I'm quite sure ABBA didn't have food on the mind while penning this song. But I usually do when I'm humming it :) A spoonful of honey is often enough to make me burst into song, if we're talking about a recipe centered on honey - that can just send me into raptures!
Ultimate Dessert Cookbook by Rosemary Wilkinson - I *love* this book. Almost as much as I love honey :) And I've been hoping to work through pretty much all the recipes in this book - maybe within the next 10 years? I don't often quest to work through a cookbook, I enjoy picking and discarding recipes, but this book is different. Every picture makes me drool. ,Every time I think I don't have a sweet tooth, this book makes me think again :)
So, one afternoon, while on aunt duty, I was flipping through this book and stumbled upon a recipe for a greek honey and lemon cake. Greek dessert? Honey?? Lemon??? Oh my! My curiosity and taste buds were totally piqued! Plus, it seemed like something the niece and nephew would totally enjoy. A whole litany of excuses to start baking! W00t!
The recipe called for a mix of semolina and all-purpose flour. I replaced the all-purpose flour with white whole wheat flour - chewy is usually good :) Also, I went for a moister cake by increasing the honey-lemon drizzle - can't quite go wrong with that!
Winnie the Pooh in A.A. Milne's 'The House at Pooh Corner'
Oh! So thrilling! :)
Servings: a standard loaf or an 8" square pan
3 T whipped spread (I went with Earth Balance)
3 T + 2 T honey
finely grated rind of 1 Meyer lemon
juice of 2 Meyer lemons
2/3 cup nonfat milk
1 1/4 cups of white whole wheat flour
1 1/2 t baking powder
1/2 t freshly grated nutmeg
1/3 cup fine semolina
2 egg whites
2 t sesame seeds
Preheat the oven to 400 F.
Grease a loaf pan and line the bottom with wax paper.
Place the margarine/whipped spread and 3 T of honey in a saucepan and heat gently till melted.
Reserve 2-3 T of lemon juice for the drizzle and add the rest of the juice to the honey mixture after taking it off the heat.
Stir in the lemon rind and milk till the mixture is smooth and blended.
Sift the flour with the baking powder and nutmeg before mixing in the semolina.
Beat the semolina mixture into to the honey mixture till completely blended.
Whisk the egg whites till they form soft peaks and fold evenly into the semolina mixture.
Spoon into the loaf or square pan and sprinkle with the sesame seeds.
Bake for 25-30 minutes till golden brown.
Mix the reserved honey and lemon juice and drizzle over the cake while it is still warm.
Cool in the pan before cutting into bars or slices to serve.
Opinion?
*sweet*! *tart*! *earthy*! Those greeks sure know how to make their desserts! The kids wolfed this down and so did the rest of us. A definite repeat!
29 comments:
Hey such tempting slices of cakes.. yummy nice photos.
kaykat, now i am singing 'honey honey, how u thrill me' ;) gosh, honey and lemon!!! i can skip my morning drink of honey and lemon juice for this;)
We love our honey too...the kids could probably have them on anything..and if it's in agorgeous cake like your's,what can be better :-)
Delicious!
No more words.. :)
Ok honey you had me thinking otherwise with your title...very smart..loved the result..*wish* you were my neighbor!...
You can thrill me with few pieces of this delicious cake anytime
wonderfullllll and deleciousss cake kaykat
Oh I can really relate to Winnie the Pooh since plain honey is my favorite sweet :)
Your dessert looks so impressive.
I also have an offer that you cannot refuse. Ha ha:) actually you can, but here goes.
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Wishing you many honey cakes and dressings ;) to come.
you won't believe this. i saw this recipe in another cookbook and bookmarked it just yesterday.
two words are popping into my head when i look at your cake: moist and mmm. is mmm a word? it should be. that looks delicious!
gr8 recipe..bookmarked it:)
Hmmm...great recipe..thanks for sharing..gonna try it right now :)
yummy! ur blog is NOT helping my diet :(
What a tender loaf. It looks really delicious!
And my mom was such a fan of ABBA, I remember her playing their songs when I was little.
Wowww...looks soo good, can't wait to try it Kay...love it!
This looks wonderful! I've never had a cake quite like this, so I can see why you were intrigued!
Kaykat - can't stop staring at those pictures. What a stunning loaf! Putting it at the top of my list right away, while Meyers are still in the market.
wow this looks fantastic, just saw it on tastespotting and couldn't resist popping over
I have a very sweet tooth and love cakes, so I too made a greek cake, pretty similar to yours which is traditionally called Basbousa in middle-east and I've been hooked to its moist texture and yummy taste since then! I chose rose syrup as a drizzle, but our lemon-honey sounds nice too K!:)
i love lemon breads.. sesame seeds and semolina flour.. fun combo. I will have to try it. I am sure my kids would wolf it down too!
gorgeous! lovely combo of flavors :)
Wow..drooling here..you rock
Nice photos. That lemon and honey cake sounds really good.
Honey, I can't see the honey that I am sure will thrill me :( I've tried loading the page 3 times :(
wow, this seriously looks good! I can almost smell it!
Yup, I would have dropped everything and made that cake. After seeing your tantalizing photos, I might actually do just that.
You're so right about Greek Desserts ... I think the Greeks make the absolute BEST desserts ever! And this one looks too good to resist!
Lovely cake and commentary -- how can you argue with Winnie the Pooh? ; ) We don't have those wonderful Meyers, but I've got to try this cake all the same.
I am definitely making that cake - I almost never actually make the recipes I read about on blogs, but this looks sooo good - and it's pretty healthy, too!
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