2¼ cups flour
¾ tsp baking powder
¾ tsp baking soda
½ tsp ground ginger
¼ tsp ground nutmeg
¼ tsp ground cinnamon
⅛ tsp ground cloves
1 cup of broken-up pieces of pecans
1 egg
⅓ cup brown sugar
⅓ cup canola oil
¾ cup honey
¾ cup tepid, strong coffee (or 2 TBL instant espresso coffee)
If you want to make a vegan version of this recipe, see the note at the end.
Butter and flour a 9x5x3-inch loaf pan. Preheat oven to 325º F. Brew
- ¾ cup strong coffee
Alternatively you can dissolve 2 TBL instant espresso coffee in ¾ cup hot water. Set the coffee aside and let it cool to room temperature.
In a small bowl, combine
- 2¼ cups flour
- ½ tsp salt
- ¾ tsp baking powder
- ¾ tsp baking soda
- ½ tsp ground ginger
- ¼ tsp ground nutmeg
- ¼ tsp ground cinnamon
- ⅛ tsp ground cloves
I replaced half the flour with whole wheat and will use 100% whole wheat next time. Adjust the mix of spices to your liking.
In the mixer, beat
- 1 egg
- ⅓ cup brown sugar
- ⅓ cup canola oil (or other neutral oil)
- ¾ cup honey
Add half of the dry ingredients and mix as little as needed to blend everything together. Add the tepid coffee and as soon as that’s mixed in, beat in the remainder of the dry ingredients. By hand, stir in
- 1 cup of broken-up pecan (or walnut) pieces
Place the batter in the prepared loaf pan. Bake for about 75 minutes or until a cake tester comes out completely dry. If the top gets dark after about 50 minutes, cover the top loosely with foil. The cake will be over-baked by normal standards but it will make it easier to slice.
Cool the cake in the pan for 10 minutes and then remove from the pan and transfer to a rack. When it’s completely cooled, cut the cake lengthwise, then cut super-thin slices. I have an electric slicer to it was pretty easy to do.
Place the slices on wire racks and bake in a 200º F oven until thoroughly dry. Turning them over once at the midpoint will speed the drying process. Slices that sat out overnight were dry in 20 minutes; freshly cut slices took about 40 minutes to dry.
To make a vegan version, instead of the egg, beat (with a whisk)
- ¼ cup liquid from cooked (or canned) beans
- ¼ tsp cream of tartar
When it becomes foamy, add in
- 1 tsp sugar
The mixture will thicken but don’t try to turn it into anything thick and fluffy (although that’s possible to do). Use this in place of the egg in the recipe above.
Adapted from a honey cake recipe in Maida Heatter’s Book of Great Desserts.