I made this honey cake for a fundraiser for World Central Kitchen in Ukraine in 2022. World Central Kitchen is a wonderful organization that does humanitarian work around the world and you can help them in their mission by donating $30 to receive a video of my class featuring this recipe. Every dollar goes to World Central Kitchen.
Update: We raised over $33,000 for World Central Kitchen! If you missed the class, you still have an opportunity to purchase the recording or donate. Here’s where to do it.
This honey cake is unique in the way it is made and baked. There is honey in the layers, the filling and the buttercream is made with honey instead of sugar. I decorated it with easy-to-make sunflowers, the national flower of Ukraine. In the class, I will show you step by step how to create this cake.
Honey Cake Ingredients
- Honey: Of course! The star ingredient that gives every layer of this cake sweetness and flavor.
- Mild Oil: You’ll need oil, such as vegetable oil, for this cake. You’ll want to avoid olive oil or anything else with a distinct flavor.
- Eggs: This recipe requires a lot of eggs for the cake layers, plus egg whites for the buttercream.
- Buttercream: You’ll find the buttercream recipe below, and the honey gives it a wonderful, distinct flavor. It’s a large recipe so you have enough for the cake and the flower decorations.
Tips and Tricks
- I recommend watching the video. The $30 goes to a wonderful cause, and it will help you may the recipe.
- Don’t skip the flowers! They are easier than you may think, and give the cake an elegant look.
- Check out the recipe below for all the equipment and a few helpful notes.
Equipment
- Stand Mixer with paddle and whisk attachments
- Wilton Fluted Star Tip #32 w/coupler Mine requires a coupler, but the one linked here does not.
- 2 or 3 Wilton Leaf Tip #366
Ingredients
Cake
- 1/2 cup (170g) honey
- 1/2 tsp baking soda
- 8 tbsp (113g) unsalted butter at room temperature
- 1/2 cup (120ml) mild-flavored oil such as vegetable oil
- 1 1/4 cups (250g) granulated sugar
- 1 tbsp vanilla extract homemade vanilla extract
- 4 eggs at room temperature
- 4 egg yolks at room temperature
- 2 2/3 cups (320g) all-purpose flour
- 2 tsp baking powder
- 1 tsp kosher salt
- 1/2 cup (120ml) whole milk at room temperature
- 1/2 cup (120g) sour cream at room temperature
Whipped Cream
- 2 cups (480ml) heavy whipping cream
- 1/2 cup (120g) sour cream
- 2 tbsp honey
- 1 tsp vanilla extract homemade vanilla extract
Honey Buttercream
- 3/4 cup (255g) honey
- 1/2 cup (120ml) egg whites (from about 3 eggs) at room temperature
- 1 1/2 cups (330g) unsalted butter at room temperature
- 1 tsp vanilla extract homemade vanilla extract
- pinch salt
Instructions
Cake
- Preheat the oven to 350°F / 175°C. Generously grease as many 8-inch / 20cm cake pans as you have, then line them with greased parchment paper. (To bake the nine layers, you will have to bake multiple batches. The more pans you have, the faster this will go).
- In a medium-sized pot heat the honey over medium heat until just simmering around the edges. Turn off the heat, add the baking soda, stirring constantly until the honey foams, thickens and turns from light color to a caramel color, about 2 minutes. Transfer into a bowl to cool.
- In a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream the butter on medium-high speed until creamy and smooth, about 1 minute.
- Turn the mixer speed to medium; add the oil, sugar, and vanilla to the butter; and beat for about 5 minutes, until the mixture is light in color and about double in volume.
- Turn the speed to medium-low and add the eggs and egg yolks, one at a time, mixing each until incorporated before adding the next. Scrape the bowl after each addition.
- In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, and salt until well combined. In a liquid measuring cup, whisk together the milk and sour cream.
- Add one-third of the flour mixture to the butter mixture and mix until combined. Scrape the bowl and add half of the milk mixture, mixing until combined. Repeat with another one-third flour, the remaining milk mixture, and then finish with the final one-third flour, scraping the bowl and paddle after each addition.
- Fold in the cooled honey mixture.
- Pour 150g (3/4 cup) of the batter into the prepared pans and spread evenly using an offset spatula. Gently tap the pans on the counter to release excess air bubbles.
- Bake until golden and set, about 12-14 minutes. Remove the cakes from the pans, cool completely on a wire rack. Line the pans again with greased parchment and bake the next batch of cakes. Repeat until you have baked all of the batter. If you are not weighing the batter, you may get more or less layers.
Whipped Cream
- In a stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment, combine the heavy whipping cream, sour cream, honey, and vanilla and beat on medium speed (you read that right) until just thick—it will start to leave marks from the whip in the cream. Take the bowl off the mixer and continue whipping by hand, using the whisk attachment, for several seconds until it reaches the desired consistency; this way, you can ensure the mixer won’t take it too far.
Assemble the Cake
- Remove the parchment paper and place one cake layer on a serving plate.
- Using an offset spatula, spread 75g (1/2 cup or about a 1/8-inch /3mm-thick) layer of the whipped cream over the cake, making sure it goes all the way to the edge. Place the next cake over that and top with another 75g layer of whipped cream. Repeat with all the cake layers, leaving the last layer of cake without whipped cream. Wrap with plastic and refrigerate the cake layers.
- While the cake is setting up in the refrigerator, make the honey buttercream and create the buttercream sunflowers.
Honey Buttercream (see notes)
- In the bowl of a stand mixer, combine the honey and egg whites.
- Put 1 inch / 2.5cm of water in the bottom of a double boiler or a saucepan and bring to a gentle simmer over medium heat. Place the bowl over the simmering water and stir the mixture with a rubber spatula, until melted, hot (140°F / 50°C), and thin.
- Place the bowl on the stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment and beat on medium-high speed, until the mixture is light, fluffy, glossy, and the bowl feels at just about room temperature. (If the egg whites are not cooled off sufficiently, the butter will melt when you add it.)
- Once the egg whites are whipped and cooled, turn the mixer speed to medium, add the butter, 2 Tbsp at a time, and beat until incorporated. Once you have finished adding the butter and it has mixed for about 1 minute, the buttercream will be creamy and glossy looking again. Add the vanilla, and salt and mix on low speed until well blended. Can be used right away or covered and refrigerated for 7 days or frozen for up to a month.
- Divide the buttercream into 4 bowls. Leave one bowl white. Use yellow, orange, and black gel food coloring to color each of the other bowls of buttercream.
Decorate
- Using an offset spatula, cover the top of the cake with a smooth layer of white buttercream, about ¼-inch-thick. Place the remaining white buttercream in a pastry bag fitted with an Ateco Star Tip #821 and pipe an alternating shell border around the top of the cake.
- Fill a pastry bag fitted with a Wilton Fluted Star Tip #4B with the black buttercream. Fill a pastry bag fitted with a Wilton Leaf Tip #366 with the yellow buttercream. Fill a pastry bag fitted with a Wilton Leaf Tip #366 with the orange buttercream.
- Pipe a bit of buttercream onto the large Rose Nail and secure a 3-inch-sqare piece of wax paper on the nail. Use the black buttercream to pipe one star in the center, then five stars around it to create the center of the sunflower. Switch to the yellow buttercream and start at the edge of the black stars, holding the beak of the leaf tip right next to the black stars and pipe about ¾-inch-long petals all the way around. As you finish each petal, lift the tip slightly, so they don’t lay flat on the paper, but curl like a real petal. Pipe another row of ¼-inch-long petals over the first row, but in between, so you can see each row clearly. Gently slide the flower covered wax paper onto a baking sheet.
- Repeat the sunflower with the black and orange buttercream. You can also use the yellow and orange together to make a multicolored sunflower.
- Once you fill the sheet with sunflowers, place it in the freezer for at least 20 minutes. They can be made a day ahead. Once they are frozen, you can peel them off the wax paper and place them on the cake.
Serve
- Serve the cake at room temperature. Store remaining cake in the refrigerator, wrapping the layers, but leaving the flowers uncovered. The cake itself is good either at room temperature or refrigerated, but the buttercream and flowers really are best at room temperature, so they aren’t hard.
Notes
Notes on Buttercream:
After you have added about half of the butter to the buttercream, it may look curdled and runny. This is normal, and you should continue adding the rest of the butter.
