Gopher’s Honey Cakes

When my daughter was three years old, she was a little obsessed with the book Bear Wants More, by Karma Wilson. She began taking an interest in the “honey cakes” that Gopher baked for Bear in the story.  She started saying, “I want some honey cakes too!”.  It was an interesting proposition, so I agreed to bake her some honey cakes.

I did some research. “Honey cakes” can refer to many things. Are they Jewish “lekach” honey cakes traditionally eaten for Rosh Hashanah?  Could they be German “honigkuchen” traditionally baked as a Christmas treat? Or perhaps the book refers to the fictitious “honey-cakes” baked by Beorn the shapeshifter in The Hobbit (this one actually makes some sense because Beorn could assume the appearance of a bear)?  Whatever recipe I decided on, I had one major requirement from my daughter:  the honey cakes had to be “the same one, like Bear eat.”

In the end, this is what I came up with:

It looks like I got the shape and texture right, but I should have sprinkled some raisins on top before putting them in the oven.  My daughter loved it though, and that’s all that matters.  Here’s my recipe:

ingredients:

• 1 cup sprouted wheat flour
• 0.25 tsp salt
• 1.25 tsp baking powder
• 0.33 cup raisins
• 4 tbsp butter, melted
• 0.5 cup honey
• large egg, beaten
• dash ground cinnamon
• dash ground ginger
• dash ground cloves

directions:

1. Preheat oven 350°F.
2. Mix all ingredients together well.
3. Dollop big spoonfuls of mix onto a baking sheet lined with baking parchment.
4. Bake 15 minutes.

Special thanks to these recipes I found online for inspiration and guidance:  Munchy Honey Cakes, Honey Cake, Honey and Spice Loaf Cake, and Just-as-sweet-as-honey Cake

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