Honey cake

Ingredients for 1 servings:

• 500 g honey, soft or liquid
• 500 g beet syrup
• 1 tbsp cocoa powder
• 1 tsp clove powder
• 1 tsp cinnamon powder
• 250 g margarine, soft
• 500 g sugar
• 75 g ground almonds
• 75 g hazelnuts, ground
• 1 pack of pudding powder, chocolate
• 2 packs of spice mix (gingerbread spice)
• 125 g candied lemon peel, pureed
• 3 eggs
• 2 kg wheat flour, type 405
• 10 g ammonium bicarbonate
• 100 ml water, lukewarm
• 1 tsp, heaped baking powder
• 1 jar apricot jam or strawberry jam
• 1 pack of dark chocolate glaze
• 1 pack of sugar sprinkles, colorful

Instructions

Working time approx. 1 hour; Rest period approx. 2 days; Cooking/baking time approx. 15 minutes; Total time approx. 2 days 1 hour 15 minutes

Recipe from my grandmother, who lived to be one hundred years old

Mix the honey with the beetroot juice. Add a mixture of cocoa, ground cloves, and cinnamon and mix well. Stir in the soft margarine, then add the sugar. Stir in the almonds and hazelnuts. Add the chocolate pudding, gingerbread spice, and candied lemon peel, and mix everything well. Stir in the eggs. Now knead in the flour. Kneading the dough thoroughly guarantees a light and fluffy honey cake. Let the finished dough stand for at least 48 hours. Then mix the ammonium chloride with the lukewarm water; it should fizz, and then work it into the dough. Finally, add the baking powder and continue to knead, knead, knead. Divide the dough into thirds and roll out onto three greased baking sheets. Preheat the oven to 250°C, then reduce the temperature to 200°C and bake each sheet for about 15 minutes. The dough should be nicely browned and fragrant. Bake a little longer if necessary. Remove the baking tray and, using a large kitchen knife, trim about 1 cm around the edge, then cut into approximately 5×5 cm squares. If necessary, bake for another 5 minutes if the dough isn’t cooked through in the middle, then remove from the baking tray for good measure. Remove the honey cakes from the baking tray and immediately cut them in half horizontally. Fill with pureed apricot or strawberry jam. Reassemble and then brush the tops with chocolate coating and decorate with colorful sugar sprinkles. Makes about 100. I’ve been baking this recipe for over 17 years. Make sure you use gingerbread spice, which is different from gingerbread, Printen, or Stollen spice.