• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar

Baker Gatherer

Sweet Fusion

  • Home
  • About
  • Recipes
    • Recipes
    • Top 6 Kiwi Biscuit Recipes
    • 4 Easy Foodie Gift Ideas
    • Little Explorer Birthday Inspiration
  • Kitchen
    • Baking 101
    • Conversions
  • Living
    • Food
    • Events
    • Travel
    • Giveaway
  • Press & PR
  • Contact

Tea and Honey Cake

April 3, 2019 By Dane McGregor 37 Comments

When you think of wholesome baking ingredients that feel earthy and raw, honey is one of those ingredients that comes to mind. There’s also the nostalgic element to honey that I love, for example the smell of honey sandwiches when you’re young, hot lemon and honey drinks when your unwell and the fascination with honey bees and bears who love to eat it.

When I was introduced to Mountain Valley Honey, a humble family business down in sunny Nelson, all I could think about was how prosperous the Nelson region was. It truly is the land of milk and honey when it comes to amazing produce and food, dripping with goodness. So this was the core inspiration for my Tea and Honey Cake, because what goes better with milk than tea with a drop of honey. For this cake I used Mountain Valley Honey’s Manuka honey for it’s full bodied and earthy flavours. This is then layered with Earl Grey infused Buttercream and plenty of cookie crumbs, because after all, what tea is complete without the perfect dipping cookie. The cookie choice can be up to you, however I went with a classic Vanilla Wine Biscuit.

There are also two ways to assemble this cake, a shorter and longer technique. So depending on how daring you are, the amount of time you have or the overall aesthetic you want to achieve, make sure you read both assembly instructions in the method below.

WIN: Thanks to Mountain Valley Honey I also have an amazing giveaway that any honey lover would want to enter. Scroll down below the recipe for details.

Mountain Valley Honey kindly invited me to fly down to the top of the South Island and visit them at their honey HQ. It was lovely to meet the faces behind family owned and operated Mountain Valley Honey based in Nelson. With hives nestled amongst beautiful mountains, deep valleys, and stunning seaside sounds across the top of the South Island, you can really feel the love Mountain Valley Honey have for their hard working bees and the beautiful honey they produce.

I was lucky enough to visit some hives and see for myself the happy bees busy at work. This then lead into an in depth walkthrough of Mountain Valley HQ and their honey extraction, packing and distribution processes, all ready for their new and loyal customers. Either selling honey from local markets, online or even their shop front, there is always lots of buzz when it comes to humble family business who genuinely love what they do.

Mountain Valley Honey offer a wide variety of different honeys, dependant on the season and availability. I was fortunate to sample their selection along with hearing the tasting notes and found it very hard to pick any favourites, but I think I’d have to go with Manuka, Kamahi and Beech Honeydew. So don’t forget to try your favourite in my Tea and Honey recipe below.

For more information on Mountain Valley Honey, you can visit their website ‘here’.

5 from 6 votes
Print
Tea and Honey Cake
Prep Time
30 mins
Cook Time
35 mins
Crumb and Milk
20 mins
Total Time
1 hr 5 mins
 
Ingredients
Honey Cake
  • 430g Plain Flour
  • 300g Caster Sugar
  • 2 Teaspoon Baking Powder
  • 1 Teaspoon Salt
  • 230g Butter – Room Temperature
  • 250ml Buttermilk
  • 170g Mountain Valley Honey Manuka Honey
  • 2 Teaspoon Vanilla Extract
  • 4 Eggs
Earl Grey Infused Milk
  • 200ml Milk
  • 2 Tablespoon Loose Leaf Earl Grey Tea (2 Tea Bags)
Cookie Crumb
  • 200g Vanilla Wine Biscuits
  • 100g Butter – Melted
  • 1 Tablespoon Brown Sugar
Honey Syrup
  • 80g Manuka Honey
  • 60ml Boiling Water
Earl Grey Buttercream
  • 220g Butter – Room Temperature
  • 500g Icing Sugar
  • 3-4 Tablespoon Earl Grey Infused Milk
Instructions
  1. To start with, preheat oven to 180°c bake and line or grease two 8″ (20-22cm) spring-form baking tins and set aside.

