredded sweetened coconut
For the lime & coconut glaze:
- 1 cup (130g) icing sugar, sifted
- 2 - 3 TBS fresh lime juice
- 1/2 cup (37g) shredded sweetened coconut
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 325*F/165*C/ gas mark 3. Line a large baking sheet with some baking paper. Alternately line two smaller ones. Set aside.
- Measure both sugars into a bowl. Rub in the lime zest until all are well combined. Drop in the butter and cream everything together until light. Beat in the egg, vanilla and lime juice. Sir in the flour, oats, baking soda and salt. Mix well together and then stir in the coconut.
- Scoop by heaped tablespoons onto the baking sheet, leaving space in between each for them to spread a bit.
- Bake in the preheated oven for 15 minutes. Leave to cool on the baking sheet for several minutes before scooping off onto a wire rack to cool completely.
- To make the glaze sift the icing sugar into a bowl. Add enough lime juice to make a nice drizzle, whisking everything together until smooth. Drizzle the glaze haphazardly over the cookies and sprinkle with some coconut.
- Leave to set before serving. Store in an airtight container.
You might think that because you are a small family of only one or two people, molten chocolate lava cake is off the menu for you, or that you will have to wait until you have company before you can enjoy it.
I am happy to say that is just not true. Whether you are one person or two people, you can certainly enjoy a delicious chocolate dessert, built just for two or for one with leftovers to enjoy another day!
Not only that, but this delicious dessert sports the Mexican flavor addition of ground cinnamon and a pinch of cayenne for a tiny bit of heat.
I remember when my friend Eliza flew over to the UK to visit me when I was working at the Manor. She was from Arizona and she brought some lovely Mexican chocolate with her to make a chocolate dessert for us.
I was really surprised to note that it tasted of cinnamon. I wasn't exactly sure that I would enjoy it, but surprise! It was delicious!
Who would have thought it! If you are not fond of the idea or of the taste of chocolate together with cinnamon, then just leave it out.
There is a pinch of cayenne pepper in this dessert as well. You can by all means leave that out also if you are not fond of any kind of heat. It is only a touch though. I am not a lover of really spicy food.
Aside from that you can expect a lovely full on chocolate flavor from these tiny cakes. I do so adore chocolate of any kind, especially in a cake.
One thing I really enjoy about Lava Cakes is that they have that soft and gooey, molten center. They are meant to be eaten warm so that it stays that way.
They are very quick and easy to put together and cook very quickly as well. Just until the edges are set and firm, and the center is quite jiggly. You can see from the above photograph just what it should look like when done.
They do cook further as they sit and will harden up somewhat, so you will want to eat them while they are still warm to enjoy them at their best.
Chocolate Lava Cakes were always a popular dessert when I worked at the Manor, for ladies luncheons or dinner parties. You can access that full sized recipe here.
It is not gluten free however. It does make about 10 lush cakes, that are perfectly molten in the middles. One thing which I always liked about them was that I could make the mixture up ahead of time and then stick it in the refrigerator, covered.
It kept for more than a few days, unbaked. That made them the perfect dessert for when my employers were entertaining. Less work for me at the last minute.
When I think back now on all that I had to do and managed to do, I am amazed at myself. Six course silver service dinners for up to 25 people, prepared from start to finish by only me. How did I do that!
Very careful planning, that's how! The Mrs. liked for everything to be complicated, but I would always slip in a few easier things, like the molten cakes, or things I could do completely ahead of time.
That left me with more time to execute everything else on the day. To be honest, I don't think I could cope with it all now. Seriously. I must be slowing down in my old age, LOL.
You would think with so much time on our hands we would get more done, but the reality is we are scrambling to just get the basics done.
This content (written and photography) is the sole property of The English Kitchen. Any reposting or misuse is not permitted. If you are reading this elsewhere, please know that it is stolen content and you may report it to me at: mariealicejoan at aol dot com
Back to this dessert. It is one I adapted from the cookbook entitled The Weeknight Dessert Cookbook by Mary Younkin, of Barefeet in the kitchen.com. It is filled with 80 irresistible recipes which only need 5 to 15 minutes of prep.
How can you go wrong with that! You can't!
This recipe intrigued me, not only because it was chocolate, quick and easy, but because of the Mexican cinnamon flavor addition.
Also in looking at the recipe, I could see that it would be very easy to adapt it down to just two servings instead of the original four.
If you would like the original measurements to make four desserts, just ask. I will be happy to give them to you.
These chocolate puddings are meant to be enjoyed warm. If I was in the UK I could really enjoy them with a dollop of clotted cream on top, alas . . . no clotted cream where I am not.
Vanilla ice cream works very well with them however. Mary suggested cinnamon ice cream or chocolate ice cream.
No such thing as cinnamon ice cream here, and true confession . . . I hate chocolate ice cream. Funny how that goes.
I adore chocolate cookies, cakes, pies, candy bars, etc., but I cannot stand any kind of chocolate milk wise.
Not chocolate milk, not chocolate ice cream. I can only just barely tolerate hot chocolate. and when I do have one, its not my favorite thing, unless there are lots of marshmallows or whipped cream on top!
I used two six ounce ramekins to cook these in, simply sprayed with some Pam cooking spray. Worked a charm. My puddings were done in 18 minutes.
They were quite liquid but as they cooled they firmed up a bit more. If you don't want a really liquid center, leave them in the oven for a few more minutes, but I wouldn't go any longer than 20 minutes maximum.
This photo is just to give you an idea of how molten they are at 18 minutes, so if you want them a bit firmer leave them in just that tiny bit longer, always bearing in mind that they will start to firm up as they cool.
SO, a quick and easy chocolate dessert, built just for two. Deliciously gluten-free. You really can't go wrong with this!
Mexican Chocolate Lava Cakes
Yield: 2
Prep time: 5 MinCook time: 18 MinTotal time: 23 Min
This delicious recipe for molten middle chocolate lava cakes is perfectly sized for two. With the Mexican touch of cinnamon and a hint of heat, they make the perfect quick dessert. Top with a small scoop of vanilla ice cream for a real treat! These are also gluten free.
Ingredients
- 1/4 cup (60g) butter
- 1/3 cup (55 grams) semi sweet chocolate chips
- 4 1/2 TBS icing sugar, sifted
- 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
- pinch of cayenne pepper (optional)
- 1 large free range egg
- 3 1/2 TBS cornstarch (corn flour)
- Ice cream to serve
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 400*F/200*C/ gas mark 6. Butter two 5-6 ounce ramekins really well. Alternately spray with some non-stick baking spray. Place onto a baking sheet.
- Pop the butter and chocolate chips into a microwave safe bowl. Cook on high for 30 seconds. Whisk to melt the chocolate and amalgamate the two. Whisk in the icing sugar, cinnamon and cayenne pepper if using.
- Whisk in the egg to combine fully. Stir in the corn flour until you have a smooth, well combined mixture. Divide the mixture between the two ramekins evenly.
- Bake for about 18 minutes, until the edges are firm but the center still appears soft and almost liquid like in appearance.
- Let cool for about 5 minutes, then serve immediately with a scoop of vanilla ice cream on top.
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