As it is my birthday this week my hubby said he would bake me a cake instead
of me baking one. Not going to argue with that! After a bit of mooching through some recipes we found the perfect one. From the book Scandinavian Baking by Trine Hahnemann, Honey Cake with Orange Buttercream. This is a book we’ve had a while but not yet tried a recipe from but this one has a lot of my favourite flavours in it. So whilst hubby baked I was snapping photos so I can share this bake and recipe with you.The original recipe is for a 3lb loaf cake but we reduced the recipe to a 2lb loaf 
or it would have been too large for 2 of us! This cake is a good winter afternoon treat but also very nice as a spiced bread for toasting if you omit the buttercream.
Honey Cake with Orange Buttercream
Ingredients for a 2lb loaf cake
65g softened butter
85g honey
2 lightly beaten eggs
40g soft light brown sugar
185g sifted plain flour
2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon ground ginger
1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
zest of one and a half oranges
135g crème fraiche
For the buttercream
165g softened butter
100g icing sugar
zest of one and a half oranges
For the icing
2 tablespoons of orange juice
100g sifted icing sugar
Method
Preheat the oven to 180c fan and line a 2lb loaf tin.
Melt the honey and butter in a saucepan and then leave aside to cool.
In a large bowl beat together the sugar and eggs until light and fluffy.
Sift in the flour, bicarbonate of soda and spices, then fold the mixture together carefully.
Pour in the honey and butter mixture and fold together again.
Finally fold in the crème fraiche.
Pour the mixture into the lined tin and bake for 40-45 minutes.
When cooled leave in the tin to cool and then turn out onto a wire rack.
Make the buttercream in a small bowl but beating all the ingredients together.
Cut the cake into 3 horizontally with a serrated/bread knife. Sandwich the cake back together using the orange buttercream between the layers.
Mix the icing ingredients together in a small bowl and pour over the top of the loaf cake.
And there you have it, my birthday cake for 2019 Honey Cake with Orange Buttercream. Enjoy because I sure will x