  2. Using a free-standing mixer, add the butter and sugar and beat until pale and fluffy. Add the eggs one at a time, beating between each egg.

  3. Using two bowls of flour the Flour, baking powder and salt to one bowl and mix. In the second bowl, add the buttermilk, honey, vanilla extract and mix.

  4. Alternating between the dry and wet ingredients, add them to the free-standing mixer one at a time over several additions. Fold through to incorporate.

  5. Pour batter evenly between the two prepared baking tins and bake for 35-40 minutes, or until cakes are golden and a skewer comes out clean. Allow cakes to cool completely.

  6. While the cake is cooling, infuse the milk by adding the milk and tea leaves to a small pot. Bring to a simmer and continue to stir for about 2 minutes. Remove from the heat and allow to cool complexity in the pot. When cooled, strain and set aside.

  7. Next, make cookie crumbs by coarsely crushing biscuits and adding to a medium-sized bowl. Add melted butter and brown sugar and mix through until crumbs start to clump. Pour out onto a lined baking tray and bake at 180°c for 10-15 minutes or until crumbs are golden. Remove from oven and allow to cool completely before breaking up the crumb.

  8. To make the honey syrup, add honey and boiling water to a small bowl or ramekin. Mix through to combine and set aside.

  9. To make the buttercream, beat butter in a free-standing mixer for 5 minutes, scraping sides down occasionally. Sift icing sugar and add to the butter in two stages, beating for another 3 minutes between additions. On a slower speed, add the earl grey infused milk, then turn mixer speed back up and beat for another few minutes. Now you’re ready to assemble!

Assembly – Quick
  1. Place first cake layer on a cake board and using a pastry brush, brush top of cake with honey syrup. Cover with a layer of buttercream, followed by a layer of cookie crumbs (You can follow this with another light layer of buttercream if you like). Place the second cake layer on top and follow through with earlier steps of brushing with honey syrup, a layer of buttercream and finishing off with a final layer of cookie crumbs. Cut, serve and enjoy with a hot cup of tea.

Assembly – Longer (There are the steps I used)
  1. Place first cake layer on a cake board and using a roll of plastic acetate, wrap this around the base cake layer, making sure there is enough height to encase the whole cake once finished. The effect you’re wanting for example is a trifle dessert in a tall glass bowl, except eventually you’ll want to remove this glass bowl (the acetate in this instance). Once the acetate is firmly secured in place, use a pastry brush to brush honey syrup over the first layer of cake. Carefully fill in with a layer of buttercream, tidily and evenly pressing up against side of acetate. Sprinkle in a layer of cookie crumbs, spread out evenly and push up against sides of acetate. Repeat all these steps once again until you have 2 layers of each element. Either place in the fridge overnight or in the freezer for a few hours. Once layers are firm and chilled, you’ll be able to remove plastic acetate cleanly from around the outside of layer cake, leaving the effect I’ve shown in this post. Allow cake to return to room temperature before cutting and serving with a hot cup of tea. Enjoy!


Giveaway! – Closed

If you’re a honey lover, I have 7 x 500g jars of honey to give away to one lucky reader thanks to Mountain Valley Honey! All you have to do to enter is tell me which of the 7 flavours you’d most like to try and what you like to bake with honey in the comments below.

The 7 honey flavours in this giveaway are: Manuka, Autumn Gold, Kamahi, Beech Honeydew, Native Bush, Rata and Kanuka.

One winner will be chosen at random and notified here and on Facebook by Monday 15th April. Open to New Zealand residents only. Good luck


Winner Announced!

Thanks to all those who entered.

Congratulations to the winner below:
Hilary Q

Could the winner please email me with their postal details and I’ll get their prize sent out ASAP. Thanks again for entering.

dane@bakergatherer.com


This is a sponsored post for Mountain Valley Honey. I only work with products and brands I love and all opinions are my own.

