New Year Honey Cake

As recommended by Louise.

Ingredients

Plain flour – 3 ½ cups
Baking powder – 1tbsp
Baking soda – 1tsp
Salt – ½tsp
Cinnamon (ground) – 4tsp
Cloves (ground) – ½tsp
Allspice (ground) – ½tsp

Vegetable oil – 1 cup
Honey – 1cup
Sugar – 1 ½ cups
Brown sugar – ½ cup ( I prefer to halve these quantities of sugar for health reasons!)
Eggs – 3
Vanilla essence -1tsp
Warm coffee or strong tea – 1 cup
Fresh orange juice – ½ cup
Whisky – ¼ cup
Flaked almonds (optional) – ½ cup

Pre-heat oven – 350 F / 180C ( lower for fan oven)
Lightly grease the sides of a 9 x 13 inch tray-bake tin, and line the bottom with parchment paper.

Method

Combine the dry ingredients in a large bowl, make a well in the middle and pour in all the wet ingredients, along with the sugars. Mix everything together with a wire whisk or, an electric mixer at a slow speed.

Spoon into prepared tin/s and sprinkle with the flaked almonds.

Bake for 45-50 minutes, until cake springs back when pressed lightly. Leave in the tin for 15 minutes to cool slightly before removing the cake and putting on a wire rack to cool completely.

Store for at least a week wrapped in silver foil before eating to allow the honey and spices to mature.