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
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.
{ 77 comments… read them below or add one }
I was just looking for some whole wheat cakes and I found this. And also honey!!! I love you. ;-)
Thank you for sharing this recipe, I’ll bake it as soon as I can. (k)
This looks like just the thing to make today, as the weather has broken and the skies are grey. Delicious.
I usta wanna be detective Columbo when I grew up. No joke. A cigar-smoking male cop, that was my role model. Now I want to make jam and cakes for a living. Who’da thunk it!
Delicious! Honey makes everything taste better!
fact.
Yum yum YUM! I am making this tonight. End of story. :)
I love the new blog design btw! :D
This sounds perfect for brunch this saturday! Thank you.
If you still want to design a postage stamp, the post office has kits for about $20 that allow you to design and use your own stamps. They cost a little more than regular first class stamps, but if it’s a dream…
Thanks for another great recipe. Glad your party was a huge success!
ooooOOh Chris! I love your tip for making my own postage stamp. I seriously might just have to make this happen for myself!
Wow- I am going to earn mega brownie points with my hubbie for cooking this! :)
I have a favour to ask… can you have a look at this:
http://www.azcookbook.com/zebra-cake/
And tell me how I can make it lower fat (without the oil!)? :)
I have lost 30lb and have 10lb to go! :) But I have a very sweet tooth and this looks amaaaaazing!!
I know you must get a trillion requests, but here’s to hoping!
Thanks!
That Zebra Cake you asked me to look at sure does have a lot of oil. Let me think on it and get back to you… ok? I’m thinking tofu? and a bit of almond oil? Yes… I’ll let you know.
My little girl starts school next week and I’ve been thinking of what homemade treats to make as after-school snacks. This fits the bill perfectly!
Ah yes, I grew up with the mother that only bought whole wheat bread and bran flake cereal. I was SO envious of my friends that got Wonderbread and Captain Crunch.
…but then I grew up. And got wise. I still have a love affair with the “white” food, but I do try and incorporate whole wheat flour in my baking and pancakes.
And heck, this IS still cake. I bet it tastes awesome!!
Oh! I love anything and everything whole wheat! I want to make this immediately and put vanilla ice cream on top.
I used to wanna be a baker when I was abt 5. No joke! My grand plan was to become a baker and then to eat everything I made. Cleary this business plan was doomed to failure.
Luckily then I realised I dont actually have to become a Baker to bake cakes!
I usta wanna invent ice cream flavors
I usta wanna live ina tree house like the berenstein bears.
Looks yummy!
Berenstein Bears Eat Too Much Junk Food. Remember that one!? Best ever.
I love unexpected yummy things made with whole wheat. Thanks Joy!
Usta wana to be bitten by a vampire so I could live forever. Got over the vampire thingy. Now I’m just a chef wannabe. Will definitely try this baby, it looks delish. Thanks Joy.
Hey there! I’m a big fan of your website & I’ve been wanting to try your recipes but my dad’s diabetic & he just had a heart attack recently so mum won’t let me bake anything with sugar, butter or white flour in it. Sigh. Have you got any suggestions for me? Thanks! :)
Flutterby
no sugar, butter or white flour!? that’s a super tough one…. i should be able to come up with something… is any fat ok?
This sounds truly delicious. I’m gonna make it.
Wow. A whole wheat pancake. I didn’t know there was such a thing. I can just imagine how soothing this one is. (Love the site redesign.)
This looks amazing! I’m always looking for ways to sub whole wheat in recipes and I’m looking forward to trying your recipe which does just that!
Hey Joy! I am in love with your new site and this new cake! What do you suggest eating with it? I assume it must be just delicious on its own but do you add anything on it?
Thanks!
I think fresh fruit would be lovely!
The blog is lovely. Funny, I just bought this exact same jar of honey. Is that fate calling me to make this cake?
Ooo this looks so so good! I just got a jar of caramelized honey from my Farmers market and I’ve been itching to use it in a recipe for some kind of bread or quick-bread. This is just the ticket, I believe!
