Absolutely Perfect Honey Pound Cake
Honey Pound Cake is a variation of the Pound Cake Recipe cake recipe that I perfected after months of testing. This honey cake has a lovely tawny color and caramel flavor.
Table of contents
Ingredients
Ingredient Notes
- Cake Flour – Bleached cake flour makes the softest cake.
- Honey – Adds wonderful flavor, color and sweetness to the cake.
- Sugar – A little sugar is needed to maintain the cake structure. Sugar absorbs some of the moisture from the honey to keep the cake from collapsing.
- Baking Powder – To lighten the cake crumb.
- Eggs – Extra egg yolks emulsify the batter so it can hold more moisture. The yolks also enrich the cake.
Process Photos
See the recipe card for detailed measurements and instructions.
- Whisk together the eggs, yolks, honey and the vanilla in a small bowl. Set it aside.
- Sift the dry ingredients into a mixing bowl.
- Mix the dry ingredients to combine.
- With the mixer running on low, toss the softened butter into the dry ingredients.
- Mix until the flour is coated with butter.
- Mix on medium high for 2-3 minutes to aerate the batter.
- Add the egg mixture and mix until smooth. Scrape the bowl in between to avoid lumps of thick batter.
- Pour the batter into a buttered and floured loaf pan, Bundt pan or angel food cake pan.
- Use the tip of a small spatula to make a trench down the center of the cake.
- Bake until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Cool at least 20 minutes before turning out of the pan.
Storage
This cake will keep for 4-5 days, covered, at room temperature. Do not refrigerate the baked cake. Leftover cake can be frozen for up to a month.
The baking science behind this recipe
If you love the science behind the recipe, read through my “Cake Batter Course“. Over 7 classes you can learn all about the ingredients and mixing methods for cake batter.
It’s pretty detailed stuff, but what you learn about baking can be applied to all your recipes, not just cake batter. And it’s free here on Baking Sense.
While I was baking test cakes for the sugar class, I baked a cake using honey instead of sugar. Because I used all honey and no sugar, and didn’t make any other changes to the cake, the cake baked up dense and collapsed a little. It looks pretty awful, doesn’t it?
How did I fix it? In a nutshell, adding extra egg yolks and using chlorinated cake flour enabled me to add more liquid (honey) to the batter.
This recipe includes both honey and granulated sugar. The sugar also takes up some of the extra liquid from the honey.
If you love this recipe as much as I do, please consider giving it a 5-star review.
Honey Pound Cake
Ingredients
- 3 large eggs (room temp)
- 4 egg yolks (room temp)
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 6 oz honey (½ cup)
- 8 oz cake flour (1 ¾ cups, see note)
- ¼ teaspoon table salt
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 4 oz granulated sugar (½ cup)
- 9 oz unsalted butter (room temp)
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350 °F. Butter and flour a 9"x5" loaf pan or Bundt pan.
- Combine 3 large eggs, 4 egg yolks, 1 teaspoon vanilla extract and 6 oz honey in a small bowl, whisk to combine and set aside.
- Sift together 8 oz cake flour, ¼ teaspoon table salt and 1 teaspoon baking powder in a mixing bowl. Add 4 oz granulated sugar to the flour and mix at low speed for 30 seconds. Add 9 oz unsalted butter to the flour and mix until combined. Increase the speed to medium high and mix for a full 2-3 minutes. The batter will lighten in color and texture. If using a hand mixer add another minute to the mixing time.
- Scrape the bowl and beater thoroughly. On low speed, add the eggs in 3 increments, scraping the bowl after each addition. Mix just until the eggs are incorporated.
- Pour the batter into the prepared pan. Bake at 350°F until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean (about 55 minutes).
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This is, in fact, the perfect honey pound cake. I added a scant 1/4 teaspoon of cinnamon, with no other changes. The way the flavor blooms in the mouth is SO nice; each bite ends with such clear honey flavor, as though I’d just swallowed a spoonful of honey. Thank you so much for sharing with us!