Other Posts you may like

Orange Chocolate Almond Cake

Cream Donut Cake

Funfetti Cookie Cake

Peanut Butter and Jelly Cake

Tweet
Pin7
Share
7 Shares

Filed Under: Cakes

Previous Post: « Hot Cross Bun Cupcake
Next Post: Beer Battered Oysters »

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Quacclynn seng

    April 4, 2019 at 5:33 am

    Native bush – honey rice bubble cakes!

    Reply
  2. Hilary Q

    April 4, 2019 at 5:36 am

    All flavors! But super keen on classic Manuka (drizzled on hot toast 😍 simple but delicious! Does that count as a recipe?!)

    Reply
  3. Jennifer

    April 4, 2019 at 5:44 am

    Autumn Gold sounds delicious.

    Reply
  4. Leeann

    April 4, 2019 at 5:46 am

    Autumn Gold sounds great. I would give this cake a bash otherwise a rice bubbles cakes or some type of cookie.

    Reply
  5. Amanda

    April 4, 2019 at 6:01 am

    Oh yum my second name is Pooh bear , I would make granola with Manuka Honey cinnamon and dried nectarines yum 😋 🍯

    Reply
  6. Eddy Gies

    April 4, 2019 at 6:02 am

    5 stars
    Beach Honey Dew sounds inviting and intriguing, normally I’d go for Manuka.

    Reply
  7. Niki

    April 4, 2019 at 7:37 am

    Beech Honey Dew

    I would pop this in my raw birdseed bar ! 😋

    Reply
  8. Yvonne Kahira Harding

    April 4, 2019 at 9:38 am

    5 stars
    Autumn Gold. And I would make Apple and Honey Crumble🙂

    Reply
  9. Claire

    April 5, 2019 at 7:33 pm

    Manuka – and I’d bake Manuka Honey Cheesecake 🙂

    Reply
  10. Kara

    April 6, 2019 at 5:04 am

    Hmm would have to pick manuka and obviously I would make this cake 😍

    Reply
  11. Rebecca

    April 6, 2019 at 5:50 am

    Eat and Kanuka sounds amazing!!

    Reply
  12. Gina

    April 6, 2019 at 6:25 am

    Manuka and the Beech Honeydew… I would def give this recipe a go… I’ve always wondered how bakers get those perfectly smooth layer edges – may have to try the longer version of assembly! 🐝

    Reply
  13. Asha

    April 6, 2019 at 6:49 am

    I like the sound of Autumn Gold. From which I would make a rosemary, vanilla and cinnamon infused honey syrup to add into my oat, chia and buckwheat cookies.

    Reply
  14. Naomi

    April 6, 2019 at 6:55 am

    Manuka honey please! I have a muesli bar slice I make for lunchboxes which uses honey, so good 😍

    Reply
  15. Holly Jamieson

    April 6, 2019 at 7:01 am

    I’d love to try the Manuka honey and I love using honey in Honey & Apricot muffins so I’m really excited to try making this cake recipe!

    Reply
  16. Debra Klassen

    April 6, 2019 at 7:14 am

    I would be so super keen for the native bush honey to make a honey date cake with a vanilla bean cream cheese frosting, bush honey always have the most amazing flavours👌

    Reply
  17. Stef Parker

    April 6, 2019 at 8:13 am

    5 stars
    I love Kanuka honey, and the Kamahi sounds great too! I would make a lavender lemon & honey cake 🍰, This earl grey cake sounds rather lovely too.

    Reply
  18. Jonnita Akauola

    April 6, 2019 at 8:46 am

    Autumn gold sounds yum. I would make a nice warm honey and sticky date pudding with a caramel sauce and Zany Zeus’s vanilla bean ice cream.

    Reply
  19. Aaron Wells

    April 6, 2019 at 9:01 am

    5 stars
    Rata and Kanuka and I would make a honey drizzle cake. Beautiful.

    Reply
  20. Kat

    April 6, 2019 at 10:23 pm

    Manuka 💛

    Reply
  21. Rhiannon Young

    April 6, 2019 at 10:59 pm

    5 stars
    I’d luv to try ‘Beech Honeydew’ mmmmm….. I haven’t baked with honey before but I’m defo planning on trying out your Tea and Honey Cake yummo! 🐝🍯 👍🙏🤞 So gen of u!— Yes pretty please.

