Chef Louise Briskie-deBeer,
LuLu’s Restaurant
This dense honey cake is loaded with spice. It gets a punch of flavour with a drizzling of South African-inspired orange confit, an intense preserve bursting with the sweet flavours of citrus and ginger.
Ingredients
Honey Cake
1 cup honey
1/4 tsp grated nutmeg
1/2 tsp ground allspice
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
1/4 tsp ginger powder
1/2 cup room temperature butter
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup hot strong black coffee
2 eggs
3 cups flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
Orange Confit
6 large navel oranges
6 cups sugar
6 cups water
juice of 2 lemons
3-inch piece of fresh ginger
Method
Honey Cake
- Preheat oven to 350ºF.
- Butter and flour a 9″x11″ pan.
- In a bowl, combine first seven ingredients and mix well.
- Whisk in coffee and eggs.
- Sift in flour, baking powder and baking soda. Mix well.
- Place in oven for 45 mins.
- Cool cake on wire rack, and while still warm, glaze with extra honey.
Orange Confit
- Zest oranges and wash well.
- Cut a 1 1/2-inch deep ‘X’ in the bottom of the orange.
- In a saucepan, make simple syrup by heating sugar and water. Peel and slice ginger. Add to syrup.
- Add oranges to syrup and bring to a boil. Simmer over low heat. Turn fruit occasionally to ensure even cooking, until oranges become translucent and the syrup is thick (approx. 3 hrs).
- Remove from heat and mix in lemon juice. Allow to cool for several hours.
- Place in jars and store in refrigerator (keeps for one month).
Yield 8 servings