Honey Cake For Rosh Hashanah
It is that time of year again. It is tmie to celebrate the Jewish New Year. What a great holiday – a celebration of the year to come, a celebration marked with sweetness! Sweetness is such the focus on this holiday that salt should not be put on the table. A honey cake for Rosh Hashanah is also tradition. What better way to to celebrate sweetness with honey baked into a delicious cake?
Honey Cake For Rosh Hashanah – The Honey
As you would guess, a main driver of sweetness in a honey cake for Rosh Hashanah is honey. You can use what ever honey you like. I often stick to a lighter honey and let some of the spices stand out a little. A dark honey, the more traditional honey, can be quite strong. One made where the bees only have access to one type of bloom – like lavender or orange blossom – would make a great honey cake. These types of artisanal honeys would bring a lot of great flavor options.
Honey Cake For Rosh Hashanah – The Spice
While the honey can carry lots of flavor, we wouldn’t leave it at that mostly because there are so many spices that play well with honey – cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger, etc. One thing I like to do is to add ginger syrup with the honey to bring a little depth of flavor. This type of ginger syrup is the kind you find in the jars of stem ginger. It is tasty and does well in a honey cake. You can purchase this online.
Honey Cake For Rosh Hashanah That is Moist
One struggle I have found with honey cake is making it moist. Yes, honey can absorb moisture from the air, but that might take too long. I typically like to make honey cake and serve it in the same day. To help with moisture I do 2 things – 1. I cut the flour in to the margarine (butter if the Rosh Hashanah meal is Dairy) as part of the dry ingredients and 2. I add some vegetable oil. The first, helps with the tenderness and makes it feel more moist and the second gives nice mouth feel and the moistness we expect from a good cake. Once the butter is cut into the flour, the dry ingredients are mixed in and the wet ingredients are mixed then added. It is a straight forward, easy cake to make.
Honey Cake For Rosh Hashanah – A Topping
A honey glaze can certainly be applied to the top of the cake. A non-dairy topping enhanced with a little cinnamon and vanilla is also nice! If the meal is dairy, use real whipped cream. You won’t be sorry!
The ‘How to Make Honey Cake’ video is below. It shows the making of a dairy version of the cake. The full recipe follows.
- 2 cups of flour
- 2 tsp baking powder
- 1 stick of cold, full fat parve margarine, cubed
- ¼ teaspoon of salt
- ¼ cup of brown sugar
- 1 tsp of cinnamon
- ¼ tsp of cardamom
- ¼ tsp of ground clove
- ½ tsp of nutmeg
- 2 eggs
- 1 tsp vanilla
- ¾ cup of honey
- ⅓ cup of ginger syrup
- 3 tbsp of vegetable oil
- 1 tub of non-dairy whipped topping
- 1 tsp vanilla to taste
- 1 tsp cinnamon or to taste
- Preheat the oven to 350°F.
- Butter and flour a 9 inch springform pan.
- In a large bowl, mix the flour and baking powder.
- And the cubed margarine and cut the margarine into the flour until the margarine is fully incorporated into the flour and looks sandy.
- Add the salt, brown sugar and spices to the margarine/flour mixture. Mix well with a fork.
- In a medium bowl, using a fork, mix the eggs, honey, ginger syrup and vegetable oil until well combined.
- Make a well in the flour and butter mixture. Pour in the wet ingredients. Stir until just combined.
- Pour the batter into the prepared pan.
- Bake at 350F for 50 to 55 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean.
- Let the cake cool in the pan. Remove the ring and serve with the topping.
- Just before the the cake is ready to serve, fold the cinnamon and vanilla into the non dairy whipped topping.
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Do you make honey cake for Rosh Hashanah ? Let us know in the comments or on Facebook.
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