French Honey Spice Cake (Pain d’Épice)

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A deliciously spiced honey cake. Absolutely perfect for making in the fall season and quite easy to make too!

Course Cake and cookies

Cuisine French

Keyword honey

Prep Time 10

Cook Time 30

Total Time 40

Servings people

Calories 212

Author Simone

Equipment

10-inch cake or loaf pan 25 cm

Ingredients

250 g honey
100 ml warm milk
100 g butter melted
200 g all-purpose flour
1½ tsp baking powder
1 egg
50 g brown sugar
⅛ tsp salt
2 tsp ground cinnamon
1 tsp ground ginger
½ tsp ground nutmeg
½ tsp ground cloves

Metric - Us customary

Instructions

Preheat the oven to 320°F/160˚C (conventional oven).
Add the honey, milk, and butter to a small saucepan. Heat gently until the butter has melted and everything is well combined.
In a bowl, combine the flour, baking powder, brown sugar, salt, cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, and cloves.
Pour the warm honey mixture into the dry ingredients and stir until combined. Add the egg and mix until you have a smooth batter. Don’t overmix.
Pour the batter into a well-greased pan and bake in the preheated oven for about 30 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean or with a few dry crumbs.

Notes

Traditional pain d’épice

The recipe above is the version I got from Arnaud’s mother, made with butter, egg, and a little brown sugar. For a more traditional pain d’épice, you can leave those out. This version relies on honey for its sweetness and can also be made with a combination of rye flour and all-purpose flour.

For the traditional version, use:

250 g honey
250 g all-purpose flour, or 125 g rye flour + 125 g all-purpose flour
100 ml milk
1 tsp baking powder
½ tsp baking soda
2 tsp ground cinnamon
1 tsp ground ginger
½ tsp ground cloves
½ tsp anise seed

So, compared with the main recipe, omit the butter, egg, and brown sugar, add ½ teaspoon baking soda, and use anise seed instead of nutmeg. You can also replace half of the all-purpose flour with rye flour for a more traditional variation.

Preheat the oven to 320°F.

Combine the honey and milk in a small saucepan and heat gently until the honey has dissolved.

In a bowl, combine the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and spices. Add the warm honey mixture and stir until you have a smooth batter.

Pour into a greased pan and bake for about 30 minutes.

Nutrition