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I have yet to post a sweet recipe during my six months of contributing recipes to Autoimmune Paleo, but I felt like I owed you one from my past! Growing up, my treat consumption was mostly limited to Middle Eastern desserts like Ma’amoul (date-filled cookies), Baklawa (flaky, nutty, syrupy pastry), and dried Medjool dates stuffed with pistachios. Most Arabic treats are flavored with honey and the floral notes of rose water and/or orange blossom. In fact, I shared a delicious recipe for Middle Eastern Glazed Chicken which used the former!
This cake would be considered in America to be a “snacking cake” as it does not have any frosting or glaze. I have a no more than 1/4 cup of sweetener limit on all of my dessert recipes, so do not expect a sugar rush after a slice of this Honey Cake. It’s about changing our palates to enjoy mildly sweet foods rather than the other way around!
If baking is one of your hobbies but you are only interested in Autoimmune Protocol goodies, then I really suggest investing in your first bag of cassava flour. I have found it to be the easiest flour to work with and does not affect the moisture level in recipes nearly as much as coconut flour. You may even be able to turn some of your favorite traditional childhood recipes into ones that suit your current needs, too!
- Coconut oil, for greasing pan
- 2 green plantains, peeled and chopped*
- ½ cup palm shortening, room temperature
- ¼ cup liquid honey
- ¼ cup orange juice
- 2 tbsp orange blossom water
- 1 tbsp rose water
- 2 tbsp gelatin
- ⅓ cup hot water
- ¾ cup cassava flour
- ½ tsp cinnamon
- ½ tsp baking soda
- ¼ tsp sea salt
- 1 cup coconut flakes
- Honey, for drizzling
- *1 lb peeled = 1 lb, 12 oz unpeeled = 2 large green plantains
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease a 9-inch cake pan lightly with coconut oil.
- Puree first six ingredients together in a blender until smooth.
- In a small bowl, whisk together the gelatin and hot water until frothy. Add to the blender.
- In another small bowl, whisk together the cassava, cinnamon, baking soda, and sea salt. Add to the blender and process until just combined.
- Pour into prepared pan and smooth with the back of a spoon. Press coconut flakes into the top of the batter until evenly covered.
- Bake for 38-40 minutes until the edges have pulled away from the pan and the top of the coconut flakes are golden brown. Let cool for at least 15 minutes before slicing. Honey cake is best served warm.
11 comments
Oh this looks AMAZING!!!! I used to love elanas pantry orange cake but the nuts.dont love me back. This looks wonderful!
Would coconut flour work instead of cassava? I am sensitive to cassava/tapioca. Maybe use a bit less of it? It seems like there is plenty of liquid in this recipe to use coconut flour. I just bought a bottle each of orange blossom and rose water that i would love to use in something and citrus plus rose water is amazing.
I would try a few tablespoons of coconut flour. It may be more bready and less cakey but the taste will still be there – let me know how it goes!
[…] Orange & Rose Honey Cake – Autoimmune Paleo […]
Love all of your recipes! Might there be a substitution for orange blossom water? Perhaps Elder-rose? Although the one I buy is carbonated.
This is in the oven right now…smells wonderful! ., when do I drizzle with honey….after the 15 mins. Resting time, or just before serving on each slice? Taking it tomorrow to a birthday luncheon where there will be regular bakery birthday cake and this is for the few if us that don’t eat that at present.
[…] Autoimmune Paleo: Orange and Rose Honey Cake […]
This cake is absolutely amazing!
The second time I adapted it to be a pineapple upside down cake, also amazing!
My husband made this for my birthday and it turned out really well. The flavor is something that was very different for the both of us, it’s not sweet but very floral. My 5 yr old devours it! If you are looking for something more sweet be prepared to add more honey or have a lot of honey on top. If you don’t want this sweet you may really like this.
My honey cake turned out to be extremely dense without any fluffiness, almost as though it’s a dense block of banana bread. In regards to flavors – the orange blossom is masked by the cinnamon & plantains which is the majority of the flavor; the rose is very light at the end of the bite. My questions are: 1.) How can I make cassava flour/plantain mixture more fluffy and light? Should I add more baking soda? What about a baking soda & acid (lemon juice?) mixture? 2.) Could the density of the cake be caused from over mixing? My Vitamix could not mix this concoction until I added the gelatin water. I think this recipe has great potential but for whatever reason my execution of it didn’t work as I had anticipated. I was looking for a fluffier, orange,floral cake. Any feedback would be greatly appreciated! Thank you for all of your wonderful recipes!!
I followed the recipe and it turned out great (with a bit extra bake time). I found the drizzle of honey necessary because there wasn’t that much flavor. next time i may add more extract or a pinch more cinnamon in the cake. I made orange blossom honey, rather than plain honey, to drizzle over the top of the cake, similar to what you would do to a semolina cake.
I recommend putting the honey to drizzle on the side rather than over the entire cake right after cooking because doing it this way made the coconut topping soggy.