Sweet Batter Breads

American muffins, made with a thick batter rather than a dough, are the best-known of sweet batter breads. A profusion of flavorings—dark sugar, honey, spices and dried fruit can be added to the roughly blended batter. Although American recipes dominate the field with breads and muffins flavored with fruit, vegetables or nuts, gingerbreads and spice breads—the nearest equivalent—are popular in Europe. They range from the Finnish pepperkaka to the French honey-laden pain d'épices, often flavored with candied orange peel. The English are famous for buns, some of them yeast-raised, but many, such as rock cakes, are made with sweetened baking powder mixtures. These are stiff enough to hold a craggy shape on the baking sheet. The Jewish honey cake, Lekach, fragrant with cinnamon and orange, also belongs to the sweet batter bread family.