Sep 24

Sep 24 Honey Cakes with Rose Buttercream

Rose jam is a much loved treat in my life, albeit one that I can rarely bring myself to buy because it tends to be just—you know—a tad more expensive than Smuckers.

But every now and again I cave and buy myself a jar of wonderful, delicious, delicately floral, rose jam.

It is great on english muffins (toast them up, add some butter) even better on biscuits (again, add some butter), and, as I discovered this past weekend, it is also great in a buttercream.

Real great, as a matter of fact.

It was so great that instead of putting it on a little box cake, I decided I'd take the time and indulge myself in one of my other favorite treats: honey cakes.

These cakes are so lovely and sweet and fine. They are great with tea or coffee!

Not that I’d know anything about that.

Anyway.

Here’s the recipe.

Ingredients for the Honey Cakes

Dry Ingredients

1 1/4 cup of flour
1 teaspoon of baking powder
a pinch of salt

Wet Ingredients

1/2 cup sugar
3/4 cup of honey
1/4 cup vegetable oil
2 eggs
1/2 cup milk

Ingredients for the Buttercream

1/2 cup of room temperature butter (some recipes call for unsalted, but I used salted this time, and the finished product tasted no different)
1/3 a cup of rose jam
3 to 3 1/2 cups of powdered sugar
2 to 3 drops of pink food dye

Making the Cakes

Step One:

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C) and prepare your muffin/cupcake tins. I do not use liners because I like a thicker, crisper cake on the whole. The use of liners will keep the cakes a little lighter as well as stop crust from forming on the bottoms.

Step Two:

Sift together the flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt. Set aside.

Step Three:

Prepare the rest of your ingredients by combining the sugar, honey, eggs, oil, and milk.

Step Four:

Pour the sifted, dry ingredients into the wet, adding a little at a time until you have a fully combined and relatively smooth batter.

Step Five:

Spoon the batter into your tins, filling them about half way. Place in the oven for about 15 to 20 minutes. Depending on your location and your oven, it may take longer.

You know the drill. Poke them with a tooth pick. If it comes out clean, the cakes are done. If it doesn’t, keep them cooking. Rinse and repeat.

Step Six:

Once your cakes are done and the tins have cooled a bit, transfer the cakes to a cooling rack.

While they cool you can begin making the buttercream.

Making the Buttercream

Step Seven:

Put your butter and your jam into a large(ish) bowl and beat together using an electric mixer. This is the point at which you want to add your food dye, keeping in mind that the powdered sugar will make it ever so lighter.

Step Eight:

Once you’ve got your butter, jam, and food dye mixed and ready, you can begin adding the powdered sugar. Add 1/2 cup at a time so you can keep an eye on the thickness. If you get to the end and think the frosting isn’t thick enough, then add more powdered sugar.

Step Nine:

Once your frosting is ready, transfer it to a piping bag with the tip of your choice or do what I did and put it in a ziplock bag and snip the corner.

If my cakes are not cool by the time I am finished making the frosting, I go ahead and let it sit in the fridge for a little bit.

Step Ten:

Once your cakes are nice and cool, pipe, smear, or splatter them with your lovely buttercream frosting.

I opted for the pipe and smear combo because it wasn’t until after I started piping that I decided that I wanted to put a lil bitty dollop of rose jam in the center, which was a very good decision. So I recommend you do as did and add a bitty bit of jam to the top.