10 servings

Hands on: 25 minutes

Photo: Becky Stein/Special Styling: Meridith Ford/AJC (ENLARGE)
MOST POPULAR STORIES New arrests likely in Fla. adoptive couple slaying Toddler found wandering street alone Reed aims to rejuvenate Christian conservatives Motorist dies in drive over edge of Grand Canyon Three arrested for attempted robbery near Tech
EMAIL THIS PRINT THIS MOST POPULAR
Related: • More on food and drink • Search ajc.com's recipes

Total time: 50 minutes

An easy, simple cake that looks pretty decorated with crystallized orange peel and sprinklings of dark chocolate. It's moist and not sweet, with lots of spice. The recipe for cream cheese frosting follows.

1 cup dark honey

1 teaspoon ground ginger

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon ground cloves

2 1/2 cups cake flour, sifted

1 teaspoon baking powder

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter

1/2 cup brown sugar

Grated zest of 1 lemon

1 large egg

1 cup buttermilk

Orange Chocolate Cream Cheese Frosting

Crystallized orange peel

Dark chocolate shavings

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Grease and flour three 8-inch cake pans (or spray with Baker's Joy). Combine the honey, ginger, cinnamon and cloves in a small saucepan and bring to a boil. Set aside.

Sift together the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt.

Cream together the butter and brown sugar in a stand mixer until light. Add the lemon zest and egg and blend. Stir in the spiced honey. Add the flour mixture alternately with the buttermilk, beginning and ending with the flour.

Pour into cake pans and bake for 20 minutes, or until the cake springs back from the center when touched. Cool on racks for 5 minutes before removing from pans.

When cool, frost the inside and top of the cake with Orange Chocolate Cream Cheese Frosting. - Adapted from "Cakes From Scratch in Half the Time" by Linda West Eckhardt (Chronicle Books, $24.95)

Per serving, cake with frosting: 640 calories (percent of calories from fat, 35), 6 grams protein, 101 grams carbohydrates, 1 gram fiber, 26 grams fat (15 grams saturated), 86 milligrams cholesterol, 377 milligrams sodium.