The Witcher's Honey Spice Cake (vegan)

  reading time: 3 min




Who is in the mood for a thick slice of honey spice cake?

🙋🏼‍♀️

While this cake isn't part of the books nor the Netflix series, the recipe for a certain Honey Spice Cake appears in the expansion of the video game The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt called Blood and Wine during the "Spoontaneous Profits!" treasure hunt quest. The ingredients for this cake by the fictional chef Ram'ses Gor-Thon are actually mentioned in the game (raw buckwheat honey, spelt flour, butter, Zerrikanian spices, eggs, cow's milk, and rock salt).

This spiced honey cake is flavourful, moist and the right kind of sweet – with a hint of buckwheat, beer and vanilla.

The warming spices and the earthy taste of the beer mixed with the sweetness of the honey make this cake the perfect treat on a dreary winter day.


Geralt is ready to slice up some honey spice cake ... or something like that. 😏 (source)


This recipe is part of my nerdy baking series where I post (vegan) recipes of foods from some of my favourite works of fiction. So far I've covered the usual suspects, The Lord of the Rings / The Hobbit, Harry Potter / Fantastic Beasts, Game of Thrones, and Star Wars (sort of), but also The Witcher, Avatar – The Last Airbender, The Dragon Prince, and Chocolat.

And no, I haven't gotten over the fact that Henry Cavill will not be returning to The Witcher after season 3, which basically means that I won't be returning to watching it after season 3, but hey ... it's not like there's a shortage of shows and movies to watch instead.


🎶 Toss a coin to your Witcher, o Valley of Plenty, o Valley of Plenty! Oooh –
Toss a coin to your Witcher, a friend of humanity ... 🎶
 
(by the way, I really love the Rachel Hardy's cover of that song!)


THE WITCHER'S VEGAN HONEY SPICE CAKE

Preparation time: 1 h
Main ingredients: spelt flour, buckwheat flour, honey, beer
difficulty level: easy
serves: 10–14 (1 bundt cake)
suitable for: vegan, lactose-free, wheat-free, egg-free, soy-free, yeast-free

Ingredients

for the cake:
3 cups spelt flour (I did 2 cups type 1050, and 1 cup type 630)
1 cup whole-grain buckwheat flour

1 packet (15 g) baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp rock salt
1 tbsp gingerbread spice (or a mix of 4 parts ground cinnamon, 2 parts ground allspice, 1 part ground ginger, and 1 part ground cardamom)
a pinch of ground nutmeg

1/2 cup vegan margarine
1/2 cup light brown or raw cane sugar
1 cup honey or vegan honee (or sub golden syrup or maple syrup)
1 cup non-dairy milk
1 cup light beer
1 tsp apple cider vinegar or lemon juice
2 tsp vanilla extract

for the frosting:
6 tbsp vegan cream cheese
2 tbsp vegan butter, softened
2 tbsp runny honey or golden syrup
3 tbsp non-dairy milk

1 tsp vanilla extract
pinch of salt

cinnamon, to sprinkle


Instructions

Pre-heat oven to 180 °C / 350 °F. Grease and lightly flour a bundt tin, and set aside.
 
In a mixing bowl combine spelt flour, buckwheat flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, gingerbread spice and ground nutmeg.

In a separate large mixing bowl beat vegan margarine and sugar until light and fluffy, using an electric mixer. Beat in the honey. Add non-dairy milk, light beer, apple cider vinegar or lemon juice, and vanilla extract. Mix well to combine.

Gradually add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients, beating until you have a nice smooth batter.

Pour the batter into the prepared bundt pan, and
bake in the preheated oven for about 30 minutes at 180 °C / 350 °F, until golden and a toothpick inserted into the centre of the cake comes out clean.

Remove from oven and allow to cool for 5-10 minutes before turning it out onto a cooling rack.

Let the cake cool completely before spooning over the frosting.

To make the frosting:


Using a fork or an electric mixer, blend together vegan cream cheese, softened vegan butter, runny honey, non-dairy milk, vanilla extract, and salt. It should be smooth and thick, but still flowing.

When the cake is cold, spoon over the frosting, letting it drip down the sides. Sprinkle with a little cinnamon.


Enjoy!




TIPS & NOTES:

- For a bit of buzz, add 1-2 tbsp of rum to the batter.
- For a "darker" flavour, replace the light beer in the recipe with cold coffee or strong black tea.
- For a more fruity flavour, you can add the zest of 1 organic orange to the batter. Or replace part of the plant-based milk in the recipe with fresh orange juice.


Geralt thinks my honey spice cake is great. Or something like that. (source)



Looking for more nerdy recipes? Check out some of my other fiction inspired creations:

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