Honey Gingerbread

With my son's birthday bee-ing in December, I wanted to do a holiday birthday cake for him. This Honey Gingerbread fits the bill perfectly!

This is a wonderful cake to serve with Thanksgiving. Most people already have all the ingredients in their pantry. It is a dense cake, somewhat like banana bread. The Honey Whipped Cream complements it perfectly!

I used Southern Belle Honey when I made this for my son, and the peachiness complemented the ginger very well. For a super-sweet gingerbread, you could try using Orange Blossom Honey, but you will find that the citrus aftertaste will get lost in the ginger. For something a bit different, you can try Vanilla Honey or Wildflower Honey. They both sweeten without being overly sweet. Great if you want just the flavor of the spices coming through.

Ingredients:

• 1 cup butter or margarine, softened

• 1 and 1/2 cups honey, divided

• 1 egg

• 2 1/2 cups flour

• 2 tsp ground ginger

• 1 1/2 tsp baking soda

• 1 tsp ground cinnamon

• 3/4 cup boiling water

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350. Grease two 8 1/2 x 4 1/2 inch loaf pans.

2. Cream together butter and 1/2 cup honey. Mix in egg.

3. In a separate bowl, blend flour, ginger, baking soda, and cinnamon.

4. In a third bowl, blend remaining honey with boiling water.

5. Use mixer to blend creamed honey and 1/3 dry ingredients, then 1/3 wet ingredients, alternating until all dry and wet ingredients are added.

6. Turn into pans, bake until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean, approximately 40-50 minutes.