Manuka honey orange pound cake with honeyed cream cheese filling – an incredibly easy layer cake that will wow everyone! Post sponsored by Comvita Manuka Honey.
I was updating my newsletter today and realised, looking back at recent posts, that I haven’t posted any cake recipes recently. That’s just unacceptable and I am making up for it today with this manuka honey orange pound cake with honeyed cream cheese filling. This cake is so easy to make – you can whip it up in about 10 minutes – but it tastes incredibly delicious and deserves to grace your table this Mother’s Day.
The cake has a wonderful lingering taste of Manuka honey – used in the batter, used to soak the sponge and added in the cream cheese filling. Manuka honey has, of course, many uses outside of baking. I love adding a small spoonful to smoothies or my porridge, it definitely helps soothe a sore throat and can even be used as lipbalm (in a pinch).
But not all Manuka honey products are created equal. One way to ensure you are getting authentic Manuka honey from New Zealand is to look out for the UMF quality trademark which only products that meet strict standards are licensed to use. Comvita has been producing world-renowned UMF Manuka honey since 1974 and has a selection of quality honey products (including an amazing cream for eczema-prone skin that I have been using on my son for years). Look out for the UMF number on the Comvita products which indicates the level of the unique Manuka properties within the honey.
But let’s turn our attention back to this Manuka honey orange pound cake because it is spectacular and simple in equal measures. A pound cake is one of the oldest cake recipes and contains equal ratios of flour, butter, eggs and sugar. Originally it was a pound of each, hence the name, but this is very much a scaled down version of the recipe. I have added a little orange juice and zest to the batter along with the Manuka honey and added some honeyed grilled orange slices as decoration.
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Manuka honey orange pound cake with honeyed cream cheese filling
Ingredients
- 170 g | 6oz softened unsalted butter
- 170 g | 6oz caster sugar
- 3 large eggs
- 1 tbsp Comvita Manuka honey
- 1 tsp Comvita apple cider vinegar with Manuka honey
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 150 g | 5.3oz plain all purpose flour
- 1 level tsp baking powder
- zest of an orange
- <br>
- <b>To brush on layers and drizzle on cake</b>
- 3 heaped tbsp Comvita Manuka honey
- 2 tbsp orange juice
- <br>
- <b>For the frosting & decoration</b>
- 280 g | 10oz cream cheese
- 120 ml | 4fl oz | 1/2 cup double heavy cream
- 85 g | 3oz icing sugar
- 2 tbsp Comvita Manuka honey
- one orange or blood orange sliced thinly + 2 tbsp Comvita Manuka honey to decorate
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 170C (340F). Grease two 15cm (6 inch) cake tins and line with baking paper. Dust with flour shaking out any excess.
- Sift the flour and baking powder together into a bowl
- Put the butter, sugar, zest and vanilla in the bowl of your stand mixer. Beat for about 5 minutes, until pale and fluffy, stopping the mixer to scrape the bottom and sides of the bowl.
- Add the eggs, one at a time, together with a tablespoon of flour. Stop and scrape the bowl again if needed.
- Add the orange juice, cider vinegar and remaing flour and beat together on low speed until combined and the batter is smooth. Do not overbeat.
- Divide between the cake tins and level with a palette knife. Bake for 35-40 minutes, until the cakes are risen and a skewer inserted in the centre comes out clean.
- Cool on a wire rack for 10 minutes then carefully turn out.
- Heat the honey and orange juice in the microwave for 10 seconds then brush over the still warm cake layers. Keep any excess to drizzle over the frosting.
- Heat the grill to 200C (400F) and brush your orange slices with a little honey (warm it up to make runny first). Place on the tray with a grill rack and grill until the slices are softened and slightly caramelised.
- Beat all the cream cheese, icing sugar and honey together until just combined. Gradually add the cream and beat until you have firm peaks.
- Sandwich the cake layers together with a generous amount of frosting. Spread or pipe the rest of the frosting on the top.
- Add the grilled orange slices as decoration and drizzle a little honey over the cake, letting it drip down the sides.
Dom says
YES!!! Honey orange cake… my favourite. So pretty.
Jacqueline Meldrum says
That looks heavenly Lucy. The addition of honey is a good one, especially Manuka honey. Apart from it being so good for you, I love the almost caramel stickiness and flavour. Beautiful photos as ever. I am left craving cake (this cake!)
Choclette says
What a fab cake for Mother’s Day. I love the flavour of honey in cakes, but rarely use it. Manuka honey is the bees knees. I ate loads of it when we were in NZ.
Bethany says
Such a pretty cake! And that filling looks amazing!!
Michelle @ Greedy Gourmet says
Don’t think I’ve ever tried manuka honey!?! Eating this cake will be one heck of an introduction to it though. 😀