Chocolate Honey Cake for a Sweet New Year

As I've mentioned in my last few blogs, September is National Honey Month, so here's another Chocolate Honey Cake Recipe. I posted a Chocolate Honey Cake recipe before, and I really like that Chocolate Honey Cake. It's quite different from the one below.  Either of these cakes would also be great to make to celebrate Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year, that begins on Wednesday night. Honey is a traditional food that symbolizes a Sweet New Year. Add Chocolate, and the year is bound to be sweet!

If you read my blog, you'll know I'm quite taken with many of Nigella Lawson's recipes, especially those with chocolate. Here then is my adaptation of her Chocolate Honey Cake, aka Honey Bee Cake. She decorates her Chocolate Honey Cake with the most adorable marzipan bees, but I never get quite that involved. Too bad, because they're really beautiful.  And, honey cake doesn't have to be dry and heavy. This cake is incredibly moist! As I've mentioned before, though, your final product will be different depending on the type and brand of chocolate and the type of honey you use.

Chocolate Honey Cake

Ingredients

Cake:
4 ounces dark chocolate (50-65% cacao), broken into pieces
1 1/3 cups soft light brown sugar
2 sticks soft sweet butter
1/2 cup local honey
2 eggs
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 tablespoon DARK cocoa
1 cup boiling water

Sticky Honey Glaze:
1/4 cup water
1/2 cup honey
6 ounces dark chocolate (50-65% cacao), finely chopped
1/2 cup plus 2 tablespoons confectioners' sugar

Directions
1. Have all ingredients at room temperature.
2. Melt the chocolate from the cake part of the ingredients list in a large bowl, either in the microwave or in a bowl over a pan of simmering water. Set aside to cool slightly.
3. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F, and butter and line a 9-inch springform pan.
4. Beat together sugar and softened butter until airy and creamy, and then add the honey.
5. Add 1 of the eggs, beating it in with a tablespoon of the flour, and then the other egg with another tablespoon of flour.
6. Fold in the melted chocolate, and then the rest of the flour and baking soda.
7. Add the cocoa pushed through a tea strainer to ensure no lumps, and last of all, beat in the boiling water.
8. Mix everything together well to make a smooth batter and pour into the prepared springform pan.
9. Bake for up to 1 -1/2 hours, but check the cake after 45 minutes. If it's getting too dark, cover the top lightly with aluminium foil and keep checking every 15 minutes.
10. Let the cake cool completely in the pan on a rack.

Glaze: 
1. To make the glaze, bring the water and honey to a boil in a pot, then turn off the heat and add the finely chopped chocolate, swirling it around to melt in the hot liquid.
2. Leave it for a few minutes, then whisk together.
3. Add the sugar through a sieve and whisk again until smooth.

Putting it together:
1. Choose your plate or stand, and cut 4 strips of parchment paper and form a square outline on the plate. Reason: So when you put the cake on it and ice it, the icing won't run  all over the plate (you can always cut the excess off later).
2. Unclip the springform pan and set the thoroughly cooled cake on the prepared plate.

3. Pour the glaze over the cold chocolate honey cake. It might dribble a bit down the edges, but don't worry too much about it. The glaze stays tacky for some time (which is what gives it its melting goeyness) so ice in time for the glaze to harden a little,  at least an hour before you want to serve it.

Nigella Lawson decorates this great cake with marzipan bees. For the recipe for them, and for her exact recipe, go HERE.