Honey Rose Cake
This Honey Rose Cake is a simple honey-sweetened cake soaked in honey rose syrup. No frosting needed – decorate with edible flowers if desired.
My parents own some farmland about an hour from where I live. One of the benefits of this land is that every year, the farmers who rent it give us some honey from the land. A lot of honey. Like 3 very large buckets. I have two buckets in my possession at the moment.
My parents have taken to using the honey to sweeten their coffee instead of sugar, but aside from the occasional morning toast, I don’t have a regular use for it. So recently, I’ve started looking for recipes that use honey as the main sweetener, and I wanted to come up with a recipe for a honey-flavored cake. I envisioned it with a slight floral taste, and thought rose would be a good fit.
That’s when I decided to develop this Honey Rose Cake. The first round of testing definitely needed some improvement. The cake itself had too much honey, so it browned too much during cooking. It also didn’t have enough syrup, and you couldn’t taste the rose flavor at all.
After cutting back on the amount of honey in the batter, slightly reducing the baking temperature, and increasing the amount of syrup used, the cake was a success. I served it plain, but it would be great with a dollop of honey-flavored yogurt, vanilla ice cream, or fruit compote.
How to Make Honey Rose Cake
Start by prepping a 9-inch round cake pan by greasing the sides and lining the bottom with parchment paper. Note that you can’t use a smaller 8-inch cake pan here, or the batter will overflow. If needed, use an 8×8″ square pan instead.
Whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt in a medium bowl. Set aside for now. In a separate medium bowl or large measuring cup, whisk together the eggs, canola oil, and Greek yogurt. Set aside.
Add the softened butter and honey to a large bowl or the bowl of your stand mixer. Cream them together on medium speed until fluffy and pale yellow.
Add half of the flour mixture to the butter mixture and mix on low speed until incorporated. Scrape down the sides of the bowl, and pour in half of the egg mixture. Mix on high speed until well mixed. Scrape down the sides of the bowl, and repeat this process with the remaining flour and egg mixtures.
Pour the batter into the prepared pan and smooth the top with a spatula. Bake until a toothpick inserted into the center of the cake comes out with a few crumbs clinging to it. Using a fork, toothpick, or skewer, poke small holes all over the top of the cake.
While the cake is cooking, make the honey rose syrup. Add the honey and water to a small saucepan, and heat over medium heat until the honey is dissolved into the water to form a syrup. Remove the saucepan from the heat and stir in the rose water.
While the cake is still warm, pour the syrup slowly and evenly all over the top of the cake, pausing to let the syrup absorb if it pools on the top. Make sure to use all of the syrup. Let the cake rest/cool for at least 30 minutes in the pan before serving.
To serve the cake, run a paring knife around the edges of the pan to loosen. Place a large plate or platter over the cake pan, and carefully invert them so that the pan is on top of the plate. The cake should fall right out onto the plate. Peel off the parchment paper and cut the cake into wedges.
Serve with fresh fruit or fruit compote, yogurt or ice cream, or an additional drizzle of liquid honey if desired.
Honey Rose Cake Ingredients
- All-purpose flour
- Baking powder
- Baking soda
- Table salt
- Large eggs
- Canola oil or other neutral-flavored cooking oil
- Plain Greek yogurt – Alternatively, use honey-flavored Greek yogurt. Opt for 2% milkfat or higher for the best results.
- Honey – You will need honey both to sweeten the cake, and to make the honey rose syrup you’ll pour over the cake after it’s cooked. The type of honey that you use really doesn’t matter (liquid honey, creamed honey, or honey that has crystallized will all work), but if you plan to drizzle additional honey over your cake slice when you serve it, you’ll want to make sure you liquify it first.
- Softened unsalted butter
- Water – Use whatever water you normally drink. Cold tap water is fine.
- Rose water – Rose water is exactly what it sounds like: rose-infused water. It’s often used in sweets and desserts in Middle Eastern cooking, but can be used in skin care too, so make sure the one you choose is meant for cooking and not purchased in the cosmetics department. Look for it in small glass bottles in the international aisle.
Want more cakes that don’t need frosting?
Honey Rose Cake Nutrition Notes
The nutrition information in the recipe below is for one slice of cake if you cut the cake into 12 pieces. If you cut the pieces larger (or smaller) than this, the nutrition information will vary accordingly.
Honey Rose Cake
Equipment
Ingredients
Instructions
- Move an oven rack to the middle position and turn the oven on to 325°F. Prepare a 9-inch round baking pan by lining the bottom with parchment paper and generously greasing the sides with butter or canola oil. Set aside.
- Whisk together 1 ¼ cups (150 g) all-purpose flour, 2 teaspoons (8 g) baking powder, ½ teaspoon (2 g) baking soda, and ½ teaspoon (3 g) table salt in a medium bowl. Set aside for now.
- In a separate small bowl or large measuring cup, whisk together 4 large eggs, ¼ cup (56 g) canola oil, and ¼ cup (50 g) plain or honey-flavored Greek yogurt. Set aside.
- Add ½ cup (170 g) honey and ¼ cup (57 g) softened unsalted butter to a large bowl or the bowl of your stand mixer (fit it with a paddle attachment if using). Cream the honey and butter together on medium speed until it appears pale yellow and fluffy. Scrape down the sides of the bowl with a spatula.
- Add half of the dry ingredients to the bowl with the creamed honey butter. Mix on low speed until all of the flour is incorporated. Scrape down the sides of the bowl, then add half of the egg mixture. Mix on high speed until evenly mixed. Scrape down the sides of the bowl, then repeat this procedure again with the remaining flour mixture and egg mixture.
- Pour the batter into the prepared pan and smooth the top of the batter with a spatula. Bake for about 45 minutes until a toothpick inserted into the center of the cake comes out with crumbs clinging to it.
- While the cake is cooking, make the honey rose syrup. Add ½ cup (170 g) honey and ¼ cup (60 g) water to a small saucepan. Heat over medium heat and stir until the honey melts and mixes with the water to a syrupy consistency. Turn off the heat. Stir in ¼ cup (60 g) rose water. Cover the saucepan to keep warm until the cake comes out of the oven.
- While the cake is still warm and in the pan, poke holes all over the top of the cake with a toothpick or skewer. You don't want the holes to be too large, so don't use anything larger, like a chopstick.
- Very slowly pour the honey rose syrup all over the top of the cake. If at any point you notice that the syrup is not sinking in, but pooling on the top, stop pouring and wait a couple of minutes for the syrup to absorb. Use all of the syrup.
- Let the cake cool/rest for at least 30 minutes in the pan before removing it from the pan. To do this, carefully run a paring knife around the edges of the cake to loosen it. Place a large plate or platter over the cake pan, then carefully invert the cake pan over the plate. The cake should just fall out of the pan onto the plate. If not, tap the pan a few times to loosen it.
- Serve the cake at room temperature or slightly warm. It can certainly be served as it is, but feel free to dress it up with some rose petals (make sure they haven't been sprayed with anything) or other edible flowers, or Greek yogurt, ice cream, fresh fruit or fruit compote, or a drizzle of liquid honey.
Nutrition
Notes
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