This moist honey almond cake is made with almond flour and gets soaked in a floral honey simple syrup. The cake is extremely tender with a light texture and open crumb. It is intensely honey-flavored (like in this honey pie) but not overly sweet.
This almond cake recipe is a riff off of my coconut cake and fig upside down cake. While simple, this honey cake is perfect as it is but is also great topped with fresh raspberries or other fresh fruit and a dollop of whipped cream!
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Why You'll Love This Recipe
Honey-soaked - This cake gets sweetness and extra moisture from a honey simple syrup made from honey and water. Similar to a poke cake or tres leches cake, the simple syrup adds flavor and a high amount of moisture to the cake, making it so soft and delicious!
Tender cake - The base of this dessert is made with almond flour, which gives it an endlessly tender texture. Your fork will slide right through the moist cake. It's topped with sliced almonds for just the right amount of crunch.
One bowl - This is the simplest recipe to make, requiring no special equipment or multiple vessels. All you'll need is one bowl and a spatula to mix the batter to make this lovely cake.
Ingredients
- Eggs. It's essential that the eggs are at room temperature or else the batter will seize. Add the whole eggs to a bowl of hot water for 5 minutes if you don't have time to leave them out on the counter for a few hours!
- Flour. A small amount of all-purpose flour is used to help the cake retain structure. To make this almond cake totally gluten free, use Bob's Red Mill 1-1 Gluten Free Baking Flour.
- Almond flour. Finely ground almond flour should be used (not almond meal).
- Sliced almonds. These get sprinkled all over the top of the cake for extra flavor and crunch.
- Honey. This becomes a simple syrup and slowly poured all over the hot cake to soak in.
See recipe card for full ingredients list and quantities.
Substitutions and Variations
- Rub lemon zest into the sugar with your fingers to brighten the flavor.
- Substitute orange or lemon extract in place of the almond extract.
- Use Bob's Red Mill 1-1 Gluten Free Baking Flour for the all purpose flour to make the cake totally gluten free.
- Add pecans, walnuts, or pistachios onto the topping for added flavor and crunch.
How to Make This Recipe
One: Cream together the butter and sugar until smooth.
Two: Add the eggs and beat until light and fluffy.
Three: Slowly mix in the flour and baking powder until no flour remains.
Four: Fold in the almond flour by hand until the batter is combined.
Five: Spread the batter evenly into a prepared cake pan.
Six: Top the cake with sliced almonds, then bake.
Hot tip! Prepare the cake pan with a strip of parchment paper going up the sides, and a round piece covering the bottom. The strips help to remove the cake from the pan.
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Seven: While the cake bakes, heat the honey simple syrup.
Eight: When the cake is baked, pour the honey syrup all over the cake while hot, then cool the cake completely.
Expert Tips
- Have your eggs at room temperature to avoid the butter in the batter from seizing up.
- Fold in the almond flour by hand so the batter doesn't get over mixed.
- Add a strip of parchment paper under the cake to help remove it once it is baked. You won't be able to turn out the cake since it is soaked.
- Don't under bake the cake or it will fall in the center and may crack when transferring it due to the honey syrup.
Recipe FAQs
Almond flour adds texture, moisture, and creates a very light crumb.
Yes. Baking it in a 9x5" loaf pan will work but will slightly increase the bake time (by 5-10 minutes).
Storage
Store the cake lightly covered (allowing a small amount of air to get in) at room temperature for up to three days.
Freezing is not recommended.
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What to Know When Cooking with The Cozy Plum
- All recipes are created with Diamond Crystal kosher salt, the least salty variety of kosher salt. If using Morton's, you'll need to cut the amount of salt in half as it's 2x as salty. This will be the same for sea salt. Please do not use table salt.
- Switch between Cups vs Metric using the toggle on the recipe card. Baking by weight using a digital scale will always produce the most accurate results.
- Scale the recipe using the '1X' '2X' '3X' buttons on the recipe card. Note that this does not make an adjustment for baking times, only quantities.
- If you'd like to make the recipe in a different pan, use the pan size converter.
📖Recipe
Honey Almond Cake
Equipment
- 8" cake pan
- Parchment paper cake rounds
- Stand mixer with paddle attachment, or handheld mixer
Ingredients
- ⅔ cup all-purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- ¼ teaspoon kosher salt
- ¾ cup unsalted butter room temperature
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- 1 teaspoon vanilla paste or extract
- 1 teaspoon almond extract
- 3 large eggs room temperature and whisked
- 1 cup finely ground almond flour
- ⅓ cup sliced almonds
- ⅓ cup honey
- ⅓ cup water
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 375℉ and grease an 8” cake pan and line with a parchment paper round with slings.
- Whisk together the all-purpose flour, baking powder, and salt in a small bowl.⅔ cup all-purpose flour, 1 teaspoon baking powder, ¼ teaspoon kosher salt
- Cream the butter and sugar in a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment (or with a hand mixer) for two minutes on medium speed, then scrape down the sides.¾ cup unsalted butter, 1 cup granulated sugar
- With the mixer running on low speed, add the vanilla and almond extracts, then slowly drizzle in the whisked eggs until completely incorporated. The mixture will look curdled, but will come together with the dry ingredients.1 teaspoon vanilla paste or extract, 1 teaspoon almond extract, 3 large eggs
- Keeping the mixer on low speed, spoon in the dry ingredient mixture until it’s almost incorporated.
- Remove the bowl from the stand and fold in the almond flour by hand until completely incorporated. Be sure to scrape down to the bottom and bring up the mixture in a "J" motion while folding.1 cup finely ground almond flour
- Add the batter to the prepared cake pan and spread evenly. Sprinkle sliced almonds all over the top.⅓ cup sliced almonds
- Bake in the center rack of the preheated oven for 28-35 minutes. The sides will have pulled away slightly and a toothpick or paring knife inserted into the center will come out with moist crumbs, but should not have wet batter on it.
- While the cake bakes, prepare the simple syrup. Add the honey and water to a small saucepan over medium low heat and stir until hot and fully combined. Transfer to a measuring cup with a pour spout.⅓ cup honey, ⅓ cup water
- Once the cake is done, remove it from the oven to a wire rack and very slowly pour the honey simple syrup all over the top and sides of the cake. Cool for 20 minutes to allow the simple syrup to soak in, then remove the cake and allow it to finish cooling on a wire rack.
- Serve warm or at room temperature.
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Notes
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Suzan says
I made this for a dinner party and we loved it! I only used 3/4 tsp of the almond extract, as it is very strong. Also after creaming the butter and sugar, I finished mixing by hand. I do not like dense cake so I always mix by hand once the flour goes in. Delicious!
Callan Wenner says
Suzan - thank you for making and reporting back! Glad you adapted the flavors to suit your liking. Thanks so much for trying it.
Celeste A. Church says
The recipe should have got a higher rating ..don't think anything was wrong with it. But my cake didn't rise. At all. It was kind of a cross between shortbread and custard. Tasted okay, just....not cake. Not sure what I did wrong but something. I'll try again if I ever stop crying. 😅
Callan Wenner says
Celeste - oh no! Something definitely went awry here 🥴 This base almond cake is used in 4 other recipes on TCP so I'm very confident in this recipe. I also double-checked the recipe to make sure I didn't transcribe something wrong, but it is correct.
Let's try to troubleshoot - Did you cream the butter and sugar for the full 2 minutes? Was your baking powder fresh? Were you using LARGE eggs (not extra large)? These are top of mind for the potential mishap. Let me know!