Make Ahead
Catalan Honey Cake or Coc de Mel
- Makes 9-inch cake
Author Notes
This is a very simple but delicious recipe my mother got from my father's mother. His family are originally from a small fishing town by the coast of Tarragona, Catalonia, Spain, and this was my father's favorite.
I recently found my mum's old "just married" recipe notebook and upon trying this recipe, it was instantly familiar.
The cake base is light and airy and not too sweet, it uses a series of flour and olive oil layers on top of the batter, and raw honey is poured on top while still warm.
After doing some research, I couldn't find this recipe anywhere and other catalan recipes by the same name were completely different, baking with the honey rather than adding it later. I like that you get to eat the honey raw, so it keeps all of it properties. I will be trying this recipe with wholemeal flour and raw cane sugar, but we have been having this cake as a treat in the afternoon but also for breakfast. —Judit Piñol
Ingredients
- For the cake
-
2
free-range eggs
-
200 grams
white caster sugar
-
1/2 cup
whole milk
-
1/2 cup
mild olive oil + more for the top layer
-
300 grams
all purpose or pastry flour + more for the top layer
-
8 grams
baking powder
- Honey drizzle while hot
-
250 grams
raw honey, make sure it's liquid enough to pour
Directions
- For the cake
- Preheat oven to 170C / 340F and grease a metalic tin. I used a 9inch round cake pan.
- Beat in the eggs and sugar in a large bowl with and electric mixer. Add in the milk and oil, mix well. Use a sieve to add the flour and baking powder to the bowl, mixing slowly until well combined. Pour the batter into the tin.
- Before putting it in the oven, grab some flour with your hands and sprinkle it on top, until the batter is covered. Follow that by drizzling some olive oil on top of the flour layer. Repeat the flour-oil combo 2 more times.
- Pop the pan on the medium rack of the oven and bake for 40-45min. until the top it's starting to brown and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out dry. The browner you let the top get, the crunchier the top layer will be.
- Honey drizzle while hot
- Right after taking the cake out of the oven, when it's still piping hot, drizzle the honey on top until completely covered. I used half the contents of a 500g jar, add omre or less according to taste. The honey will sink through the flour-olive layer, giving it a beautiful and tasty top.
- Cool the cake, slice and serve!
See what other Food52ers are saying.