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¾ cup butter
¾ cup sugar
1 tsp. vanilla
3 eggs
1 Tbsp. milk
7 oz. (3/4 cup plus 2 Tbsp.) dark beer such as stout
1 tsp. finely grated lemon zest
½ cup honey
2 2/3 cup flour
1 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. ground cinnamon
Pinch grated nutmeg
½ cup chopped walnuts

1. Heat oven to 350F. butter and flour a 9 1/2 inch spring form or cake pan.
2. Beat butter, sugar and vanilla until creamy. Add the eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition until fully incorporated. Beat in milk, beer and lemon zest, whisk in the honey. The batter will look separated at this point but will come together when dry ingredients are added.
3. Sift together the flour, baking powder, soda, cinnamon and nutmeg, whisk into wet ingredients.
4. Gently fold in the nuts and lightly spoon the batter into the pan. Bake 35-40 minutes if using a regular cake pan or 45-50 minutes if using a spring form pan. Bake until dark golden and skewer inserted into the middle of the cake comes out clean. Leave in pan to cool for 10 minutes before turning out.
Substitute equal amount of vegan margarine or shortening for butter and extra water (or beer) for milk to make dairy free.