Healthy Whole Wheat Honey Cake is just what the real food lover in your life wants you to make for their birthday. It's light, sweet, and perfect with a little whipped cream!
Whole Wheat Honey Cake
It's day three of whole food dessert week and I have this gorgeous Whole Wheat Honey Cake recipe for you today. Did you see those Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies (made with whole wheat and honey) and those amazing Blueberry Muffin Date Bites? See, eating whole foods doesn't have to be all vegetables all the time!
This cake comes from the King Arthur Flour Whole Grain Baking cookbook. A million years ago my mom picked it up from the library, told me how much she loved it, I proceeded to get it from the library where I was, and we both fell in love. We both have purchased the book since and I know we both love and use it. It's a whopping 500 page whole grain baking bible if you ask me. It's full of great recipes from everything from pizza crust to layered cakes, but it also really teaches you about how to use whole grains so that you are not only getting the health benefits, but things also taste good. The gigantic hardback book is just over $20 and I'm pretty sure you should ask the Eater Bunny to stick one in your basket this year (this whole wheat pita bread and these whole wheat hot cross buns recipes are both from the book, check them out!).
The book said something about how this cake was perfect for a light dessert or snack. It's considered a snack cake, meaning it's not fancy or fluffy or full of icing. It's sweet and has the texture of a quick bread. The honey is just right and the almonds on top make it look just beautiful (you bake them right into the cake). I took this to a family birthday party and folks really enjoyed it. The outside that was a little crusty was my favorite. You can serve this cake with a few fresh berries and freshly whipped cream or you could give it a sprinkle of powdered sugar on the top and serve it with ice cream. All good options.
I plan on making this cake again as soon as the million (ok, 60) strawberry plants I planted last spring start to bear fruit. Oh man, it's going to be so good with some fresh homegrown strawberries! I literally cannot wait until they are ready.
I can I tell when my Whole Wheat Honey Cake is done?
It's a bit hard to tell when this cake is done because it's going to be pretty dark when it's cooked. Don't over bake though or it will be dry.
Why use sour cream in a cake?
Adding sour cream helps to keep the cake moist.
Can I use yogurt instead of sour cream in cake?
You can use either ingredient in this recipe. Make sure you use plain yogurt if you go that right though.
Whole Wheat Honey Cake
- Total Time: 1 hour 5 minutes
- Yield: serves 12 1x
Description
Healthy whole wheat honey Cake is just what the real food lover in your life wants you to make for their birthday. It's light, sweet, and perfect with a little whipped cream!
Ingredients
- 1 cup sliced almonds
- 1 ¼ cups whole wheat flour (pastry or traditional)
- ¾ cup unbleached all-purpose flour
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ¾ cup unsalted butter, at room temperature
- 1 cup honey
- 4 large eggs
- ¼ cup sour cream or plain yogurt
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Grease a 9-inch round cake pan with butter or a heavy hand of cooking spray. Add ¾ cup of sliced almonds to the bottom of the cake pan and evenly distribute.
- In a medium bowl, cream the butter and the honey until light and fluffy. Add the eggs, one at a time, incorporating well after each addition. Add the sour cream, and stir to combine.
- In a small bowl, add whole wheat flour, all-purpose flour, baking soda and salt. Whisk to combine. Add the dry ingredients to the butter mixture and stir until just combined. Add the remaining ¼ cup of sliced almonds and stir until incorporated. The batter will be thick.
- Add the batter to the prepared pan and use a spatula to smooth the top.
- Bake for 50-55 minutes until golden brown and the edges start to separate from the pan, and a toothpick, inserted into the center, comes out clean.
- Remove cake from the oven and allow it to rest in the pan, on a wire rack, for 15 minutes. After it has rested, invert the cake to a serving dish and allow it to come to room temperature. Serve with a light dusting of powdered sugar, or freshly whipped cream and berries.
Notes
It's a bit hard to tell when this cake is done because it's going to be pretty dark when it's cooked. Don't over bake though or it will be dry.
- Prep Time: 15 mins
- Cook Time: 50 mins
- Category: Dessert
- Method: Bake
- Cuisine: American
Nutrition
- Calories: 337
- Sugar: 23.7g
- Sodium: 179.5mg
- Fat: 18.1g
- Carbohydrates: 40.4g
- Protein: 6.8g
- Cholesterol: 94.2mg
Keywords: Dessert, Whole Wheat Cake, Lightened up Dessert
Desserts that you need in your life as well:
- Chocolate Stuffed Eclairs
- Perfect Every Time Brownies
- The Best Easy Apple Cake
- Rich and Fudgy Flourless Chocolate Cake Recipe
- The Best Strawberry Shortcake, Two Ways
- Homemade Cherry Crumble Recipe
- Healthy Reese's Peanut Butter Eggs
- Healthy Lower Calorie Brownies (still made with real ingredients)
- Healthy Key Lime Pie Smoothie
- Healthy Orange Julius Copycat (dairy free)
- Extra Soft Snickerdoodle Cookies
- Homemade Cake Batter Ice Cream
Healthy Whole Wheat Honey Cake is light, sweet, and perfect with a little whipped cream! I can't wait for you to try it.
noor
can i skip the white flour and use only whole wheat flour? thanks
Melissa
It'll be a lot more dense but you for sure could try it!
Andrea
This is fantastic! Even my chocolate-only husband loved it. Served w a dollop of fresh whipped cream.
★★★★★
Lolamartin
Excellent!?
★★★★★
Abeer
its been 10 days since I found ykuour website and ive already made 7 recipes ^_^
o fare theyve ll been great!
Your recipes are all very awesome so mustve done something wrong with this one. The cqke barely rose and even fell again after I turned off the over so it was very dense and heavy 🙁
What do you thi k I did wtong? Plus are your temperatures in celcius or Fahrenheit
Melissa
I'm so glad that you have making so many recipes! I'm sorry to hear about the honey cake not rising at all. What elevation are baking at? And do you know if your baking soda was fresh? I'd love to help you figure it out!
deb c
He was scared...this was made with honey, not sugar, and wasn't coated with frosting.....Bravely he took a bite, then two, then three....SCORE!! While baking, the batter decided to crawl out of the pan and drip around in blobs.... I think my high elevation and the amount of baking soda was an explosive combination.....or the alfalfa honey bloomed...dunno....and I really liked it too! Thanks!!
katie w
this cake looks gorgeous! I can't wait to try it!