Description
This Beorn’s Spiced Mead Honey Cake is a rustic, Middle-earth-inspired dessert infused with raw honey, mead, and warm spices. Perfect for Second Breakfast, teatime, or Tolkien-themed gatherings, it’s moist, fragrant, and magical in every bite.
Ingredients
Scale
For the Cake:
- 1 3/4 cups (210g) all-purpose flour
- 1/2 tsp baking soda
- 1/4 tsp baking powder
- 1 tsp ground cinnamon
- 1/2 tsp ground cardamom
- 1/4 tsp ground cloves
- 1/4 tsp sea salt
- 2 large eggs
- 1/2 cup (120ml) buttermilk
- 1/2 cup (120ml) mead (or apple juice/chamomile tea)
- 1/2 cup (170g) raw honey
- 1/2 cup (100g) light brown sugar
- 1/2 cup (113g) unsalted butter, melted and cooled
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
Optional Glaze:
- 2 tbsp raw honey
- 1 tbsp mead
- 1/2 tsp cinnamon
Instructions
- Preheat Oven: Heat to 350°F (175°C). Grease and line a 9-inch round cake pan.
- Mix Dry Ingredients: In a bowl, sift flour, baking soda, baking powder, cinnamon, cardamom, cloves, and salt.
- Whisk Wet Ingredients: In another bowl, whisk eggs, buttermilk, mead, honey, brown sugar, butter, and vanilla until smooth.
- Combine: Gently stir wet mixture into dry until just combined. Do not overmix.
- Bake: Pour batter into pan. Bake 35–40 minutes until a toothpick inserted comes out clean.
- Cool: Let rest 15–20 minutes, then transfer to a wire rack.
- Optional Glaze: Warm honey, mead, and cinnamon in a saucepan. Drizzle over warm cake.
Notes
- Use room-temperature ingredients for best texture.
- Substitute mead with apple juice or chamomile tea for a non-alcoholic version.
- Check cake at 35 minutes—honey browns faster than sugar.
- For gluten-free, use 1:1 GF flour and add 1/4 tsp baking powder.
- Dairy-free option: replace buttermilk with oat milk + lemon juice and use plant butter.
- Flavors deepen after a day—great to make ahead.
- Prep Time: 15 minutes
- Cook Time: 40 minutes
- Category: Dessert
- Method: Baked
- Cuisine: Rustic / Fantasy-Inspired
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1 slice
Keywords: Beorn’s Spiced Mead Honey Cake, Hobbit food, Tolkien dessert recipes, rustic honey cake, spiced mead cake