This toasted pine nut honey cake is an easy, one-bowl snack cake packed with warm flavors. Use good quality honey for maximum deliciousness!

A million, billion things have happened these past few weeks. We got engaged! My mom got a puppy! (follow her here) We moved to London! We found an apartment! I made a cake!

To be honest, it’s been hectic. While we’d packed up most of our stuff before leaving California, Orlando sneakily proposed to me (well, sneakily for me, not for him) and we drained our phone batteries for days and days talking to friends and family everywhere. But I loved it! Our departure from California was underwhelming since we couldn’t see anyone properly with the pandemic. All these convos gave me some of the closure I was searching for. I finally had my goodbye-America-cry, and with six pieces of luggage and all the PPE, off we went.

Since we won’t have the rest of our stuff until we move into our apartment, I still only have maybe a fifth of my usual pastry gear. It’s forced me to rethink everything I know about pastry. If I don’t have my KitchenAid, can I really make anything good? What’s the point if I can’t use my brushes, spatulas, tart molds, four different types of flour, etc etc etc? 

But pastry is my passion, and I have to remember that I don’t need fancy stuff to make a delicious dessert. I already have the knowledge and skills I need to create things wherever I am (that said, I will still be v v excited to have all my stuff soon).

I made this toasted pine nut honey cake during our first week in London, using whatever groceries I could order (mandatory q-tine meant no going to stores ourselves). Buttery Pine nuts complement the cake without overpowering it like other nuts do. Toasting them balances the cake’s sweetness. Honey keeps the cake moist and warm. And almond flour stabilizes the cake so it doesn’t get soggy. With one bowl and a quick toast on the stove, this cake is perfect.

I can’t wait to move into our apartment and start building the life we set out to do all these months ago. But I’m also grateful to cook and bake with whatever I have—good food doesn’t have to be complicated!

Recipe notes:

• Use good quality honey! It’s the main sweetener for this cake and the flavor will come through.
• Toast your nuts forreal. I see people all the time barely letting their nuts touch the pan…don’t be like them. The pine nuts should have a little char on them—see my photo for reference.
• We’ve been heating up slices and eating them with ice cream. It’s the best!