    Reply
  22. debbie

    April 7, 2019 at 12:10 am

    Manuka Id make honey fruit leathers so delish the recipe sounds amazing too 🙂

    Reply
  23. Chloe Gibson

    April 7, 2019 at 12:27 am

    Manuka for fruit leathers would be fantastic 🙂

    Reply
  24. Sabrina Grogan

    April 7, 2019 at 1:50 am

    Beech honeydew. To give some real baklava a go😍

    Reply
  25. Nadine

    April 7, 2019 at 6:20 am

    I’d like to try the Kamahi and I’m definitely making this cake!

    Reply
  26. Jessie

    April 9, 2019 at 9:52 am

    I’d like to try the Kamahi honey. This month I’ll be making Anzac bikkies and swapping the golden syrup for honey

    Reply
  27. Michael

    April 10, 2019 at 2:22 am

    That Native Bush honey sounds good. I wonder how it will go in a nectarine/honey loaf…

    Reply
  28. Wayne Nelson

    April 10, 2019 at 9:43 am

    I have purchased Mountain Valley honey in the past – it is really nice honey and great service. I haven’t tried the Kamahi honey yet, so that would be my choice. I’m pretty keen to have a crack at that amazing looking tea cake. But my very favourite honey recipe is baklava – decadent but delicious!

    Reply
  29. Jeff

    April 12, 2019 at 6:13 am

    Autumn Gold! I put it in my home made bliss balls

    Reply
  30. Samara

    April 12, 2019 at 8:39 pm

    Autumn gold sounds amazing, I would love to try it! I would love some honey to make a sponge roll with.

    Reply
  31. Nicole

    April 12, 2019 at 9:30 pm

    I’d love to try the Auckland Gold and I would make Easter honey bliss balls –

    Reply
  32. Catherine

    April 12, 2019 at 9:47 pm

    I’d love to try the native bush. I’d bake heaps, definitely keen to try this recipe

    Reply
  33. Rebekah

    April 13, 2019 at 3:10 am

    Beech honeydew sounds like perfection for some granola…. if I won I’d DEFINITELY be making that cake!!!! looks amazing

    Reply
  34. Trent F

    April 13, 2019 at 3:59 am

    Autumn Gold sounds nice… homemade muesli bars are a favourite.

    Reply
  35. PJ

    April 13, 2019 at 4:09 am

    I can’t choose between the Autumn Gold or Rata & Kanuka.
    I would definitely try this cake recipe first or honey on crumpets

    Reply
  36. Sarah Evans

    April 13, 2019 at 9:17 am

    5 stars
    How am I supposed to pick one flavour?? I want to try them all. but I love manuka honey. That would be the one I would like the most.
    I would make home made crumpets to drizzle the honey on. It’s the best when the honey fills all the little crumpet holes.mmmm

    Reply
  37. Adele Crook

    April 14, 2019 at 7:30 am

    Manuka honey
    This would be great for my rice bubble crackle

    Reply

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Recipe Rating




Primary Sidebar


WELCOME TO BAKER GATHERER, THE LONE JOURNEY IN SEARCH OF SWEET FUSION

  • Bloglovin
  • Email
  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • YouTube

are you on Instagram?

I love cake, but I also love coffee. And this seas I love cake, but I also love coffee. And this season calls for plenty of iced coffees. 

The perfect pairing with an iced coffee is this Chocolate Coffee Cake with a Coffee Mascarpone filling, recipe below. Hands up if you love both cake and iced coffees 🙌🏼.

✏️ Chocolate Coffee Cake

500g @bakelshomebaking Moist Chocolate Cake Baking Mix
½ Cup Water (Room Temp)
4 Eggs (Size 6 or 7)
1 Cup Vegetable Oil
2 Tablespoons Granulated Coffee

✏️ Coffee Mascarpone

500g Mascarpone
2 Tablespoon Granulated Coffee
3-4 Teaspoons Hot Water
6 Tablespoons Icing Sugar
Dark Chocolate

✏️ Method

1 - Preheat the oven to 180°C fan bake and grease the sides and line the bases of 2 x 20cm round springform cake tins with greaseproof paper. Set aside.

