Anytime Honey Cake

This Honey Cake is soft, moist, tender, and easy to make with simple pantry ingredients you likely already have on hand. Plus, it’s filled with the honey flavor we love!

As mentioned, this cake is naturally sweetened with honey; there is no refined sugar, but it is sweet enough that you will never miss it!

And the crumb? Oh my, perfection! So incredibly tender that I have no words. (Well, maybe a few.) You’ll have to try this one and see what you think!

When is Honey Cake Served?

Anytime: Not just for dessert, this cake makes a delicious mid-day treat along with tea, a beautiful addition to an afternoon tea, an afternoon snack, or a midnight craving. It’s perfect anytime you’re in the mood for a naturally sweetened, utterly delicious cake.

If you love easy cake recipes, I call them “Anytime” cakes at 31Daily. You might want to try my Anytime Almond Cake or Anytime Apple Cake.

Rosh Hashanah: Honey Cake is the sweet treat many Jews eat on Rosh Hashanah, also known as Jewish New Year, which symbolizes hope for a sweet year to come.

According to the Hebrew calendar, the Jewish New Year is one of the two High Holy days in Judaism (Yom Kippur is the other). Honey cakes are traditionally eaten on Rosh Hashanah because honey symbolizes hope for sweetness in the coming year.

Honey Cake Ingredients

• All-Purpose Flour: This cake is easy to make because it uses pantry ingredients you likely have on hand. All-purpose flour is the only flour you need to make this simple cake.
• Baking powder and baking soda: Be sure both are fresh to ensure a light and fluffy cake.
• Butter: Both salted and unsalted butter work well in this recipe. You may want to reduce the salt in the recipe if you use salted butter. It’s important to use room-temperature butter for the best cake texture.
• Large eggs: Provides body and structure to the cake.
• Honey: Use your favorite honey, whether clover honey, wildflower, or even orange blossom honey, which will complement the flavors in the cake beautifully.
• Orange juice and zest: While you’ll only need a small amount, it’s amazing how adding orange elevates the honey flavor.
• Vanilla extract: to add delicious flavor.
• Almonds: Adding a sprinkling of sliced almonds to the top of the cake contrasts the tender and fluffy honey cake. You can eliminate the topping if you’re not a fan of almonds.

Kitchen Equipment Needed

This easy cake recipe doesn’t require a lot of kitchen tools to make this cake. I use a stand mixer to cream the butter and honey together. A hand-held electric mixer will also work. You could also cream the butter and honey together using a whisk if needed.

The cake bakes in an 8-inch or 9-inch round cake pan, springform pan, or loaf pan. What I’m using in this recipe is an 8-inch round cake pan, which is my favorite, and an 8-inch round parchment paper.

How to Make Honey Cake

More detailed step-by-step instructions are in the recipe card below, but here is a brief overview of how to make this delicious Honey Cake.

Preheat the oven to 350°F and generously grease an 8″ or 9″ round cake pan.

Whisk the flour, baking powder, salt, and baking soda in a small bowl. Then cream the butter and honey in a separate bowl until smooth and fluffy. Add the eggs, one at a time, and mix until combined.

Gradually add the flour mixture, stir in the orange juice and zest, and mix until combined. The batter will be thick but soft.

Transfer the batter to the prepared pan, smooth the surface, and sprinkle with sliced almonds.

Bake for 40-45 minutes or until a knife inserted into the center comes out clean (in my oven, this cake is done at about 38 minutes so begin checking it at around 35 minutes). If the top begins to overly brown, cover loosely with foil.

Let cool in the pan for 20 minutes before slicing.

How to Serve Honey Cake?

Anyway you please! How about a scoop of vanilla ice cream, melting into the already tender and moist crumb and adding more decadence with drizzled honey? Oh my… heaven!