Ostara is the celebration of the Spring Equinox and is usually celebrated between March 19th and the 23rd. The sun is gaining more strength and the days are becoming longer and warmer. It is about fertility, balance and new life. During this time, as the ground begins to defrost, the seeds are stirring beneath the ground, bees are awakening from hibernation and the sounds of birds fill the air.
It is also a time to celebrate the Goddess of Spring and Dawn, Eostre, for which the Spring Equinox celebrations are named after and as legend has it transformed a bird into a hare and the hare responded by laying coloured eggs.
Other celebrations and dates of note are: St. David's Day (March 1st, Wales), International Women's Day (March 8th), Holi (March 8th, Hindu), Ramadan (March 10th, Muslim), World Pi Day (March 14th), St.Patrick's Day (March 17th, Irish), Mothering Sunday (March 19th, UK), World Down Syndrome Awareness Day (March 21st) and Rama Navami (March 28th, India), Good Friday, Easter Sunday and Easter Monday (March 29 to April 21st, moveable March or April).
Baking with honey is essential during Ostara and the Spring Equinox as it celebrates the awakening of bees and plant life; while the poppy seeds represent fertility and abundance. Happy Ostara and Spring Equinox to all who celebrate!
Honey Poppyseed Cake
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1 cup (140 g) self-raising flour
1/4 cup (25 g) corn flour
2 tablespoons poppy seeds
1/3 cup (100 g) caster sugar
3/4 cup (175 g) unsalted butter, soften and room temperature
1/3 cup (113 g) honey
3 large eggs
Icing
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1 cup icing sugar
1/4 teaspoon almond extract
1 tablespoon hot water
In a medium bowl add the icing sugar, almond flavouring and hot water. Stir until well blended and smooth. Drizzle over cake.
Preheat oven to 325ºF (170ºC / Gas Mark 3).
Butter an 8 or 9 inch (1.3 Litre) ring/bundt tin, approximately 20cm diameter, and dust with 1 tablespoon flour and 1 tablespoon caster sugar, coat all the buttered surface and tap out the excess. Set aside.
In a medium bowl mix together the flour, corn flour and poppy seeds.
In a large bowl, beat the butter, sugar and honey with a hand held electric mixer until pale and fluffy. Beat in the eggs, one at a time. Add the flour mixture and fold into the creamed mixture.
Spoon the batter into the prepared ring tin and level the surface making sure all is even. Bake for 25 to 35 minutes or until risen and firm to the touch. Leave to cool slightly in the tin, gently easing the sides with a palette knife, then carefully remove cake from tin by inverting it onto a wire rack or plate and gently lifting the cake tin from the cake. Allow to cool on the wire rack or plate.
Once the cake is cool. Make the icing, see recipe above, and drizzle the icing over top of the cake and allow to set before slicing.