This makes a large quantity of buttercream for this cake, I wanted to make sure you have plenty for your flowers, but you may end up with extra and it can be frozen.
Reprinted from Zoë Bakes Cakes. Copyright 2021 by Zoë François. Published by Ten Speed Press, an imprint of Random House, a division of Penguin Random House.
Tried this recipe?Let us know how it was!
I made this last year and it was sensational! I didn’t make the flowers then but want to make the cake again this year, this time with the flowers. I had purchased the video last year but now I can’t seem to access it. Any suggestions? I don’t want to pay for it again.
Thanks!
Hi Faith, I was able to confirm your purchase and I’ll resend you the link to watch. I’m so glad you enjoyed the cake last year! Watch your email! I’ll send it shortly.
I love this recipe, the filling was very light, while the cake was super moist and balanced. However the buttercream flowers were a little too buttery and it was hard to pipe
Do you think this cake would freeze well? I am needing to make it ahead of time for a shower. I have made it once before for a party and it was delightful!! I am just worried about the thin layers freezing and then thawing out to decorate and serve
Hi Sydney, yes! If you bake and assemble, this cake freezes well. Just add the flower decorations the day you serve it. Enjoy!
Hi,
This cake looks beautiful and love that honey is included. I started by making the honey frosting…mine curdled as you noted and then changed to a wonderful whip. However, all I can taste is the just the butter. I followed the recipe to a t. I was going to use this same frosting for cupcakes also. Any ideas of how to salvage it ? Or is it supposed to taste on the buttery side? Thank you !
Hi Jess, it should taste a bit like butter, but if it is not sweet enough, you can add more honey a tablespoon at a time, until it suits you. You may prefer adding honey to an American Buttercream instead. Happy baking!
Hello, I would like to bake this at home and serve it at a friend’s house. I want to make and freeze the sunflowers as well as bake the cake layers at home. I plan to assemble the cake at my friend’s house; top it with the sunflowers and leave the whole assembled cake in the fridge a few hours until serving. Should I take the cake out of the fridge about 20 minutes before serving? Will the sunflowers and cake hold up well with this plan? Do you have any suggestions or advice? I only remember Zoe mentioning in the video that cold buttercream is hard and unappealing to eat. Thank you very much for this fundraiser and beautiful cake!!
Hi, would this recipe work using a gluten free flour blend? Any tips when making this gluten free? Thanks!
Hi Donna! Zoë has not tried it as gluten-free so can’t guarantee the results, but she always recommends that you try halving the recipe when testing as gluten free in case you don’t like the results. She also thinks a cup 4 cup all-purpose gluten free flour would be best for this. Happy baking!
Zoe had mentioned possibly making cupcakes with this recipe and having one sunflower on top of each. Love this idea. I would maybe even core it and put the whipped cream in the middle, since it was such a delightful combo. Does Zoe have a recommended bake time for cupcakes?
Hi Sarah! It will depend how big the cupcakes are, but you could start with 18-20 minutes and then check for doneness. Enjoy!
Hello! We keep our home gluten free because my granddaughter has celiac disease. I currently have King Arthur Measure for Measure gf flour and Better Batter gum-free Artisan blend gf flour. Would either of these work for this cake, and which do you think would work better in this recipe?
Ps: I love the Artisan Bread in 5 cookbooks (I have the original, healthy, and gluten free versions)
Thanks for your help!
Hi Donna! We’d suggest trying with the King Arthur measure for measure. Because Zoë hasn’t tried this recipe gluten free, she can’t guarantee the results. She always suggests halving a recipe you’re experimenting with, just in case you don’t love the results. Zoë also loves Better Batter for bread baking! So glad you’re enjoying the Bread in 5 books. Cheers!
I am not in Mpls but would love to sign up to see the presentation to support Ukraine. Please advise. I love your cakes and recipes- made the layer cake with roses on top last year and it was beautiful and scrumptious- though not as perfect of flowers as you make.
Hi Katherine, you can find all the info at this link. Thank you for your support!
Hi, I still haven’t received the email with the video. Can you let me know if it’s already sent and where it’s coming from? Thx!
Hi Eliana, have you received it now? If not, please check your spam folder. If it’s not there, feel free to reach out to me at [email protected] and we will figure it out!