on Sep 3rd, 2007Honey cake that almost wasn’t
Rosh Hashana without honey cake is like Hamlet without Hamlet.
The Jewish New Year is next week and this will be on the table. You don’t have to be Jewish to love it and it has a lot going for it; it’s Marcy Goldman’s Definitive Moist and Majestic Honey Cake and it lives up to its name. It’s from her book, A Treasury of Jewish Holiday Baking.
My squeeze has no particular family recipe for honey cake, having grown up in a non-observant home, and I’m a gentile with no history here so we’ve tried a few over the years and this won for flavor, lightness and definitely moistness; many honey cakes are so dry. For that reason I do not use egg substitutes because they can be very drying, consisting as they do primarily of whites. Besides, it’s a holiday, and a very important one. Live a little.
Goldman gives several pan options. If you go the Bundt route there will be enough batter left from a 10-cup pan, like the rose pan I used, to fill one round cake pan. A 12-cup should handle it all. This is a perfect cake for beginners because it’s quite forgiving. I’m proof of that; it forgave me twice. And it was all because I rushed and wasn’t paying attention.
I was filling the pan, talking and not even thinking about cup capacity — I’ve made it as two loaves in the past — and the leaveners were already working.
“This might overflow in the oven,” I said.
“So take some out,” he said. “You want a small pan?”
“Nah. It’ll be fine. Probably. Maybe.”
He rolled his eyes and left the kitchen. I filled it to within an inch of the top — I know not to do that but I did — popped it into the oven, looked at that extra “waste not, want not” batter, decided to bake it after all and put it on the bottom rack. I checked on them about ten minutes later. Batter from the Bundt pan was like lava and dripping onto the bottom pan. I think I cursed a little as I moved the pan up to the middle rack and slid a cookie sheet onto the bottom rack to catch the continuing ooze. Blobs of batter on the oven floor were beginning to scorch.
Soon I took the small cake out to cool, went back several minutes later to check on the Bundt. It was no longer oozing so I left the kitchen happy. Well, as happy as I could be under the circumstances. About a half hour later Mr. Knife Skills went to the kitchen to nibble the little cake and called, “Are you counting on the light bulb to bake the cake?” Seems when last I checked it I turned off the oven. Instead of the oven light. Oy.
Touchpads.
The half-baked cake was the consistency of what I imagine quicksand to be, but I figured why not turn it back on and see what happens. When done, it needed some edge-trimming (lava), but it’s fine and structurally sound. The deliberate shine is from having coated the inside of the pan with sugar after I sprayed it and so is some of the granular appearance of the crust in places, although half an hour in a turned-off oven is partly responsible too. So is photo magnification; you can see the smoothness of the crust on top, farthest from the lens. The one whose opinion counts most thinks it’s still fit for royalty. Majestic. And as The Poet said, All’s well that ends well.
Marcy Goldman’s Definitive Moist and Majestic Honey Cake
3 3/4 cups all-purpose flour — 465g
4 teaspoons baking powder
3/4 teaspoons baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
4 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
1/2 teaspoon ground allspice
1 cup vegetable oil — 215g
1 cup honey — 336g
1 1/2 cups granulated sugar — 315g
1/2 cup brown sugar — 100g
4 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 cup warm coffee or strong tea or Coca-Cola
1/2 cup fresh orange juice
1/4 cup rye or whiskey (or substitute orange juice or coffee)
1/2 cup slivered almonds [I omitted these. Thank heavens!]
This cake is best baked in a 9-inch angel food cake pan, but you can also make it in one 9- or 10-inch tube or Bundt cake pan, a 9-by-13-inch sheet cake, or two 5-inch loaf pans.
Preheat the oven to 350 F. Lightly grease pan(s). For tube and angel food pans, line the bottom with lightly greased parchment paper, cut to fit. Have ready doubled up baking sheets with a piece of parchment on top.
In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda,salt, cinnamon, cloves and allspice.
Make a well in the center. Add oil, honey, white sugar, brown sugar, eggs,vanilla, coffee, tea or cola, orange juice and rye or whiskey.
Using a strong wire whisk or in an electric mixer on slow speed, stir together well to make a thick, well-blended batter, making sure that no ingredients are stuck to the bottom.
Spoon batter into prepared pan(s). Sprinkle top of cake(s) evenly with almonds. Place cake pan(s) on two baking sheets stacked together. (This will ensure that cakes bake properly.) [Obviously, I skipped this step - ella.]
Bake until cake springs back when you gently touch the cake center. For angel and tube cake pans, 60-80 minutes; loaf pans, about 45-55 minutes.For sheet-style cakes, baking time is 40-45 minutes.
Let cake stand 20 minutes before removing from pan.
Recipe Copyright © 2004 Marcy Goldman A Treasury of Jewish Holiday Baking (It’s a great book and I highly recommend it.)
