My grandmother’s birthday is Christmas Day. As kids, we would drive to Minneapolis to celebrate with her on Christmas Day. We have started celebrating it on Christmas Eve now that she lives in Des Moines. This year, I decided to use this cake recipe since her nickname is Honey and a Christmas birthday is often overlooked and cake left out completely.
It comes from my all-time favorite cookbook – The Joy of Cooking.
I liked the flavoring of this cake – spicy and fit it in well with the Christmas season’s flavors.
Two eggs and butter don’t hurt in making this cake delicious.
The additional flavoring of honey and coffee intrigued me and was the final selling point in choosing this for my grandmother’s birthday cake. I used honey from my parents’ neighbors’ hives – delicious!
This thick batter worked perfectly for the winter pan my mom chose.
I was hesitant to use the fancy snowflake pan due to my past mishaps with decorative pans. However, my sister and mom both assured me that they would help remove the cake from the pan.
It popped out easily with the aid of cooking spray and only waiting 1 minute after coming out of the oven..
They don’t make this particular cake pan anymore, but here is another stunning Nordic Ware Snowflake Pan
A dusting of confectioner’s sugar and a pretty festive platter made this the perfect Christmas birthday dessert.
Next year we will have to go all out with 89 candles! We served this cake with cinnamon ice cream and peppermint ice cream.
My sister and grandmother and me.
The Christmas Eve celebration ended with a rousing game of Yahtzee and even Brownie got in on the the festivities.
My sister loves to make this dog look as cute as can be.
It even snowed a little on Christmas Eve.
A walk with Brownie to the snowy pond was a perfect end to Christmas Eve.
Honey Cake
1. Cream together 1/2 cup butter and 1/2 cup sugar. Add 2 eggs and continue creaming until light and fluffy.
2. Sift together 2 cups all-purpose flour, 1/2 teaspoon baking soda, 1 teaspoon double-acting baking soda, 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon, 1/4 teaspoon ginger, 1/4 teaspoon salt.
3. Add the sifted ingredients to the egg mixture alternating in three parts with 1/2 cup honey and 1/2 cup cool strong coffee. Stir in 1/2 teaspoon vanilla.
4. Pour batter into a greased 9 x 9″ pan and bake for 30 minutes at 350 degrees. Dust top with confectioner’s sugar.
Bluebird Hill Art 
And I got a Yahtzee!