Honey Cake

This cake is a traditional recipe for the late winter season of Imbolc on the pagan calendar, and is wonderful for the month of February. If cut into twelve equal pieces, each piece has approximately 270 calories. (WOW.)

Ingredients:

• 2½ cups flour
  
• ½ baking soda
  
• 2½teaspoons baking powder
  
• 1 heaping teaspoon allspice
  
• ¾ teaspoon ground cinnamon
  
• 1/8 teaspoon nutmeg
  
• 1 teaspoon ground ginger
  
• 4 eggs, beaten
  
• 1¼ cups granulated sugar
  
• ½ cup safflower oil
  
• 1 cup raw honey

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350ºF. Grease and flour a 9x13 baking pan. Combine all ingredients in a large bowl, stirring well. Pour into pan, and bake for 45 minutes. Serve unfrosted.

Yield: 1 cake
Source: Paraphrased from McCoy, The Sabbats
Use for: Imbolc

Pagan recipes

Secret Polish Recipe!

This recipe is my Christmas gift to you. Sorry you have to prepare it yourself, but it is well worth the effort and I guarantee (ahem) it will make you more popular with your friends and family this holiday season. My mother has prepared this cake every year since I can remember. It is not healthy or low fat, but it’s damn good and wait til the smell fills your kitchen! Simple, yet delicious, and you will love licking the bowl!

Source: Handwritten in scrawling script on the back page of tattered Polish cookbook. Translation is completely mine.

What you need:

• 6 eggs, separated
• 4 cups flour
• 1 cup finely chopped nuts (up to you, but ideally walnuts, hazelnuts and almonds)
• 2 cups sugar
• 1 cup butter
• 1cup honey
• 2 cups milk
• 2 teaspoons allspice
• 1 teaspoon ground nutmeg (freshly ground is best)
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon
• 2 tablespoons cocoa
• 4 teaspoons baking soda

This recipe can be halved, of course, since the above amounts make 3 large loaves. You can make several small loaves or 3 large ones. I will leave it up to you to decide. You can go for 3 foot long bread pans or 6 6-inch pans, or some combination of the two.

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. Prepare the baking trays. Lining them with wax paper is usually best.
3. On low heat, melt the butter and stir in the honey and milk. Once these ingredients are well mixed you can remove from the stove.
Mom’s special hint: to get all the honey out of the measuring cup, pour in a small amount of milk and hear in the microwave for 20 seconds, then stir it up.
4. Add the sugar and the egg yolks.
5. In a separate bowl mix the remaining dry ingredients (allspice, cocoa, flour, baking soda, cinnamon) and then sift them into the rest of the batter.
6. Whip the egg whites until they are stiff and gently stir into the batter.
7. Add the nuts.
8. Bake for about 45 minutes.

If you do venture to try out this recipe, msg/ me and let me know how it works out for you.