Middle Earth Ranger Forum

So I have recently been doing a bit of baking and experimenting with honey and I have come up with what I think is a fairly solid representation of the Beorning honey cake.
I have kept it as simple as possible and where possible tried to keep to period ingredients although there are some I have used for ease do have historical alternatives and I will discuss these at the end but what i present here is the most rounded version of the recipe to date.
Taste and texture wise they are something akin to a honey banana bread, they will keep fresh for up to 3 days (by which time they are all eaten) and one is enough to keep me going from 5am until 3pm while performing moderate intensity work.
The smaller loaf cakes I have been making seem quite resilient to damage as well, I’ve been bouncing them around with zero breakage so far. They are also dairy and gluten free.


Honey cakes with strawberries, honeycomb and greek yoghurt

Makes 1 large or 4 small cakes
The wet ingredients
4 eggs
½ cup honey
1tsp vanilla essence
2tbsp olive oil

The dry ingredients
2 cups Hazelnut meal
2.5tbsp plain flour
1tsp baking powder

The method
Preheat oven to 160c/320f
Whisk together all wet ingredients until well mixed, then add all dry ingredients and continue whisking until mixed.
Pour batter into a greased and lined cake tin (It is a wet batter so will likely stick)
Bake for 25 minutes or until a knife/skewer inserted into the cake comes out clean

And that’s it, it’s a really simple recipe.

As to those ingredients Baking powder could be easily substituted for buttermilk or molasses or another raising agent.
The vanilla essence is just a taste thing and it too could simply be swapped out for more honey.
The olive oil could be changed for any sort of oil you prefer.
I used coconut flour but again that's just preference.
Almond meal is an option in place of the hazelnut but makes a moister crumb, great for home eating but less so for the trail.

Macro nutrients per small cake/quarter of large cake
Calories 567
Protein - 15g
Carbohydrates - 38g
Fiber - 7g
Sugars - 34g
Fat - 39g


The beaten wet ingredients


The finished batter


Tinned


Baked


An almond meal version of the cake... so golden!

that looks so nice

Sounds alot like sponge cake. Looks good i would make it myself to try out but im alergic to nuts.

Nice.... thanks for sharing! I can typically burn water as a cook, but I'm going to give these a try.

Rob

Oh wow! That looks absolutely delicious! Thank you for sharing! I may just have to try it for myself!

Well, I definitely know what I am making this weekend! Thanks for the recipe Eofor!

Cimrandir wrote:Well, I definitely know what I am making this weekend!

If you like a sweet cake, a good healthy drizzle of honey on top before it hits the oven is also an option.

I've been adding this to mine as it gives it more of a honey kick than the base recipe.

Eofor wrote: ↑Tue Sep 15, 2020 1:31 pm I used coconut flour but again that's just preference.

Eofor, was this to replace the plain flour? Can this be substituted for any sort of flour (thinking gluten free)?

If you reduce the eggs by 1/2 and add another 4 tablespoons of honey and lay off the baking powder, you'll get a more condensed and slightly sweeter version. Instead of a cake, you'll get more of a cookie which takes up a lot less volume in your pack.

Barandir wrote: ↑Sat May 13, 2023 3:12 pm Eofor, was this to replace the plain flour? Can this be substituted for any sort of flour (thinking gluten free)?

Plain GF will work fine, I am a coeliac so when I say any type of flour you can be sure it works with gluten free!

Awesome Eofor, thank you! My little sister is gluten intolerant so these should be a great treat!

You and your sister are most welcome Barandir, I'm actually a baker and have been GF for 35 or so years now and have a wealth of recipes tricks and hints if ever you need something.

If you're making them for home and aren't aiming for accurate ingredients I would absolutely trade the hazelnut meal for almond meal.

Thank you so much, I would love some more baking recipes, especially more gluten free ones! I work in fine dining so my cooking skills have vastly expanded over the last couple of years but I still have very little experience baking.

Thanks. I'm going to try this recipe. Maybe wash it down with some mead that I made.

I have no picture-proof but I can say that Eofor's recipe is both easy and delicious. I made it some time ago for my gaming group and they all loved it! Per Eofor's recommendation, I added a healthy scoop of plain yoghurt into the wet mix which definitely added to it. I have some left-over hazelnut meal that I really need to use so I may make some more soon.