Oh, honey
First of all, let me declare that I don't just eat sweets all day, nor do I endorse this behaviour (not publicly, at least). That being said, this is a pretty darn good cake. It's flu season in the US and with NYC being particularly badly affected, a little honey can only help. A common East Asian remedy is "honey tea", but that tends to be sweetener and the main ingredient is invariably some anti-inflammatory ingredient like ginger or turmeric. Side bar - the chemicals (gingerols and shogaols) that make ginger gingery are related to capsaicins in peppers and thus the nostril-clearing effect. That's not to say that honey acts simply as a spectator - it has anti-microbial properties too. When bees make honey for their own use, they store it in a hyperosmotic state (very low moisture content). This is one factor that prevents most bacteria from growing in honey, because they need water to survive. Enzymes (glucose oxidase) in the honey