Thank you so much for the recipe! The flavor turned out great. My only issue was that the pound cake got too dark/burned on the outside while the middle was raw. Any tips to avoid this? I double checked my pan size and used the 9×5 loaf pan. I would absolutely try this recipe again, but am not quite sure where I went wrong.
Is your loaf pan a dark color? The cake will brown more quickly in a dark pan than in a light pan. Also, do you know if your oven is running at the proper temp? I keep a thermometer in my oven because I know it can often run 25 degrees or more over the set temp.
I made it last night because I had a ton of honey and I didn’t know what to do with it. It was absolutely delicious! Not too sweet and you can really taste the honey, the texture is lovely as well. I did use a different kind of pan however, because my loaf pan seemed a bit too small for the amount of batter I got. I used a savarin mould instead and it was ready at 40-42 minutes. I decorated it with some confectioner’s sugar and some edible flowers. Thanks for the recipe! <3
Hi, I will be trying your recipe next week for my husband’s birthday. We have become sugar free in the past one year. Any ideas on how the cake might turn out without the sugar? I know i would have to reduce the baking temp to 325 and perhaps add some baking soda to help the cake to rise . So you any other tips or ideas ? Thanks in advance.
Chiamaka
Do you mean without the granulated sugar and only honey? Do you plan to replace the sugar with extra honey? If you read through the post you’ll see a photo of a cake I made with just honey. It did collapse and become gummy. Honey has extra liquid and the granulated sugar helps absorb some moisture. If you just eliminate the sugar and don’t add any extra honey the cake may be a bit tough since sugar tenderizes the cake.
Thanks so much for this recipe. I’ve been searching for honey base cake recipe for a client if mine that has intolerance to granulated sugar. I will definitely try this with exception of sugar. Hope it turns out well
Hello,
I will like to adopt your recipe, but I’m afraid I will be waiting egg whites, since I’m doubling the recipe on a large scale.
The recipe calls for 4 yolks… which means there will be be 4 egg whites left…
Since 2 eggwhites equals 1 large egg. Can I replace the 4 yolks in the recipe for 2 large eggs …
So that the total eggs called for in the recipe will be 5.
I know the formula was scientific balanced.
I was just thinking maybe using all whole eggs to avoid wastage will work out.
Thanks for your prompt reply
If you read through this post about eggs in cake batter you can get a lot of information about substituting eggs/whites/yolks. You could use 2 eggs instead of 4 yolks, but the texture of the cake won’t be as fine and velvety. Also, you can freeze the left over egg whites and use them later. Here’s a list of recipes that use extra egg whites.
Eileen,
What is the purpose of the granulated sugar in this recipe? I Love the Honey creation- I was trying to come up with one I can share with Non-Granulated sugar people for the holiday.
But without understanding the purpose of the sugar, I thought I better check. I was considering birch tree xylitol – but again, without knowing any work the sugar is doing, I wasn’t sure if I should risk it. I don’t use any nutrasweet or splenda, or any erythritol products. Stevia is bitter. Not sure about monkfruit sugar- never tried it. I’m open to ideas if I am avoiding granulated sugar. Thanks for your hard work here! This is fantastic!
Did you read through the post or just the recipe? I explain a little in the body of the post why I use a mixture of sugar and honey instead of just honey. There’s more information in this post about sugar in cake batter. To make a cake with just honey more adjustments would be needed for the recipe to bake up properly. That would require some recipe testing so I couldn’t say off the bat.
If baking in a bundt pan how long would it need to be baked?
I can’t say exactly, but it will bake quite a bit faster since there is more surface area. I would start checking at about 20-25 minutes and take it out of the oven when a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.
Could this cake be baked in round pans? I have a client who wants a honey flavored cake as one tier of her Winnie The Pooh themed cake.
I haven’t done it specifically, but I think it could probably be baked in an 8″ round.
I’m a new baker, so pretty much every recipe is a new experience for me. Followed this one to the letter with one exception. Baked in three small rather than one large loaf pan. It was a good thing I checked it at 45 mins. Probably should have checked at 40 mins. Slightly overdone exterior, but good flavor. Is there a rule of thumb for bake times with smaller volumes?
