Honey cake is always one of the highlights of Rosh Hashanah. Moist from the addition of applesauce and sticky with honey, this traditional recipe is always a winner. And with a few simple tweaks, like the addition of toasted almonds, it can be transformed into another cake entirely. We highly recommend baking both.
Reprinted with permission from One Sarcastic Baker.
Ingredients
- 3/4 cup dark or light brown sugar (dark brown sugar will result in a darker, moister cake)
- 2 large eggs
- 1 cup vegetable oil
- 1 2/3 cup all-purpose flour
- pinch of salt
- 2 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
- 1/2 tsp baking soda
- 3/4 cup unsweetened applesauce
- 1/3 cup + 2 Tbsp honey
Optional: 1/4 cup honey,1 Tbsp powdered sugar, and/or 1/3 cup pomegranate seeds for decorating.
For the almond honey cake, add:
- 1/2 cup sliced toasted almonds
- 1/2 cup warm honey for soaking
Directions
- Preheat oven to 340 degrees F. Line the bottom of 9″ loaf pan, or 9″ round pan for the almond honey cake, with parchment paper and grease the sides.
- In a medium bowl, sift the flour, cinnamon, salt, and baking soda together. Set aside.
- In a large measuring cup, mix the applesauce and honey together. Set aside.
- Place the sugar and eggs in the bowl of a standing mixer and mix on medium speed for a few minutes until the mix is lighter in color, 4-5 minutes.
- Turn mixer speed to low and slowly drizzle the oil into the bowl. Return speed to medium.
- Add the flour in three additions alternating with the applesauce-honey mix.
- Pour batter into greased loaf pan. Bake until the center is golden and a toothpick comes out clean from the center of the cake, 45-50 minutes.
- Let the cake cool before slicing. If you chose, drizzle the cake with 1/4 cup of warm honey or dust it with some powdered sugar.
For the almond honey cake:
- Repeat steps 1-6.
- Pour batter into greased loaf pan. Bake until the center is golden and a toothpick comes out clean from the center of the cake, 25-30 minutes.
- When ready to top the cake, preheat oven to 300 degrees F. Remove the cake from the pan and place it on a cooling rack placed on a cookie sheet.
- With a small tooth pick, poke the cake and brush it with the warm honey. Top with almonds.
- Bake for five minutes. Allow the cake to completely cool before placing on a serving dish.
