French honey cake – pain d'épices

Ingredients for 1 servings:

• 500 g wheat flour
• 600 g honey
• 1 jar milk
• 2 tsp baking soda
• 1 pinch(s) star anise, ground
• Cinnamon powder
• Clove powder
• e.g. nutmeg, freshly grated

Instructions

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

for a loaf pan

Heat the milk to lukewarm and stir in the honey. In a mixing bowl, mix the flour with the baking soda and the spices. Add the honey milk and mix thoroughly with a food processor at medium speed for at least 10 minutes. Let the dough rest at room temperature for 24 hours. Preheat the oven to 150°C (top/bottom heat). Line a loaf pan with baking paper and pour in the batter. Bake in the preheated oven on the middle rack for about one hour. Do the skewer test! If the top browns too much during baking, cover with a piece of aluminum foil or, if you don’t want to use foil, with baking paper. After baking, remove from the pan and let cool on a wire rack. Let rest for at least three days before cutting. The honey cake needs to mature a little to taste even better. Use a spicy honey, e.g. chestnut honey or wild honey. Acacia honey is too mild and not suitable.