Burnt Honey and how I made a cake for my Mom

Thank you to Jam and Bread for the recipe

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My Mom

(this was written in September 2021)

Happy birthday to one of the most incredible woman in my life. I have learnt so much from you and I’m so grateful I have you in my life. I love you Mom ❤️

A few days ago I started working on a recipe for my Mom’s birthday cake. I wanted to use the deliciously juicy plums I had in my fridge. I wanted almond flour in the recipe with a little bit of “OO” flour too to give the cake a fine crumb. This past year I have been learning to bake other people’s recipes. I’ve found inspiration everywhere. There are so many talented people out there, generous with their ideas. I have discovered from the author’s of my recipe book splurge in 2020 even more talented people whom they were inspired by. And so slowly but steadily I’ve absorbed a few tips, tricks and tenacity in the process. I’ve had failures and setbacks but regardless, I’ve continued along my journey.

I was ready to take the silly little side wheels off my bike and venture into “recipe creator” territory. I’ve created many cooking recipes before, but baking is an entirely different wee beasty. I see baking as next level skills I didn’t possess. The science behind it needed to be respected and adhered to. I’m a bit of a cowgirl and renegade in my kitchen, not willing to behave, so it took me a lot of flops and failures to get the hard knocks I deserved. I think I’ve reached a respectable maturity level to realize I’m getting on in years not to get the messages fast, because time is precious.

Back to my Mom’s recipe, I knew what I wanted to do but I wasn’t “feeling it”. This is how I create. I have to feel first. That’s part of my process. When I don’t get the feelies, I put it aside until I get more inspiration or something comes to me, then I go into the zone and everything flows from there. I had the bare bones for the recipe but I needed something that would make this recipe my Mom’s.

It’s a wee joke in our family my Mom is not a cook. This is not one of the things she was able to teach me. Growing up my Dad1 would say my Mom could burn water. Later Dad2 would do most of the cooking along with our domestic helper, Mavis, so there was no need for her to do it. As we all know she is an incredibly talented hairdresser, that’s where her passion lies.

Yesterday I had some time to tinker. I’d been seeing this burnt honey making an appearance on my various news feeds. I saw it mentioned in a cookbook I’d bought myself for my Covid Christmas. I was slightly uncomfortable with the idea of burning honey. I mean, why would you kill off all the propolis. These are my thoughts not facts that I’ve verified. Anyway I had some honey gifted to me from friends so I hauled it out of the cupboard. I Googled the recipe and tadaaa 1 cup honey and 30ml water. I measured out the honey and was left with some in the jar. Oh what the hell, I said let’s go all in, yes that’s the renegade in me. 335g for a cup became 485g, so I needed to scale the water up too. Into the saucepan the honey went and after 35 min ( the recipe lied it said 10 min) and a Vesuvius threat on more than 3 occasions I had the black gold that everyone is raving about. Then it hit me like an asteroid from out there, somewhere, beneath the clear blue sky… I absolutely have to use this ingredient in my Mom’s cake recipe. What tied it together for me was the “burnt” part.

So that’s how I came to name my Mom’s cake Burnt Honey and Plum Cake.

Look Mom you could even make this one 😜.

I’ll tweak it here and there but I was very happy with the final results. 🐝

Make my mom’s Burnt Honey and Plum birthday cake