Ella’s Notes: I used light brown “brownulated” sugar, 1 cup of coffee and 3/4 cups of orange juice. No liquor. For a slightly darker cake, use 1 1/4 cups coffee and 1/2 cup juice. If you measure the oil before the honey, the honey will slide out of the cup.
Related:
hiya,
I am a new reader to your blog and couldn’t resist to write, as I truly sympathise with your ‘turning the light off = oven off’ accident. I ran into a similar situation the other week while baking lavender shortbreads… popped them into the oven and started working on the next course. After only 5 minutes they scent of baked cookies was suspiciously too strong for the time they had been cooking for…. I turned on the oven light and too my shock they were already golden brown… almost a little two golden brown, as the oven - all by itself - was now on 240°C instead of 180°C that I had originally put it at!!!! The moral of the story - I shouldn’t lean against the stove dials as they turn far too easily … (perhaps I need to write a letter to ZUG!!) Look forward to reading about your next cooking adventures, drop by my blog when you have time.
Erika
http://www.asweetpea.wordpress.com
Hi, Ericka - I love your blog and hope others will stop by. You’re quite a baker. (even if those darn dials did conspire against you once!)
Fortunately, most of my “adventures” of this sort are in the past but as long as I am breathing I will make mistakes. The difference between now and years ago is that I cope better when I do.
Thanks for taking the time to leave a comment…and your URL.
ella
Hi Ella –
I read your blog daily, but never have commented. I just wanted to thank you for posting the honey cake recipe. I have wanted to make one now for years, but never had a good recipe. This one sounds delicious, and I am going to make it for Rosh Hashanah, and take it to my in-laws. Quick question - Do you recommend one pan over the other? I am leaning towards doing it in a bundt pan, just because it will look prettier.
Thanks for your great blog and recipes!
Hi, Julie…good to meet you and you’re very welcome. It’s much prettier in a Bundt, but do use a 12-cupper, LOL! And spray it well.
Some people grew up on loaves, so that’s what honey cake is to them. I tend to cut smaller slices from a loaf and it makes a great year-round tea cake that way.
I think you’ll really like this cake. Please let me know. We just love it.
L’shana Tova!
Hi Ella,
Pleased that you dropped by my blog - I have been on a bit of baking kick lately, but will shortly be posting some savoury recipes.
it is so nice to receive a reply when you leave a comment, thanks
As you say, practice makes perfect, and out of some of my mistakes came a nice surprise ie the little white and dark chocolate cream pots!!
Please keep in touch
Erika
Hi Erika - what I love about blogging is the two-way aspect, otherwise I’d just have a static website. And it’s so rude not to acknowledge people, isn’t it?
I’ve added you to my blogroll and by the way, you don’t need the 3 w’s in your url. I’m told that using them might make some seach engines “blind” to your site.
Cheers-
ella
Hi Ella,
I have added you to my blogroll as well, so speak soon!
thanks for the hint re www’s
And thank you!
Have you tried substituting duck eggs for chicken eggs. I think you’ll be surprised by the results. The duck eggs are more rich and tend to overcome the dryness factor very well.
oh and here’s the missing punctuation from the end of the first sentence above “?” … lol … how embarrassing.
Embarrassing, tt? After what I owned up to in making this cake? LOL
Duck eggs is a great suggestion. I don’t see them often but I do see them. I’ll pick some up next time I do. Thanks!
ellaella, I had to laugh when I read your honey cake episode. My experience with a honey cake was forgetting the levening. OY! It was more of a honey brick than a honey cake. I should have saved that sucker for a door stop or maybe a lethal weapon. Thanks for the recipe, and your photo is great. The cake is beautiful!
No leaveners, Iris? Oy!! Door stop, indeed. At least you can laugh it about it. Now.
To those in search of Nigella Lawson’s recipe and who are landing here because her site is in my blogroll:
I don’t know if it’s on her site but I have tried it. I was disappointed. It’s an expensive cake and doesn’t use honey at all; it uses Lyle’s Golden Syrup, an entire container, which cost $5 two or three years ago.
The cake sinks in the middle, as she says it will, and I think it’s because it’s over-leavened but I was not impressed enough with the taste or crumb to make it again with less leavening.
That’s my honest opinion. I love many of her recipes but not that one.
Just a quick note to let you know that I did make the honey cake for Rosh Hashana, and it was wonderful. I ended up making it in a loaf, because I have always seen it that way, and it just seemed like the most traditional shape. It was moist and delicious. My father in law could not stop raving about how great it was, and that it was the best honey cake he had ever had. Thanks so much Ella!
I am now going to check out your posting about Joan Nathan, since I am always looking for great jewish (and kosher) recipes. Happy New Year!
Julie
Julie, thank you so much for letting me — and all of us — know and I’m so happy to hear it.
Joan Nathan posted a lot of recipes there and many caught my eye.
Click on Passover in my tag cloud for the easiest macaroons you’ll ever find.
Thanks again for the feedback!
ella