Honey Chocolate Cake

This old-fashioned chocolate cake uses honey as the primary sweetener, which gives the crumb a moist, almost sticky tenderness that plain sugar can’t match. Melted chocolate goes straight into the batter along with sour milk and vanilla for a deeply flavored, single-layer cake.

The technique here is classic and deliberate. Creaming the shortening with sugar and honey until fluffy traps air that lightens the heavy batter. Adding half a cup of the dry ingredients first coats the fat and creates a stable base before the egg yolk and melted chocolate go in.

Folding in a stiffly beaten egg white at the end is the final lift. This isn’t a light, airy cake, but that folded white keeps it from being dense and leaden. Be gentle with the fold so you don’t knock out the air you just whipped in.

Kitchen Tips

• Make sour milk by adding a tablespoon of vinegar or lemon juice to regular milk and letting it sit for five minutes
• Alternate the dry and liquid ingredients in small amounts to keep the batter smooth. Big dumps cause lumps
• The honey makes this cake brown faster than usual. Check at 40 minutes and tent with foil if the top is getting too dark
• This cake stays moist for days thanks to the honey, which is naturally hygroscopic and holds water

Variations

• Frost with a honey buttercream to double down on the honey flavor
• Add a teaspoon of instant espresso to the batter to deepen the chocolate
• Use buckwheat honey for a more complex, almost malty sweetness