Lemon Honey Cake

This lemon honey cake is something else. Throwing almond meal and yoghurt into the mix keep this cake dense but moist, hearty but not too much. I'd also like to think that the lemon & honey work the same magic as they do in a tea when you've got a cold - CAKE, doctors orders.

Ingredients

Cake

• 1.5 cups plain flour

• 3/4 cup almond meal

• 1.5 tsp baking powder

• 0.5 tsp salt

• 0.5 tsp baking soda

• 115g unsalted butter

• 1/2 cup caster sugar

• 2 eggs

• 1/4 cup honey

• Zest of 1 lemon

• 1 tsp lemon essence

• 1 tsp vanilla essence (or vanilla bean paste)

• 1 cup greek yoghurt

Icing

• 125g butter, cubed

• 250g cream cheese

• 4 cups icing sugar

• 1 tsp vanilla bean paste

• Juice and zest of 1 lemon

(Note: this makes HEAPS of icing, so if you want a respectably thin layer, halve recipe. If you want to go overboard like I always do, keep it as is baby)

Method

1. Preheat oven to 180 degrees celsius and grease a cake tin.

2. Mix flour, almond meal, salt, baking powder and baking soda together in a medium bowl - set aside.

3. In a large bowl, cream the butter and sugar together until fluffy.

4. Slowly add the eggs to the mixture and stir in between.

5. Mix in the honey, lemon zest, lemon essence and vanilla essence.

6. Slowly add the flour mixture and yoghurt, mixing well between each addition.

7. Add to prepared cake tin and bake for 35-40 minutes, or when a skewer inserted in the middle comes out (relatively) clean.

8. Let cake rest, then remove from tin to cool before icing.
   

To make the icing:

1. Beat the cream cheese and butter together in a bowl.

2. Mix in the icing sugar, vanilla essence, lemon juice and lemon zest.

3. For the icing to keep its shape, wait for the cake to cool completely before icing. Then drizzle with honey and garnish with edible flowers and thyme sprigs!

Enjoy!