Certainly batter baked in several smaller pans will bake more quickly since there’s more surface area vs. volume of batter. Baking the same amount of batter in a larger pan means it will bake faster too, for the same reason (surface area vs. volume). Even baking in the same size pan the total time can vary based on the actual oven temp (many ovens are off by a good 25 degrees), material that the pan is made of and the temperature of the batter going into the pan. There isn’t a “rule of thumb” like half the time, etc. Always error on the side of checking too early. If a recipe says 30 minutes I would start checking at 20 minutes. Better safe than sorry. Glad you liked the flavor.
Are results different if using raw honey. Would it need to be warmed before adding to recipe?
Hi Dawn. I haven’t tested it, but I’m guessing you could use raw honey. Since the honey is mixed with the eggs and vanilla I think that would probably loosen it up a bit. Please let me know if you try it how it turns out.
Hi Eileen, Thank you! I used a hand mixer and may have beat flour/butter mixture too long. My cake has a lighter texture, not as dense as the traditional pound cake. I baked it in a sprayed bundt pan, and it cooked much quicker than I expected. It had a beautiful golden color and bounce back after only 35 mins. I made a honey-caramel to glaze the cooled cake. It looks and tastes amazing!
That sounds wonderful. I’m not surprised it baked faster in the bundt pan since it bakes from the sides and and middle. That might also be why the texture was a little lighter since it could rise and set faster. Honey caramel glaze sounds amazing!
Hi Eileen! I’m preparing to try several of your cake recipes. When cake flour is required, what cake flour do you recommend?
I use Softasilk brand cake flour. But any flour marked as “cake flour” should work. Just make sure it’s not a “self-rising” flour.
Just baked this cake. Your recipe was so clear & reasons given for everything, so thanks for that. In fact, it just made so much sense, I doubled your recipe & baked an extra cake to give to friends. We’ve been searching for a great honey pound cake recipe to use some of our first honey harvest. So our very first jar of honey went right into this batter & YUMMY! I’ll be baking this cake again for sure. Finally, a great honey pound cake that really tastes like HONEY (because most recipes seem to add only 2 TBSP of honey). Your recipe is a keeper!
Oh wow, that’s so nice to hear, JoAnn. I worked on this recipe a bit to balance getting enough honey flavor, yet keeping the traditional pound cake texture. One of my favorite things about this cake (besides the flavor, of course) is the pretty caramel color. Thanks for reading!
Smells great. Sadly the middle fell in… for those in colorado, best to use regular flour. Cake flour is temperamental here. Also, cooking time is roughly 43 minutes for that. Otherwise delicious!
Hi Shelby, unfortunately, I don’t have any experience with high altitude baking. Glad you like the flavor.
Hi,
Thanks for this honey recipe; I am hoping to bake a cake without absolutely no sugar of any kind. Do you have any recipe recommendations?
Thanks,
Sharon
Hi Sharon, Do you mean no refined sugar? How will you sweeten the cake? Are you open to using honey, maple syrup or fruit to sweeten? Because a cake with no sweetness at all is bread, basically. Also, sugar doesn’t only sweeten a cake it also tenderizes the cake. That’s why cake is softer than bread.
Hi Eileen, Natural sugar is fine. A moist lemon cake recipe without refined would be ideal. 🙂 Thanks again.
Never baked with honey, but will give it a trial and get back to you. God bless.
Great, let me know how you like it.
That cake looks perfect! And I love that you used honey, healthier for kids! Can I use all honey while using less… what.. maybe less butter or eggs? I’m not sure, have you tried another change to make it look and taste good with using all honey?!
I also love your cake classes, thank you for sharing such helpful information, must have been so exhausting for you, all those trials!
Hi Julia, if you read the “sugar” class you’ll see a cake made with all honey. Because there was so much moisture it kind of collapsed. You can play with using less butter and/or eggs but it will change the texture.
Thank you, Eileen!