Weekend Baking: Syrup Cakes

There is something delicious about syrup cakes – I love how they are delectably moist and the infused syrup adds both sweetness and flavour. My favourite are  lime syrup cakes. Sarah is not a big fan of citrusy flavours so decided to come up with a syrup cake that was more to her liking.

Here are her Mini Vanilla and Honey Syrup Cakes. I took the photo while they were cooling and then they disappeared before I had a chance to take any more shots. Trust me – they were amazingly delicious.

Cake ingredients
1 1/2 cups plain (all-purpose) flour
1/2 teaspoon of baking Powder
1/4 teaspoon of salt
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup sugar
150g (12 tablespoons or 5 1/3 oz) of unsalted butter, at room temperature
3 eggs, lightly beaten

Syrup ingredients
1 vanilla bean (or 1/2 teaspoon of pure vanilla extract)
1/2 cup of water
1 cup of sugar
1/4 cup of honey
2 Tablespoons of unsalted butter

Method
Preheat oven to 160 C (325°F). Generously grease and flour an 8 portion mini loaf pan. Tap out any excess flour.

In a large bowl, sift together the flour, baking powder and salt. Set aside.

In a small bowl, combine the vanilla and sugar. In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted, using the flat beater, beat the butter on medium speed until creamy and smooth, 1 to 2 minutes. Add the vanilla sugar mixture, and beat until light and fluffy (about 5 minutes.) Scrape down the sides of the bowl as needed. Gradually add the eggs, beating well (for about 1 minuter after each addition.) Reduce the speed to low and add the flour mixture in three additions, blending each addition until just incorporated. Do not over mix, and be sure to scape the sides of the bowl as needed. Spoon the batter into the prepared pan and try to spread it out as evenly as possible.

Bake for 17- 20 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the middle of a cake comes out clean.

As the cakes are baking, prepare the syrup: Carefully split the vanilla bean in half lengthwise and scrape the seeds into a small saucepan. Add the water, sugar, honey and butter. Heat over low heat just until the sugar dissolves. Increase the heat to medium and cook for 5 minutes. Remove from the heat and let cool for 10 minutes.

When the cakes are ready to come out of the oven, transfer the pan to a cooling rack and prick them all over with a cake tester. Pour the syrup evenly over the cakes and allow to cool slightly. When the cakes have cooled and most of the syrup has been absorbed, gently loosen each cake with a knife and then gently remove from the tin

Thanks to everyone who has been joining in on our weekly baking posts. We now have a huge number of recipes that have been added to our must bake list! Hope you have all been finding some inspiration. If you have been baking something recently, we would love for you to join in the fun and link your recipe up below.

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