“In the Queen’s Ballroom they broke their fast on honeycakes baked with blackberries and nuts, gammon steaks, bacon, fingerfish crisped in breadcrumbs, autumn pears, and a Dornish dish of onions, cheese, and chopped eggs cooked up with fiery peppers.” -A Storm of Swords
Thoughts:
Valentine’s Day has always been a big deal in my family, probably second only to Christmas. Many years, it involves a big dinner, heart confetti, and assorted family and friends. This was a wonderful way to grow up, because it completely did away with the element of single/not single that can be so oppressive, especially during the dark wintery month of February. Therefore, I suggest making a batch of these for anyone in your life, whether it’s a friend, spouse, child, or what have you. After all, there are a lotta kinds of loves out there! Personally, I love how adding cornmeal to what would normally be a dessert somehow makes it suitable for breakfast. They’re small sized, letting you feel fine about scooting more than one onto your plate. They’re not too sweet, and baked with berries and nuts, not just topped with them. Honestly, they’re more like muffins, although they look as appetizing as a platter of cupcakes. The cream cheese frosting is an added layer of semi-sweet, creamy goodness. I had to curb my creativity a little with this recipe. I’d wanted to try a sort of thinly layered cake with a honey frosting in between, with nuts and berries on top. But the original says the cake is baked with berries and nuts, so I had to obey. :) This version might not be as elegant as what I had originally imagined, but it’s a delicious alternative!
Recipe for Honeycake with Blackberries and Nuts
Ingredients:
- 1/4 cup butter
- 1/4 cup honey
- 1 egg
- 1 cup milk
- pinch salt
- 1 Tbs. baking powder
- 1/2 cup corn meal
- 1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
- 1/2 pint blackberries
- 1/2 cup walnuts, roughly chopped
Cream the butter and honey, then add the egg and milk. Gradually mix in the salt and baking powder, followed by the cornmeal and flour. Stir in the nuts and blackberries, smooshing the berris with the mixing spoon to roughly break them up for easier distribution through the batter. Spoon the batter into greased muffin tins, filling halfway up. Bake at 400 for 20 minutes, or until the tops are golden.
Ingredients for Icing:
- 1/2 cup softened butter (1 stick)
- 8 oz. cream cheese (1 package)
- 1 cup powdered sugar
- 1/2 cup honey
- dash of vanilla extract
Using an electric mixer (or a lot of arm power), combine the butter and cream cheese until it’s very smooth. Add in the remaining ingredients and mix until incorporated. Spread evenly onto the completely cooled muffins.
I particularly like this post and you fondness for our traditions!
I know what I am doing tomorrow.
These are absolutely spectacular! I subsituted blackberries with blueberries, as I did not have any. That worked extremelly well. My husband who is not a fan of sweets/baked things cannot get enough of them. I can’t wait to make them with blackberries.
I know what I am making on my next day off! This sounds amazing! :)
I made these with strawberries and pecans instead of blackberries and walnuts. Everyone said they were great, BUT I would not recommend using the paper lining cups, as they were almost impossible to get off. >_<
You have no idea how long I’ve been waiting for this recipe :D Thank you so much, will make these asap.
Can corn meal be substituted for anything else? Please revert
I made these last night. They turned out just like the picture, except that each one has little ridges around the edge from the parchment cups. (I had absolutely no problem removing the parchment cups from the baked cakes, by the way.) They are adorable and delicious! I just hope they travel well to work today.
Had to make these with the paper cups and they are a nightmare to remove! Mine are quite plain because I didn’t have berries, but I drizzled the tops with honey and baked them for an extra couple of minutes.
Deeps: do you have access to shops that sell polenta?
This is my new favorite recipe! I made these last Sunday for a GoT viewing party. I doubled the batch and the result was 24 muffins/cakes. (People are saying they’re having trouble with the cakes sticking to paper cups, but if you put the batter directly into the greased tins, you will NOT have this problem as they pop right out.)
Like previous posters, I substituted blueberries for blackberries, but since we ended up finding some blackberries at the last minute, I used those for garnish (they looked just like the picture above). Great texture overall, but next time I’m going to increase the amount of honey a little as they were almost imperceptibly sweet. I used walnuts and berries like the recipe called for, but I think you could easily substitute other things in their place — like other types of nuts (hazelnuts might be nice?), raisins, etc.
Will it sound weird if I also say that they “tasted medieval”? I think it might be due to the heavy texture, the corn meal, and the less sugary sweet taste (and don’t get me wrong, the flavor was great even though just subtly sweet).
I’ll definitely be making these again and again!
And as a side note: I don’t own an electric mixer and so beat the mixture by hand. It was surprisingly easy to blend; I was worried that it would be hard to beat in the honey, but as long as you’re using a soft, runny honey it shouldn’t be a problem.
Oh, also — I had a heck of a time finding corn meal! I had to go to three places before it finally turned up. Even the organic grocery near our house didn’t have any. We finally found it in a larger store and we actually found two kinds: one more expensive smaller package in the organic food section and another much larger, much cheaper bag in the ethnic food aisle. So, if you’re having trouble finding it, keep in mind that it might not be grouped with regular baking supplies (which is where I expected it to be) but in the ethnic or organic sections.
Delicious! Used a bag of frozen mixed berries (blues, blacks, rasps. thawed), and skipped the nuts. Added about 1/4 cup more honey. I also put some caraway seeds in half of the cakes, just to try it out! (gives them a little herby spicy note, like rye bread.) I like how they’re not crazy sweet, so I’ve skipped the icing, though i’m sure its fantastic. Just a little spread of butter, and maybe another squirt of honey should be just fine. Thanks!
Are these best the day they’re made, or might I make them the day before? Planning a GoT premiere party ;)
None of mine made it to the next day, so I can’t say for certain. ;) However, I suspect that if you leave them in the pan, and wrap well once cool, they should be fine for the next day. Have a great party!