my friend and colleague at work, bethan, has a theory about pinterest – namely, that it is a purely aspirational device for people to obsess about stuff they want to do but never will. i think she’s mostly right. Lord knows i never do any of the stuff i pin on my “neat and clean” board and unfortunately own only one of the awesome things on my “serveware” board. but, bethan, i’ve proved you wrong today!

for a couple of days, i’ve been craving the process of baking and eating a cake. so, of course, i went on a pinterest spree (no one was injured, amy/donny). one really caught my eye – smitten kitchen’s majestic and moist honey cake. so i made it today, bethan! (of course she’s still right….i pinned 10 and will probably won’t make any of the rest of them….)

smitten kitchen’s stuff never fails – she really knows how to develop a recipe. this is a spicy and super soft cake to which i will very quickly become addicted. follow smitten kitchen’s directions. i modified her recipe for size and substituted some ingredients. here’s what i did!

sk’s honey cake

1 3/4 cup all purpose flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp kosher salt
2 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp nutmeg [i didn’t have cloves]
1/4 tsp allspice
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1/2 cup honey + a bit extra
1/2 cup white sugar
1/4 cup brown sugar
2 large eggs
1 capful vanilla extract
1/2 cup strong earl grey
1/4 + a couple of tbs 100% apple juice [unsweetened]
slivered almonds

as you can see from my ingredient list, i decreased the sugar a bit, substituted apple juice for the whiskey [cuz muslim] and orange juice [cuz i’m not a big fan of anything orange-flavored except oranges] and cloves [cuz i didn’t have any]. i chose earl grey instead of coffee [cuz i thought it would go better with the spices].

i made this in a 9 or 10-inch round springform pan, baked at 350F for 41 minutes. immediately after it came out of the oven, i brushed the top with warmed honey. i served it with a dollop of cream cheese, whipped till fluffy with vanilla extract, vanilla sugar, and lemon zest. (whipped cream would be lighter, of course, but i had some of this left over from making danishes).

to make bethan proud [and my tastebuds happy], i’ll hopefully make my “sweets” board more than just an aspiration. we’ll see.