Walnut and Honey Loaf Cake.

I must admit that I am not much of a fan of honey but it really works in this particular cake. Even if your loaf is a little dry then when you poor the heated honey over it the sponge absorbs the liquid. I do think having made it that it could easily take more walnuts than the recipe specifies. 

190g unsalted butter, plus extra for greasing
190g plain flour, plus extra for dusting
190g caster sugar
3 eggs
1 tsp baking powder
½ tsp salt
25g plain yoghurt
1 tsp vanilla essence
2 tbsp runny honey
60g walnuts, roughly chopped

One pound loaf tin. Preheat the oven to 170°C, then grease the loaf tin with butter and dust with flour. Using a hand-held electric whisk or a freestanding electric mixer, cream together the butter and sugar until pale and fluffy. Break in the eggs one at a time.

Sift together the flour, baking powder and salt, then add these dry ingredients to the batter in two stages and mix on a low speed until just incorporated. Mix in the yoghurt, vanilla essence and half the honey, then stir in the walnuts by hand. 

Fill the loaf tin and bake for 50-60 minutes or until the sponge is firm and a skewer inserted into the centre of the cake comes out clean.

While the cake is cooking, place the remaining honey in a small saucepan with 50ml of water and bring to the boil, allowing the syrup to reduce by about half. Pour the warm syrup over the cake when it comes out of the oven, then leave to cool in the tin.