2 - Place the cake ingredients into a mixing bowl and beat on a low speed for 1 minute. Scrape down the sides and beat for another couple of minutes until smooth.

3 - Using kitchen scales, evenly measure cake mixture across the 2 prepared baking tins and bake for around 35-40 minutes, or until an inserted skewer comes out clean. Remove from the oven and allow to cool completely before filling.

4 - To make the coffee mascarpone filling, start by dissolving the granulated coffee with the hot water in a small bowl or ramekin, then set aside to cool. Meanwhile, beat together the mascarpone and icing sugar until smooth. Add the cooled coffee mixture and beat once again until incorporated.

5 - To assemble, place the first layer of cake onto a serving dish or cake stand, then evenly cover with a layer of coffee mascarpone. Gently place the second cake layer on top, then cover with another generous layer of coffee mascarpone. To finish, grate chocolate over top and serve alongside a freshly made iced coffee, or at your next BBQ celebration.

Serves: 10+ Slices
So who is Dane, the face behind Baker Gatherer. Le So who is Dane, the face behind Baker Gatherer. Let me tell you, he’s a pretty sweet dude 😆 

Swipe for a couple tidbits…

Now, do you want to know anything else?
The Easter season is nearly upon us, which means H The Easter season is nearly upon us, which means Hot Cross Bun are ready to be enjoyed. With that said, @newworldnz always has a plentiful selection of Easter treats, especially Hot Cross Buns. This year I’m offering a different twist on an Easter tradition, and introduce these Hot Cross Bun Kebabs.

These Hot Cross Bun Kebabs are super easy to make and are served with a sweet Whipped Cream Cheese to dip. You can also use any of your favourite or seasonal fruit to make these kebabs your own. I’ll share the method and recipe below so you can make these delicious kebabs at your place this Easter!

So, don’t forget to grab some Hot Cross Buns from your local New World, and check out their website for plenty more Easter inspired recipes.

💥 Hot Cross Bun Kebabs

✏️ Ingredients

1 Pack of Hot Cross Buns from New World
2 Nectarines
2 Bananas
Grapes (Note: You can use any of your favourite or seasonal fruit)
Lemon Juice

130g Cream Cheese
100ml Fresh Cream
50g Caster Sugar
1 Teaspoon Vanilla Extract

✏️ You’ll Need

Wooden Kebab skewers 

✏️ Method

To make the Whipped Cream Cheese:

1. Add the cream cheese and caster sugar into a bowl, and using a hand-held mixer, beat for 2-3 minutes until combined and fluffy.
2. Pour in the cream and vanilla extract and again beat for 2-3 minutes until smooth and fluffy.
3. Scoop into a serving bowl, cover and chill in the fridge until serving.

To make the Hot Cross Bun Kebabs:

1. Cut the hot cross buns into cubes, roughly 8 pieces per bun. Place cubes on a baking tray and grill each side until lightly toasted, turning regularly. Once all cubes are toasted, set aside to cool.
2. Dice your favourite or seasonal fruit into cubes, similar sizes to the hot cross bun cubes. Then dip or roll your diced fruit through lemon juice to prevent any browning.
3. To assemble your kebabs, alternate between various diced ingredients, starting with a hot cross bun cube at the base. Repeat until skewer is full. Serve immediately alongside the Whipped Cream Cheese, or chill in the fridge until serving. Enjoy.

Serves 12+
I feel I’m in denial the seasons are slowly star I feel I’m in denial the seasons are slowly starting to change. The long hot summer evenings are starting to slip and the mornings a getting darker and cooler… now where are my slippers?
Follow Baker Gatherer

keeping up with the jones

Would you like me to let you know when I share new recipes and content? You can subscribe below.

Loading

something sweet at random

Copyright © 2025 · Baker Gatherer