Save it for a rainy day

Or more accurately, nine rainy days. All of which are perfect for cake. Perfect for no fuss, moist, fruity, dark, breakfast cake. That's right, breakfast cake- it's a thing.  Not coffee cake, not crumb cake, just cake. For Breakfast.

And not just any breakfast cake- cake of honey, molasses, and huckleberries.


 I think I've said it before, but I hate frosting. With the exception of German Chocolate Cake, which I've started to realize can never be replaced or recreated from the birthday cakes of my youth,  I am an anti-frosting-kinda-gal.  Frosting be dammed.  Go for the cake, don't let anything get in the way...

That's also my sentiment on things like honey, molasses, and of course huckleberries.  I've made this cake before from Nigel Slater's recipe for Pudding Cake Of Honey, Cinnamon, and Plums, but which I found on Orangette. So in the middle of this zillion day rain, grey, streak Seattle seems set on sticking too, I knew just what  to make, but with a few major substitutions. 


First, I still have about 3 pounds of huckleberries in the freezer from my black market, back-alley, mad, and crazed huckleberry run earlier this fall.  Recently, I've noticed a little bit of freezer burn starting to creep in, so to avoid further and more devastating tragedy, I've set in motion a baking plan to use up every last one.  


Secondly, I didn't have Golden Syrup- which although not hard to find these days, didn't sound as appealing to me as did the words honey and molasses. So I made my own by replacing the called for amount of golden syrup with equal parts amber honey and dark molasses.  Personally, I think it gives the cake a richer color and depth of flavor, but really I just like experimenting. 


Pudding Cake of Honey, Molasses, and Huckleberries
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 slightly heaping teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 slightly heaping teaspoon ground cinnamon
2 pinches salt
1/3 cup plus 2 tablespoons Honey 
1/3 cup Molasses 
2 Tbsp. honey
9 Tbsp. (125 grams) unsalted butter
¾ cup lightly packed brown sugar 
2 large eggs
1 cup almond milk (you could use regular milk too) 
2 cups frozen huckleberries (frozen or fresh, mixed with 1/4 teaspoon corn starch and the juice of one lemon) 



Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Grease a 9inch cake pan- circle or square- but I used a circular pan.  Mix, butter, honey, molasses on stove until butter melts. Stir in brown sugar and remove from heat. Let cool slightly.  In a separate bowl mix flour, salt, baking soda, powder, and cinnamon.  Pour cooled honey molasses mixture into flour mixture and stir with a sturdy wooden spoon until just combined.  Batter will be thick.  In another bowl whisk eggs and milk together. Add to flour, honey, molasses mixture.  The batter will resist incorporation at first, but stick it out. The end result will be a rather soupy, but well combined mix.  Pour into cake pan.  Pour huckleberries on top of cake, they will sink.  Bake at 350 for 35 minutes, cover loosely with aluminum foil and bake for another 10 to 15 minutes or until cake is mostly set. Remove foil, turn off oven, and let the cake sit in the oven for another 20 minutes. This allows the cake to continue cooking, without drying up, or over baking.  


Let cool completely. Cut and serve. Since this cake is so moist, there's no need to cover too tightly for storing. As long as you eat it or share it in 2 to 3 days, which believe me you will have no problem doing, the cake should be find with only the cut exposed edges covered. 


Happy Breakfast cake day everyone!