Honey cakes bake up like the summer solstice in a pan.
Golden, sweet and almost glowing, this beautiful, pull-apart honey cake sweetens any Litha or Solstice ritual.
So tie on an apron and follow the recipe below to make your midsummer magical.
(For other ideas on how to celebrate the summer solstice, check out 10 Ways to Celebrate Litha.)
Please note: This post may contain affiliate links.
Contents
Why honey cakes?
Across a variety of European and North African cultures, the ancients considered the rare prize of foraged honey a gift from the gods.
In neopagan traditions born out of Western Europe, many practitioners still leave honey cakes in the garden on the night of Midsummer’s Eve to delight the woodland spirits, sometimes called “faeries.”
Serve honey cakes during a summer solstice ritual or leave them on the altar/in the garden as an offering.
With this in mind, I picked up some high-quality honey on my trip to Savannah, Georgia early this year. I’ve been saving it all this time!
Pairings
Compliment this honey cake by serving it with fresh fruit and milk.
For the adults and lactose-intolerant, mead (honey wine) also pairs nicely with honey cakes.
Add a bonfire and a few tiki torches, and make this lovely festival meal one to remember.
A few notes:
This post went viral and a lot of my readers shared their experiences, so you get the benefit of their wisdom!
You may end up with a little extra batter. Subbing out honey for sugar is tricky business, so I concentrated on getting the ratios correct for that and apparently overshot the amount of batter by about 4 cupcakes.
Reduce the ratios as your own risk! Or just do what one reader did and make some extra cupcakes (perfect for the altar or as an offering).
You Will Need:
-cookie sheet
-3 cups all-purpose flour
-3/4 tablespoon baking powder
-1/2 teaspoon baking soda
-3/4 cups sugar
-1 teaspoon salt
-1/4 cup honey
-2 sticks butter (softened)
-4 eggs
-1 cup milk
-1 tablespoon vanilla extract
-oil or cooking spray to grease mold
Step 1
Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Lower if your oven runs hot. Grease your silicone honeycomb cake mold.
Step 2
Combine flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt in one bowl. Set aside.
Step 3
Cream butter and sugar together until fluffy. Beat in eggs one at a time. Add honey. Beat in vanilla.
Step 4
Slowly add flour mixture, alternating with the milk. Beat until just smooth.
Step 5
Place cake mold on cookie sheet for support during baking. Pour batter into greased cake mold and put in preheated oven.
Step 6
Watch it! Honey caramelizes a lot faster than sugar. Bake until you can plunge a fork into the cake and it comes out clean.
Step 7
Allow to cool for at least 1.5 hours before removing. Remove carefully from mold by placing another cookie sheet on the “cake side” of the mold and then flipping both cookies over. Gently pull off the mold and see how you did!!
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I halved the recipe cause I only had a small Bundt bite tray and cooked in an electric oven at 325 degrees for 20 minutes. Came out perfect! I then finished them off by brushing the tops with a honey and water syrup
Made this with Cup4Cup Gluten free flour and it tuned out perfectly. It did rise in baking a LOT so definitly don’t fill the mold al the way. I had left 1/4” but I’d recommend more like 1/2 to 3/4”. But it also gave me enough to make 9 flower cakes in a flower mini Bundt cake pan. It did take a long time to bake at 325 but didn’t get too done. I topped with a little extra honey and fresh whipped cream and it was the perfect cake for our summer solstice meal.
Hi!! I made this a few days ago to bring in the new moon as well as an offering. And of course, I gave some away to friends and family. I made them in a cupcake tin and it worked out great. I didn’t add as much sugar with mine, and it still tasted quite good. Thanks for sharing this recipe!!!
how many cupcakes?
After about half an hour of cooking I was getting worried about the cake burning since the center wasn’t setting so because the tray I baked it in has deep sides I poured in some water. Came out a beautiful golden brown after cooking at a slightly lower temp for another half an hour
What kind of butter needs to be used, salted or unsalted?
Ugh…I did not pay attention the fact that there may be extra butter. So I put all the batter in the dang mold! It’s been in the oven for almost an hour and I just want to eat my honey cake!
Can I leave put the sugar?
I would like to know the answer to leaving out the sugar also
I made this with banana puree (and a little bit of unsweetened apple sauce because I ran out of banana) instead of butter because I’m lactose intolerant and let me tell you… DO IT! Holy wow. Mine didnt look as good as the picture but it’s awesome. Gonna pack these in my lunches for work.
So I made a trial run for the solstice. I did cut the ingredients in half to make a smaller batch. Since i had no honeycomb pan or anything other baking pan that was honey or bee related, I decided to use silicone mini tartlet and pie forms (from Wilton). It made 7 of the tartlets. I used my oven style little airfryer and baked on the middle rack for 16 min at about 325F. I inverted one of the trays from the airfryer above the middle rack to divert the airflow and promote equal browning. Using the airfryer makes sure I don’t heat up my kitchen in summer.
I have to say, these are seriously good and the crumb so tender. They are divine with some honey drizzled on it. Perfect for the summer. Now that I think about maybe some honey sweetened lightly whipped cream on the side….Hmmm Thank you so very very much.
And thanks to all the other suggestions especially with the gluten free.
Followed the directions to a T and our cakes turned out perfectly and look it’s like the photo! My daughters and I were thrilled and my husband (who normally doesn’t eat sweets) was very impressed. The flavor is SO GOOD! Blessed Summer Solstice friends! 🐝🍯💛🌞
Has anyone made these with Duck egg instead of chicken eggs? My girl is allergic to the chicken eggs and I want to make this for her bee themed birthday
No, but that sounds interesting, let us know how it turns out!
Did you torch the top? Mine didn’t brown so I added honey and put it under the broiler but I might use a handheld torch next time
I made this today for Litha. It is freaking delicious! I however had purchased a 2 pack honeycomb silicone things that are a bit smaller than the one listed, which I didn’t know until after I started pouring and not only had leftovers, but it was enough for 1 more cake lol The best part though, is, THEY ARE PULL APART! So many things to love about this!
I’m so glad I found this! I made it today for Litha and it turned out wonderful! I did not have the honeycomb pan so I substituted with a 9×9 brownie pan and I used coconut oil to grease the bottom. It took about 45 minutes at 325° for me. Thank you so much it was very delicious! Happy Litha!
So glad you enjoyed it!
Oh so good! Bought the “pan”, had some yummy honey from Hawaii, added blackberries from the garden, and used margarine (I know, what a huge risk!) and it came out amazing! Would leave a pic if I could. 5 stars!!
Sounds delicious!
Can you put more spices in it like cinnamon?
Sure, most baking spices will work.
I did x1.5 of everything except I did five eggs and four cups of flour, and 1 1/4 milk. everything else was x1.5. I also added the zest of three lemons, and the juice of two lemons. small to medium size lemons. and I also added two and a quarter cups of Frozen blueberries. I mixed the frozen blueberries in two tablespoons of flour before adding it to the mixture at the end. and I’m mixed in the lemon zest and juice before I mixed in the flour! it came out so good!!!
Glad to hear it! Thanks for your notes!