It’s nearly Rosh Hashana and we know you're not just sitting around waiting for your first KosherFoodieBox. Hey, you're a foodie! Which means you likely have a file 2 inches thick full of honey cake recipes alone!
So why do you need this one?
I'll admit, it's a treasured family recipe. However, over the years I have baked and gifted this to friends and neighbors, and even those who insist "they don't like honey cake", have loved it. There are now several people who show up every Erev Rosh Hashana expecting their loaf!
Doing some comparison, I realized that what set this humble cake apart was that it does not contain coffee, a traditional ingredient in honey cake. The omission of coffee and the addition of seltzer and orange juice makes this one of the lightest, sweetest, moistest honey cakes you will ever taste!
This recipe yields 2 standard size loaves. I have found that if I double the recipe and use the slightly smaller disposable aluminum loaf pans, I get 5 cakes. See, it's easy, delicious AND magical!
Honey Cake
Ingredients
- 2 loaf pans
- 2 cups honey
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 cup sugar
- 3 eggs
- 4 cups flour
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- ½ cup oil
- ½ cup orange juice
- ½ cup seltzer
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350°F
- Lightly oil the loaf pans
- Blend honey with baking soda
- Add sugar and eggs
- Add flour and baking powder, oil, juice and seltzer
- Pour batter evenly ½ way up pans
- Bake 1 hour, cake is ready when an inserted toothpick (or raw piece of spaghetti!) comes out clean
Notes
Optional: sprinkle with nuts or cherries
Believe it or not I never baked honey cake. Have made honey cookies and other cakes but not my own family recipe honey cake. That being said, I must have an even more magical touch, because I doubled the recipe and it made SIX cakes!
This just in from our friend Chaya Berkowitz in Israel:
“Dear KosherFoodieBox, thanks for the great recipe! The loaf pans here in Israel are longer and narrower than the ones I used to have in NY, and I got three cakes from a batch of batter! They were also ready in 40 minutes. Just thought I’d pass this along for any bakers in Israel. A gamar chatima tova to all! – Chaya”
I made these honey cakes to go with jars of local honey for Christmas gifts. They went together easily and came out beautiful. Thanks!