Recipes

Almost all of the hundreds of people who have attended one of my “Beekeeping For Beginners” courses will have enjoyed my wife’s wonderful biscuits or cake at morning tea. I get requests from people for the recipes, so I am delighted to be able to share them with you now. You will need to modify the recipes to suit your own ovens, but that is all part of the fun; you have to keep trying and tasting!! My wife likes to add a little sugar to the top of the biscuits to add a little crunch and a little extra honey to keep the centres softer. With the cake she pierces the top of the cake once cooked with a wooden sate skewer and drizzles in a little extra honey to keep the centre of the cake really moist.

SPICED HONEY BISCUITS

INGREDIENTS

  • ⅓cup brown sugar
  • ½cup honey
  • 50g butter
  • 1 tblsp milk
  • 1⅓cup plain flour
  • ½ tsp bicarb soda
  • ½ tsp mixed spice
  • ¼ tsp cinnamon

METHOD

  1. In a saucepan, heat the brown sugar, honey, butter and milk until the butter melts.
  2. Stir the flour, bicarb soda, mixed spice and cinnamon into the melted mix and stir to form a soft dough.
  3. Wrap or cover the dough and place in the fridge for 30 minutes or until the dough is cold and firm.
  4. Preheat the oven to 180*c.
  5. Use a teaspoon to scoop portions of dough, and roll it into balls.
  6. Place on lined baking tray, allowing several centimeters between each ball for spreading.
  7. Bake for 12 minutes or until golden.
  8. Allow to cool on the tray before removing

DEVONSHIRE HONEY CAKE

  • 250g raw honey, plus about 2 tbsp extra to glaze
  • 225g unsalted butter
  • 100g dark muscovado sugar
  • 3 large eggs, beaten
  • 300g self-raising flour
  1. Preheat the oven to fan 140C/ conventional 160C/gas 3. Butter and line a 20cm round loosebottomed cake tin. Cut the butter into pieces and drop into a medium pan with the honey and sugar. Melt slowly over a low heat. When the mixture looks quite liquid, increase the heat under the pan and boil for about one minute. Leave to cool for 15-20 minutes, to prevent the eggs cooking when they are mixed in.
  2. Beat the eggs into the melted honey mixture using a wooden spoon. Sift the flour into a large bowl and pour in the egg and honey mixture, beating until you have a smooth, quite runny batter.
  3. Pour the mixture into the tin and bake for 50 minutes-1 hour until the cake is well-risen, golden brown and springs back when pressed. A skewer pushed into the centre of the cake should come out clean.
  4. Turn the cake out on a wire rack. Warm 2 tbsp honey in a small pan and brush over the top of the cake to give a sticky glaze, then leave to cool. Keeps for 4-5 days wrapped in an airtight tin.