There are three different ways to make honey cake:

Homemade - whip up a cake with ingredients you’ve got around the house

Quick Mix - this speedy version uses boxed cake mix and vanilla pudding cups

Breakfast Cake – a little “cake” that you can make for breakfast, or a snack anytime!

Baking with your child is a great way to introduce math concepts like counting, measuring, and telling time. And have a tasty treat when you’re done!

 Honey Cake
(Homemade Version)

Ingredients

 Cake

¾ cup sugar
¼ cup brown sugar
1 cup butter (at room temperature)
2 eggs
1 tablespoon vanilla
1.5 cups all purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon cinnamon
½ cup milk
1 teaspoon honey

Toppings

Honey
Strawberries, blueberries, bananas, or any other fruit you want!

Directions

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
2. Mix the sugar, brown sugar, and butter (make sure it’s room temperature) until it’s creamy.
3. Add eggs to the mix one at a time, beating the mix after each egg.
4. Mix in the vanilla and stir.
5. Mix in flour, baking powder, salt, and cinnamon.
6. Mix in milk and honey.
7. Spray a circular or rectangular pan with cooking spray. (The pan can be square; squares are rectangles!). An 8 x 8” or 9 x 9” works best. If you use a larger pan, just reduce the baking time slightly (and keep an eye on it!).
8. Pour the mix into the pan.
9. Bake your cake for 40 to 44 minutes. If you stick a toothpick in and it comes out clean, the cake is baked! Transfer your cake to a cooling rack and let it cool down.
10. Then decorate your honey cake! See decoration instructions below.

 Honey Cake (Quick Mix Version)

Ingredients

Cake

1 box cake mix, and the ingredients called for on the back of the box
4 vanilla pudding cups (each cup 3.25 oz)

Toppings

Honey
Strawberries, blueberries, bananas, or any other fruit you want!

Directions

1. Mix the box cake according to directions on the back of the box.
2. Add 4 vanilla pudding cups to the batter and stir until combined.
3. Pour the mix into a pan
4. Bake the cake according to the directions on the box, until edges are light brown. If you stick a toothpick in and it comes out clean, the cake is baked!
5. Transfer the cake to a cooling rack and let it cool.

Decorating your Birthday Honey Cake

Put the cake on your serving plate.  Now it’s time to decorate!

TIP: If the top of your cake is very rounded and berries won’t stay put, here’s one way to fix it.  Using a sharp knife, just slice across the top of the cake parallel to the countertop. Now the top is flat and ready for berries!

 1. Add Honey
Make a tight spiral of honey on the top of the cake, starting in the center and moving toward the outside.

2. Add Fruit
Now decorate the top with fruit. Explain what making a pattern means (When you put stuff in a certain order and repeat it again and again and again!) then let your child use the fruit to make a pattern on the cake.

Here are a few pattern ideas you can try:

 Option 1 – Rectangular cake with blueberries and sliced strawberries

1. Starting at one corner of your rectangular cake, put down two blueberries and then one strawberry.
2. Continue this pattern (2 blueberries, 1 strawberry) across the cake in a row, counting the fruit as you go, until you reach the other edge of the cake.
3. Start the next row with a strawberry slice this time, and then continue that pattern (1 strawberry, 2 blueberries, and so on).
4. Keep making rows of your fruit pattern until the whole cake is covered!

 Option 2 – Rectangular cake with blueberries, sliced strawberries, and sliced banana

1. Starting at the top of your rectangular cake, place fruit in the following pattern:
   1. 1 strawberry slice
   2. 2 blueberries
   3. 1 banana slice
   4. 2 blueberries
2. On the second row, start the pattern with the blueberries this time, then continue the pattern from before (2 blueberries, 1 banana, 2 blueberries, 1 strawberry).
3. On the third row, start with a banana and continue the pattern (1 banana, 2 blueberries, 1 strawberry, 2 blueberries).
4. On the fourth row, start with two blueberries again. Continue to add rows until your cake is covered!

Option 3 – Circular cake with strawberries and blueberries.

Place a line of sliced strawberries across the center of your circular cake.  Alternate strawberry and blueberry lines until you reach the edge.

Once your fruit decoration is finished, squeeze another spiral of honey on top.

 

Breakfast Honey Cake

 Ingredients (per cake)
2 slices of bread (pick your favorite)
2 teaspoons of honey
1 tablespoon of peanut butter (optional)
1 tablespoon of jelly (optional)
Strawberries, blueberries, raspberries, or any berries you like!
Cookie cutter

Directions

1. Using a cookie cutter, cut a circle (or any other shape!) out of each slice of bread.
2. Spread honey on one piece of bread.
3. Add other fillings, like peanut butter and jelly, to the other piece of bread, if you want.
4. Close the sandwich.
5. Top the cake by making a pattern with the berries. Try alternating blueberries and raspberries in a circle around the edge. Or make up your own pattern!