Eggless Honey Cake

First of all, a very very happy new year to all my readers. May this year make all of us a better, a happier and a contended person. So, here is my first post of the year. Let me confess one thing…. Though, Chennai is full of Iyengar bakeries, I haven’t yet visited any of them. Having grown up in Mumbai (especially the area where we grew), bakeries were never a big part of our life. For us, snacks meant what amma made at home. And she was very adventurous with her experiments and limited resources. She would try out

various Maharashtrian, Punjabi, Sindhi recipes. So, we were not brought up with the culture of eating outside food. Eating out was also not that common during those times. During an occasional visit to a restaurant, we would end up ordering the same dish for all of us. And the most ordered dish would be either a plate of vada sambar or masala dosa 🙂

It’s only after I went to the hostel, I started eating restaurant food more frequently. But then the middle class mentality would never let me spend too much 🙂 After I got married and came to Chennai, we have travelled a lot and eaten restaurant food n number of times. But we still don’t have a culture of ordering food from restaurants. You guys might be surprised to know that we have till now never ordered from Zomato or swiggy 🙂 We always preferred Dine in to take aways. And our last visit to a restaurant was on March 21st 2020, the night we shifted to the new flat. Then the while lockdown started….. Anyways …. Cutting all these stories short, I have never tasted any of these Iyengar bakeries delicacies, be it kaars buns or masala cookies or these cakes.

This honey cake is a very flavourful cake with a basic vanilla or pineapple flavoured cake drenched with sugar and honey syrup, smeared with fruit jam and then finally garnished with dessicated coconut. On tasting a piece, Sanjeev exclaimed that it tastes very similar to the Iyengar bakery one 🙂 I was like !!!! When have you eaten it? Maybe before marriage? Or during his Bangalore IISc days or bachelor days in Chennai. Hmm….. I made this for our apartment security guards on New year’s Eve.

One thing I have realised is that, I should have taken two cups (around 250 grams) of flour to get a better looking slice. Mine was a shorter cake. I shall surely try this again and post better pictures. As always it’s a 240 ml cup. Please do try it and I shall look forward to your feedback.

Ingredients:

For the cake:

• All purpose flour 200 gm(11/2cups)
• Salt a pinch
• Sugar 100 gm (1/2 cup)
• Baking powder 3/4 tsp
• Baking soda 1/4 tsp
• Fresh cream 1/4 cup
• Milk 240 ml (1 cup)
• Curd 1/4 cup
• Oil 60 ml (1/4 cup)
• Vanilla/pineapple extract 1 tsp

For soaking:

• Sugar 2-3 tbsp
• Water 4 tbsp
• Honey 2 tbsp

For the garnish:

• Mixed fruit jam 2-3 tbsp
• Dessicated coconut 2-3 tbsp

Method:

How to make the cake :

• Preheat the oven at around 150-170 degree Celsius with both rods on and the fan mode on for around ten minutes.
• Grease a seven inch square pan and dust it with flour. Tap and remove the excess flour. You can also use a seven/eight inch round pan.

• Sieve the flour, salt and rising agents two to three times.

• In a mixing jar, add the cream, milk, curd and oil and mix well.

• Add the sugar (you can powder it before using) to this and whisk well till the sugar is completely dissolved.
• Now to this mixture, add the extract and combine.
• Transfer the liquid mixture into the dry ingredients and fold gently.

• Pour the batter into the prepared cake tin and tap it to remove air bubbles if any.

• Bake the cake for around 30-40 minutes or till a toothpick inserted into the centre comes out clean.

• You can switch on only the top rod during the last 2-4 minutes to get a beautiful crust.
• Remove the tin from the oven and place it on a cooling rack for atleast 5-6 minutes.
• Invert the cake slowly onto the wire rack and cool completely.

How to make the syrup:

• Boil the sugar and water till the sugar dissolves completely.

• Add the honey and simmer it till the syrup is slightly thick.
• Cool and keep it aside.

How to assemble the cake:

• Heat the jam on low flame till it’s smooth and flowing. Do this just before you are ready to apply it on the cake or else it will solidify again. In that case, heat again for few minutes.
• Once the cake is cooled, you can cut out a thin layer from the top if the top appears a bit hard.
• Poke holes on the cake with a toothpick or screwer.

• Brush the cake liberally with the prepared sugar honey syrup.

• Now apply the melted jam on top of the cake using a palatte knife or spatula.

• Sprinkle dessicated coconut on top of the cake and allow it to set for 5-10 minutes.

• Trim the edges if desired and cut them into neat pieces.

• Enjoy with a cup of tea or coffee.

Notes:

• You can use any jam of your choice. Mixed fruit, strawberry, raspberry jam would give a nice colour to the cake.
• You may use unsweetened coconut flakes.
• Fresh cream can be replaced with equal quantity of fresh non sour curd.