Honey Cake with Warm Apple Topping

A delicious, sugar-free honey cake recipe is hard to find. Some are too sweet, some don’t taste like honey at all, some just have too many ingredients. Many honey cake recipes include refined sugar, and to me that.. well… defeats the purpose of a HONEY cake. In this recipe, the only sweeteners are natural: honey and apples.

I came up with this particular dessert in anticipation of this Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year. The holiday’s theme of “apple and honey” symbolizes the start of a sweet new year. The pair tastes so good together and I wanted to translate that happy marriage into a yummy cake. Even if you don’t celebrate this holiday, autumn is apple season and this delicious recipe surely celebrates fall!

The thing is, apples don’t melt into cakes or muffins like bananas, blueberries, or even carrots do. I’ve found that in cakes apples keep their form. Not necessarily crunchy, but a definite bite. Yet, in pies they melt. What gives?

So I thought, why not try to make the inside of an apple pie to top a regular honey cake? An apple pie filling-topping, if you will. I took a risk and as they say with high risk comes high reward and this dessert IS REWARDING!

How you make the Honey Cake with Warm Apple Topping

Chop up the apples and coat with the other ingredients. You can drizzle the honey directly over the apples, no need to measure exactly.
Bake the apples in a glass baking dish while you prepare the honey cake. They will start baking at 375. The apples will continue to bake along with the cake, but they need a longgg time to soften up!
To prepare the cake, beat the butter and honey together first until combined. You will add the rest of the wet ingredients one by one, and the dry ingredients together. Transfer the batter to a pan and bake at a lower temperature, 350, for 30-40 minutes or until the center is no longer jiggly and a toothpick inserted at the center comes out clean.
Take the cake out and let cool for about 5 minutes, leaving the apples a tad longer. Once cooled, take the warm apples out of the oven and top on the cake.

About the Ingredients:

Apples: I have used various apples in my apple pie filling-topping recipe, like honeycrisp, gala, Fiji, pink lady, and Granny Smith. My favorite is a combination of honeycrisp and Granny Smith. Use whatever apples are available to you. No need to peel the skin.
Honey: Most recipes will tell you to find high quality honey for honey cakes. And while yes, it will probably taste better that way, using regular ole store bought honey will also make this dessert taste delicious

Let’s Cook!

Ingredients:

Apple Topping

2 large or 2 small apples, chopped into 1 inch cubes, skin on
¼ teaspoon cinnamon
Sprinkle nutmeg
1 ½ teaspoon flour
½ teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon lemon juice
1 tablespoon bourbon vanilla extract
¼ cup honey*

Honey Cake

½ cup unsalted butter, room temperature (113g)
1 cup honey (340g)
2 large eggs, room temperature
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
½ cup full fat greek yogurt (60g)
1 ¾ cup flour (220g)
2 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon kosher salt

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F. Add the chopped apples to a glass baking dish (8×10 or 9×13 would work)
Sprinkle the lemon juice and vanilla extract over the apples. Add the flour, cinnamon, nutmeg, and salt to a small bowl or cup to combine, then sprinkle over the apples. Drizzle honey over the apples, about ¼ cup.
Cook the apples for 20 minutes while preparing the cake
To prepare the cake, beat the butter and honey together until fully combined (about 3 minutes on high speed on a stand mixer)
Add eggs one at a time, then the yogurt and vanilla.
Lastly, mix the dry ingredients together then stir into the batter.
Add the batter to a 9 inch cake pan or springform pan
After the apples have cooked for 20 minutes, lower the heat to 350 degrees and add the cake to the middle rack, apples to the top rack
Cook for 30-40 minutes, or until the cake is no longer wobbly and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.
Take the cake out and allow to cool for 5 minutes. After 5 minutes, take the apples out, and scoop on top of the honey cake