Honey Whole Wheat Pound Cake

Let’s play a game called Usta Wanna or… I Used to Want To.

I usta wanna be brave enough to go down the free fall water slide at the water park.

I usta wanna be a traffic cop… the kind that would dance in the street on occasion… the kind that I saw at the end of a slow evening news show sometime when I was about six.  I actually still want to be one of those traffic cops.  No joke.

I usta wanna take the swim test at overnight summer camp privately.  Something about doing my life saving dog paddle in front of the entire girls camp made me nauseous.

I usta wanna design a postage stamp.  This is the precious dream of a young girl whose parents both work at the post office.

Between the ages of 13 and 15, I usta wanna eat nothing but popcorn and orange juice.  I dunno…. I never claimed to be reasonable.

I usta wanna completely negate whole wheat from my life.  If I could have eaten Wonder Bread and ignored the whole wheat millet bread my parents bought as I was growing up… ooooh, how dreams would have come true.  Because whole wheat seemed to be impossible to escape, it would seem that somewhere along the way I grew fond of it.  For this reason, I bring you…  Honey Whole Wheat Pound Cake.

Let’s talk about it.

Let’s talk about how lovely this pound cake is.  It was nutty and full-flavored, without having an overwhelming whole wheat density.  I used white whole wheat flour instead of regular whole wheat flour.  If you can, use a good raw honey for this cake… something like Bee Raw or Ames Farm.  The honey add a sweetness with character and depth, making the pound cake really delightful.  I love this cake.  It’s a definite go-to classic in my world.

Honey Whole Wheat Pound Cake

makes 1 9 x 5-inch loaf and 6 muffins

Print this Recipe!

2 1/4 cups white whole wheat flour or whole wheat pastry flour

2 teaspoons baking powder

3/4 teaspoon salt

1 1/2 sticks (12 Tablespoons of butter), at room temperature

1 cup sugar

1/2 cup honey

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

3 large eggs

1 cup buttermilk

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.  Butter and flour the loaf pan and muffin tins.

Whisk the flour, baking powder and salt together in a small bowl and set aside.

In the bowl of an electric stand mixer, whip the butter, sugar and honey on medium speed until light and fluffy, about 3 to 4 minutes.  Add the vanilla extract.  Add the eggs one at a time, beating for about one minute after each addition.  Scrape down the bowl as needed.  Add the dry mixture and buttermilk in three additions, beginning and ending with the dry ingredients.  Stop the mixer and scrape the bottom of the bowl with a spatula to make sure everything is evenly incorporated.

Transfer the batter to the prepared pans.  Smooth the top down and bake the cake for about  hour and the muffins for about 20 to 25 minutes.  The cake will be a lovely golden brown and a thin knife inserted into the center of the cake will come out clean.

Let the cake cool in the pan for 20 minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely.