Honey Fennel Gingerbread Loaf

This aromatic gingerbread loaf is exquisite with tea or coffee. I love to make this recipe because it's not sweetened with sugar. Instead, it uses only honey to create a moist golden dough that is not overly sweet and has the floral taste of pure honey.

When you bake this loaf, the air will be fragrant and anyone in your house will begin to hover close to the kitchen in anticipation of its grand exit from the oven. In this loaf, I use both fresh and dried ginger, crushed toasted fennel seeds, and a couple tablespoonfuls of rum, all of which combine to create a warming spicy flavor. The fennel and rum are optional so if you don't have them on hand, don't sweat it, the loaf will be delicious without them.

This recipe came about one day when I made an old-fashioned English sticky gingerbread loaf but found the molasses to be too overpowering. As a honey fanatic, I wondered what it would taste like if I did away with the molasses and sugar altogether and used only honey in their place. It was exquisite. If you miss the deep taste of molasses however, you can certainly replace 1/4 cup of the honey in this recipe with molasses.

If you're like me, you'll need to wrap up this loaf like a precious treasure and hide it from yourself (or others) otherwise you'll end up eating it for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. Do let me know if you make it in the comments below. Enjoy!

Aube is a passionate organic gardener and home cook who likes to share the stories of how food gets to our dinner plates. Her work has been shown on television and at international film festivals. Her web series was nominated for a 2014 James Beard Award. In 2012, she was the recipient of Saveur Magazine's Best Food Blog award in the video category.