after reading Katherine Mansfield´s MISS BRILL
a honey cake became the saddest pastry out there to me
.
"On her way home she usually bought a slice of honey cake at the baker's.
It was her Sunday treat.
Sometimes there was an almond in her slice, sometimes not.
It made a great difference.
If there was an almond it was like carrying home a tiny present - a surprise -
something that might very well not have been there.
She hurried on the almond Sundays and struck the match for the kettle in quite a dashing way. "
.
Maira Kalman´s THE PRINCIPLES OF UNCERTAINTY made it a happy cake again
.
"There is nothing illusory in this tiny heaven.
I am silent with gratitude.
I will go and bake a honey cake
and that´s all."
.
the recipe is even included in her book
but since it was too sweet for me
i came up with my own version
.
OLIVE OIL HONEY CAKE
2 eggs, beaten
add 100 ml honey + 60 ml olive oil
mix in 200g spelt flour + 1tsp baking soda + cinnamon and other spices as you like
add about 100ml very strong tea
until you have a fine dough
now you can put in some chopped up apples, nuts, raisins...
pour into a loaf pan - bottom lined (awesome trick)
i don´t recommend bundt pans
my cakes were to sticky to come out again in one piece
to make everybody´s Sunday an almond Sunday stud the cake tighly with almonds
bake about 45 min at 175 degrees celsius
.
.
this one takes ages...
.
and here´s an other treat for you:
i helped my sister and her boyfriend put up a blog
to show their work
(they´re lucky to be friends with a superb image editor as you can see
this is an underrated art)
.
a nice ARTICLE about WSAKE in our local newspaper