Luscious Honey Cake

So after my adventures with the gas and the ovens, my new baby has finally arrived and been installed, a GE electric double oven (a big shout out of thanks to Avi of Bondy Imports for being a terrific help and mensch in getting it to me as well as Amos Keidar of Keidar Sherutim for installing it and of course Lianna the admin. Awesome and I’m grateful!)

Despite not always making honey cake for Rosh Hashana, I felt it was highly appropriate to launch the new oven with a honey cake recipe. I know, since I’ve gone through it in my testings, that they can overflow, be dry, too dense etc. etc. so I finally decided to make my own and if you follow the directions, bye bye to dry honey cake. It’s also simple to put together, dry ingredients and wet, done.

Always use a rimmed baking sheet with parchment paper under the pans in case you didn’t gage the size of pan and amount properly but even so, this doesn’t overflow and settle. Why, you may ask? Just the right amount of leavening but also critical beware, honey caramelizes faster than sugar and therefore burns faster so the temperature in the oven must be lower, 325 F/160 C really really not 350 F or your cake will both dry out and/or burn.

Another note which is quite important is that you cannot cut the sugar, the honey, or the oil in this recipe or you will have a dry cake. Don’t say I didn’t warn you. This is not the time to stint on your sweet ingredients. I won’t lie and say I don’t fiddle myself, but not here. It’s been specifically tailored to the eccentricities of honey.

Another nice little thing to know, this cake is awesome on the same day of baking, but tastes richer and better day after day so you can make it ahead of time by at least 2-3 days. I also make small loaves so I can freeze some for Yom Kippur when we traditionally eat honey cake as well (our custom, not necessarily everyone’s).

To our cake. Use real honey but which type is up to you.

I find that most people don’t have ground cloves and allspice in their cabinet but I always have ground ginger, nutmeg and cinnamon. So I forewent the other spices but sneak them in through a surprise ingredient, tea.

First preheat the oven to 325 F (NOT MORE) and then prepare your pans so they will be ready as soon as your cake is mixed. Spray oil your loaf pans and then lay down parchment paper over the oil spray. This will enable you to remove the cake without any hassle or sticking, skip this step and you will be super aggravated since honey cake is gonna stick like glue. Then place the prepared pans on a rimmed baking sheet with an additional piece of parchment paper on it to catch any potential drips.

Note the parchment paper hangs over the sides. When the cake is cooled, you can lift it right out like they are handles.

Now, mix together your dry ingredients. Flour, spices, sugars, and yes, use both brown and white, no cheating, it affects the texture of the cake.

This includes your baking powder and baking soda. Measure them precisely, if you overmeasure, the cake will dome and fall, not what you want. Also, with the flour, do not sift before measuring.

Now get your tea game on. This depends on you but I have used Lady Grey, Constant Comment, Bengal Spice, etc. If you are unfamiliar with these, it’s simply a cinnamon, cardamom, clove and most important, orange peel combo. You can use Masala tea as well. Get the orange peel flavor in there, it adds so much. I use two tea bags.

Let the tea brew and cool to warm not hot.

While the tea is cooling, get all the wet ingredients together. Eggs, oil, honey, and don’t forget the liquor, it adds a lot of flavor and keeps the cake moister. If you object to liquor, switch it out with orange juice, preferably fresh squeezed, but go for the booze, it’s better.

Mix it up!

Now add the tea which should be warm by now, not too hot. Mix.

The consistency of the batter is not thick but nor is it liquidy. It’s thicker than heavy cream. Like this.

Now pour into your prepared pans. I used small loaf pans and I measured for you, 1 1/2 cups of batter per pan. You can eyeball it but if you measure it you won’t have overflow. The batter should come up halfway up the loaf pans.

Put the baking pan with the loaf pans into the oven and bake 35-40 minutes, check after 35 but if your oven is accurate like mine it needed 40 minutes, with a wooden skewer or toothpick and it should come out dry.

Note the cakes have a small dip in the middle. This is normal and one of the quirks of honey. Immediately remove from oven and leaving in the pans on the baking pan, cool on a wire rack. When completely cold, you can remove with the edges of the parchment paper and place on your loveliest platter for the holiday. Have a sweet, spicy and delicious New Year! Shana Tova!

Luscious Honey Cake

3 1/2 cups flour, unsifted
1 teaspoon nutmeg
1 teaspoon ground ginger
3 teaspoons cinnamon
1 teaspoon baking soda
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup white sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 cup honey
1 cup brewed tea, strong made with 2 teabags (I like either lady grey or earl grey, constant comment or other tea with a nice spicy element, you can use Chai Masala, you want the orange peel flavor specifically)
2 tablespoons whisky, scotch or orange liquor
3 eggs
3/4 cup oil

Preheat oven to 325 F/160 C no higher, really!!!

Prepare your loaf pans by spraying with oil spray and lining with parchment paper, then take a rimmed baking sheet and line it with parchment paper and put the loaf pans on it. Set aside.

Mix together all dry ingredients, flour, spices, sugars, baking soda and powder and salt.

Add wet ingredients, liquor, eggs, oil (put oil into measuring cup, add to mixer bowl and then measure honey, it makes it much easier to pour out) and pour right over the dry ones, mixing and scraping sides and bottom of bowl till properly mixed, adding brewed tea last since we want it warm, not hot.

Pour batter into pans. Bake 35-40 minutes in small loaf pans, if you use bigger loaf pans, 2 will do and follow rule of thumb, (oil spray and parchment etc. pour batter in halfway in the pan) but you will need to bake a bit longer, check after 45 minutes to 55 minutes. Check with wooden toothpick or skewer, if done, should come out clean. Let cool in pans on wire rack.