It’d be a fun one to try. Never used ww flour in a cake (or any sort of dessert) before. Perfect.
Never has whole wheat looks so good!
I am so excited to make this because my MIL has a fantastic recipe for pound cake that goes directly to my buttocks. And this one seems like the slightly healthier version of hers… Also, I grind my own wheat, so is there a way to turn that into white whole wheat flour? I should probably know the answer to that, but I don’t. And it’s ok if you don’t know either.
Also, I absolutely love your blog and have been reading for a while, but I’ve never commented before. Hi!
Hi Joy, new site looks great! Love the recipe index, I never knew I was missing out on so much “Joy”! Made this cake a little while ago and it turned out soooo good. Yum is all I can say. Thanks, this one’s going in rotation! Oh, my husband thanks you more.
This looks great. Going to try it for my sons fifth birthday cake. He isn’t big on typical chocolate cakes or anything like that, but he does love honey.
Oh, and I usta wanna be a politician.
Sorry for the second post, but I just realized what these taste like as I polish off another piece… Nilla Waffers! Thanks again!
wow this cake looks just as delicious as with white flour. even yummier. Have to try this one too.
Visit my new blog at http://snookysrecipedoodles.blogspot.com/
I love baking with white whole wheat flour. I’m def. making this.
I usta wanna have a brand new pair of socks waiting for me every morning. Then I realized that only by having rough, old, faded socks for a little while do new socks become so dreamy.
Also, I agree, honey is the best. Especially ‘spun’.
I am running to my kitchen now to make this! Sweet sweet, Joy you have outdone yourself again! This is just perfection! I am happy to hear that you are now loving the nicer side of whole wheat :)
I am going to love this recipe.
I usta wanna be Laurie Partridge and sing with “The Partridge Family”. You are probably too young to know them. Now I am a music teacher that loves to cook!!!!
MMMMmmmm honey…can’t wait to try out this recipe. I really enjoy working with whole wheat pastry flour actually, so I am rather excited. Thanks for sharing Joy!!!
Well thank you for the lovely cheese and now I have a place to find sweet yum for when I have time to cook. Make that bake. La femme du frommage est tres tres fantastique et bella aussi.
This looks great. It’s going on my list of things to bake! I love finding YUMMY whole wheat recipes.
Joy, lovely cake. Love the alternative ingredients you’ve used.
I LOVE the new look! and I definitely did a “double take.” :D
mmm I bet the raw honey added the best flavor to this!
I’m always looking for new things to make with whole wheat. this is great. thanks
Just wanted to let you know I made this last night, yummy! I’m bringing the big loaf to share at lunch since it’s our first early day at school.
I have never tried to make a whole wheat pound cake! Fabulous idea!
Absolutely in LOVE with your new site (not to be outdone by your top notch baking skills), it’s fantastic!
Oh, and the bread’s not too shabby either.
This is awesome. I love that it’s whole wheat.
Hi Joy!
Just wondering if I could cut the butter in half & use applesauce instead. Would that still provide enough moisture? I’d love to cut down on some of the fat. Thanks a million!
Hi Joy! I LOVE your blog and can’t wait to make this! Do you think that the volume would work in a bundt pan? My grandma always made her pound cake in bundt pans, so they always taste extra-special when I bake them that way :)
Joy, you are a genius! I made this for a snack this afternoon, and it is killing me having to wait! I ate 2 muffins and am craving another! Thanks!
What a tasty looking cake, I love that it’s healthy (at it’s heart at least), it makes me feel like there’s no guilt in tasting it :)
Hey Joy,
Did ya know you’re in the Sunday London Times top food blogs? Is this new news or old news? At any rate, congrat’s!
Here’s the site:
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/system/topicRoot/Meet_the_Food_Bloggers/
yum! I usually find cake too “sweet” for my taste – this one is absolutely marvelous, and my family loves it too! Thanks a BUNCH!
and I usta wanna be a Baptist nun. ( i was confuzzled).
;)
I love honey. L.O.V.E. This looks amazing. Thank you.
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