[dangolding]

A few months back I put a post on asking whether anyone had experience of substituting sugar with honey in recipes.

Following our first ever honey harvest of 22 kilos! (if you don't keep bees, then put it on your 2009 to-do list, it's well worth it!), we decided to experiment.

Our basic aim was to create a Victoria Sponge using honey instead of sugar.

A quick search on the net (as prompted by another user of this forum), suggested that you should use 50% honey i.e. if the recipe requires 100g sugar, then use 50g honey.

It was a hard task, but someone had to do it    and so my wife and I set about experimenting with honey ratios.

In the end we decided, with the help of some of our friends, that the best cake was made using the same amount of honey as the prescribed sugar weight.

In other words, if the recipe requires 100g sugar, then use 100g of honey instead.

Furthermore, the actual sponge had a lovely golden colour so it's definately 1-nil to the bees!

[richyrich7]

 so your cakes the bees knees then  

[orfy]

You are so lucky to have all that wonderful honey.

[richyrich7]

You are so lucky to have all that wonderful honey.

Too true Orfy on the telly the other morning it was saying that British honey will run out by Christmas due to the poor summer etc.    Bee's are really suffering at the minute.

[noshed]

All I can say is: rhubarb + honey + orange zest = heaven

[Skip]

G'Day Dangolding!

In our experimentation we have proved that substituting honey for sugar in lots of cakes - fruit cakes and the like - the honey adds a lovely moisture, a property that sugar does not have.

As for running out of honey you Brits should place your orders for honey from Down Under.  We produce some of the world's best honeys here.  We also don't have the varona mite here, well not yet of any significance.  We are being told that it will decimate our industry.

[Trillium]

And if you can't get hold of quantities of honey, then substitute brown sugar for white. It gives the item a lovely golden colour and more moisture and flavour. I've done this for a long time and the family can't face pale, white sugar items from other sources.

[matron]

A couple of questions please.
1. Dangolding how many hives do you have?
2. Trillium what sort of brown sugar do you use? (Dark, light, muscovona(?sp) or demerara?

[Trillium]

I usually just use light brown sugar for most recipes; a few recipes that can handle a stronger flavour get dark brown sugar. The other sugars you mentioned are quite a bit pricier here and harder to find.
I watch for sales on brown sugar and will often bring home 20 lbs at a time which should last until the next sale I find, about 70p a lb.

[Skip]

Dangolding - I have a question as well.  Are your bees Italians or Caucasians?

[janed6]

Hi there, Very jealous of you Dangolding..all that honey.


I have a question too, how do you start off keeping bees (I know its a daft question) but where?? can anyone do it? :?

[Trillium]

Beekeeping isn't hard, it just requires knowledge and working with an experienced person for a while. The poor bees are subject to so many diseases these days, that you need to quickly recognize them so as to treat them before they become a problem for other beekeepers. Check some of the previous threads in Chatting on the Plot such as this one:

http://www.chat.allotment-garden.org/viewtopic.php?t=20182&highlight=keeping+bees