Greek/Armenian Honey Cakes (GF, DF, egg free)

Greek/Armenian Honey Cakes

Many Greek families remember fondly the Finikia cookies their grandmothers would make at Easter time.  Also known as Honey Cakes, there is a similar sweet treat in the Armenian tradition.  

This holiday, we were fortunate to be the recipients of a wonderful batch of allergy-free honey cookies, made by the lovely Anahid O. without dairy or eggs.  With an easy substitution of gluten-free flour, these can be made GF as well.  The mildly sweet flavor and cake-like consistency will keep you coming back for more!  Thank you so much to Anahid for sharing her recipe.

Greek/Armenian Honey CakesYield: 20 to 25 cakes

Cake Ingredients:

4 ½ cups gluten-free flour
1 tsp baking powder
½ tsp baking soda
1 ½ cups olive oil
½ cup sugar 
3/4 cup orange juice
3/4 tsp ground cinnamon
3/4 tsp ground cardamom
dash salt


Filling Ingredients:

1 cup chopped walnuts
1 tsp cinnamon


Cake Directions:

1. In a medium bowl, sift flour with baking powder and baking soda; set aside.

2. In a large bowl beat olive oil and sugar; stir in orange juice, cinnamon, cardamom, and salt until well combined.

3. Gradually add flour mixture to oil mixture, mixing well until a soft dough has formed.

4. Cover bowl and let rest about 20 minutes. Preheat oven to 350ºF.

5. In the meantime, prepare the walnut-cinnamon filling ingredients and set aside.

6. After 20 minutes, shape dough into walnut-sized balls, then flattening each.

7. Place ½ tsp walnut-cinnamon filling mixture in center of each.

8. Enclose the filling with the dough, pressing to seal.

9. Place on ungreased baking sheet; bake about 20 minutes, or until lightly golden brown. Cool.

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Syrup Ingredients:

½ cup sugar
1 cup honey
½ cup water
2 tsp lemon juice
1 small cinnamon stick

Syrup Directions:

In a medium pot, combine all syrup ingredients and bring to a boil, skimming any foam that comes to the surface. Cook about 5 minutes. Remove cinnamon stick; allow to cool a bit.

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Assembling Instructions:

Dip each cooled honey cake in warm syrup briefly and allowing excess to drip off. Place into a cupcake liner and set on serving platter.

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Topping Ingredients:

1 cup ground walnuts
½ tsp ground cinnamon
dash ground cardamom

Topping Directions:

Combine topping ingredients and sprinkle on each honey cake before serving.




Shared with Slightly Indulgent Tuesday at Simply Sugar and Gluten Free and the Hearth and Soul Hop at Premeditated Leftovers and Whole Food Wednesday at Beyond the Peel and Allergy Free Wednesday at The Tasty Alternative and Real Food Wednesday at Kelly the Kitchen Kop and Monday Mania at the Healthy Home Economist and Made From Scratch MOnday at Living with Food Allergies and Pennywise Platter at the Nourishing Gourmet.