Honey Lemon Beehive Cake
Submitted by frick on September 21, 2009 at 6:46 pm

Note: To increase the honey flavor, I used no milk in the frosting nor the icing (glaze), but used honey instead, a definite improvement. I also added the finely grated zest of one lemon to the cake. Cake should bake as well in a standard bundt pan but I haven't tried it yet.

If you are baking this in a bundt pan, you may choose to use just the Honey Icing (more a thick glaze), and I might double the quantity. If you wish to split the cake and use a filling, the buttercream is very good, a recipe worth using for other cakes. The flavor is subtle and unexpectedly delicious.

Cake:
2 ¾ cups flour
1 ½ tsp. baking powder
½ tsp salt
1 cup butter, softened
1 ¼ cups sugar
1/3 cup honey
4 eggs
½ tsp vanilla
¾ cup milk
2 tbsp. lemon juice

Buttercream frosting:
1 ½ cups powdered sugar, sifted
1/3 cup butter, softened
1 – 2 tbsp. milk (I used honey)
¼ tsp vanilla

Honey Icing:
1 ½ cups powdered sugar, sifted
1 tbsp. honey
1 – 3 tbsp. milk (I used honey)

Recipe includes Royal Icing for Bees and directions for forming, which I have not included here since if you buy the pan, the recipe accompanies it. They would be a nice addition to the top of the cake baked in bundt form. If you need this, let me know.

Heat oven to 300 degrees F. Grease and flour Beehive pan; set aside. In medium bowl, sift together flour, baking powder and salt; set aside. In large bowl, beat together butter, sugar and honey, scraping bowl often. Add eggs one at a time, blending well after each addition. Stir in vanilla (I added lemon zest at this time). Reduce speed to low and gradually add flour mixture, alte4rnating with milk, mixing just until blended. Blend in lemon juice. Divide batter evenly among halves of pan, spreading butter to touch top edges of pan, so batter is lower in center. Bake at 300 degrees F for 50-60 minutes, until toothpick inserted comes out clean. Cool 15 minutes in pan. Invert onto cooling rack and cool completely. Glaze with Honey Icing or frost with Honey Buttercream.

To make buttercream: In medium bowl, combine powdered sugar, butter, 1 Tbsp milk (or honey) and vanilla. Beat until light and fluffy, adding additional milk (or honey) if necessary; cover with damp paper towel and set aside.

To make honey icing: In a medium bowl, combine all honey icing ingredients; blend well, adding milk (or honey) until icing is consistency of very thick cream.