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1/3 cup unsalted butter, cut into cubes
1/2 cup lightly packed brown sugar
1/2 cup honey
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp salt
2 eggs
1/4 cup unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 1/2 cups icing sugar
2 tbsp milk
1 tsp vanilla
For the cake, place butter, sugar, honey and 1 tbsp (15 mL) water in a small saucepan and set over low heat. Stir occasionally until butter melts and sugar dissolves, from 3 to 5 min. Remove from heat. Set aside to cool.
Preheat oven to 350F (180C). Butter an 8-in (20-cm) square or 8-in (2-L) round cake pan. Using a fork, stir flour with baking powder, cinnamon and salt in a bowl. Whisk eggs, then stir into cooled honey mixture. Stir into flour mixture. It's okay if a few lumps remain. Scrape into cake pan. The batter will not be high in the pan. Smooth top.
Bake in centre of preheated oven until a cake tester inserted in centre of cake comes out clean, from 25 to 30 min. Remove to a wire rack. Let stand in pan for 10 min. Then, to loosen cake, run a knife around inside edge of pan. Turn onto rack to cool completely.
Wait until cake is cool before you start icing. Place butter in a large bowl. Using an electric mixer, beat butter until smooth. Gradually beat in icing sugar until evenly mixed. Then beat in milk and vanilla. Spread over cooled cake.
Cut into squares or thick wedges. Drizzle a little honey on top, if you like. Cake will keep well covered at room temperature up to 2 days. To freeze, skip icing. Wrap cake first with plastic wrap, then foil, and freeze up to a month. Defrost before icing.
Calories 363, Protein 3.7g, Carbohydrates 57.2g, Fat 14.2g, Sodium 136.6mg.
Sonia O'Keefe and Jill Curran, co-owners of Lighthouse Picnics, swear by the robust flavour of Newfoundland wildflower honey for this recipe. We tried it with regular honey, too, and the cake was still outstanding.