Majestic & Moist New Year's Honey Cake

Submitted by dojemi

"Here is Marcy Goldman's "sweet" honey cake (from her book, A Treasury of Jewish Holiday Baking) to serve for your Rosh Hashanah dessert. Ms. Goldman writes: "I like a New Year's honey cake to be extra moist and sweet, as good on the day of baking as it is days later: This one is queen of the realm--rich, nicely spiced, in a word, majestic in taste and stature. I went through many variations and tasting sessions until I was satisfied with this definitive cake. One taster gave the ultimate compliment, saying, "This one is worth the price of the book." Like most honey cakes, it is a good keeper and can be made a couple of days ahead"."

 

• Ready In: 1hr
• Ingredients: 17
• Serves: 8-10

ingredients

• 3 1⁄2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 tablespoon baking powder
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1⁄2 teaspoon salt
• 4 teaspoons ground cinnamon
• 1⁄2 teaspoon ground cloves
• 1⁄2 teaspoon ground allspice
• 1 cup vegetable oil
• 1 cup honey
• 1 1⁄2 cups granulated sugar
• 1⁄2 cup brown sugar
• 3 eggs
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 cup warm coffee or 1 cup strong tea
• 1⁄2 cup fresh orange juice
• 1⁄4 cup whiskey (or rye)
• 1⁄2 cup slivered almonds (or sliced) (optional)

directions

1. I like this cake best baked in a 9-inch angel food cake pan, but you can also make it in a 10-inch tube or bundt cake pan, a 9 by 13-inch sheetpan, or three 8 by 4 1/2-inch loaf pans.
2. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F (180 C).
3. Lightly grease the pan (s).
4. For tube and angel food pans, line the bottom with lightly greased parchment paper.
5. For gift honey cakes, use "cake collars" (available from Sweet Celebrations) designed to fit a specific loaf pan. These give the cakes an appealing, professional look.
6. In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and spices.
7. Make a well in the center and add the oil, honey, sugars, eggs, vanilla, coffee, orange juice, and rye or whiskey.
8. Using a strong wire whisk or an electric mixer on slow speed, combine the ingredients well to make a thick batter, making sure that no ingredients are stuck to the bottom of the bowl.
9. Spoon the batter into the prepared pan (s) and sprinkle the top of the cake (s) evenly with the almonds.
10. Place the cake pan (s) on 2 baking sheets stacked together (this will ensure the cakes bake properly with the bottom baking faster than the cake interior and top), and bake until the cake springs back when you touch it gently in the center.
11. For angel and tube cake pans, bake for 60 to 70 minutes; loaf cakes, 45 to 55 minutes. For sheet-style cakes, the baking time is 40 to 45 minutes.
12. This is a liquidy batter and, depending on your oven, it may need extra time. Cake should spring back when gently pressed.
13. Let the cake stand for 15 minutes before removing it from the pan. Then invert it onto a wire rack to cool completely.
14. Note: If you prefer to not use the whiskey, replace it with orange juice or coffee.

Reviews

[Karen B.]

Great! But is it best to freeze and keep airtight in the refrigerator?

 

[JOAN D.]

This is the most delicious and moist honey cake i've ever had in my life.<br/>usually you pray for some moistness and most good recipes you can doctor up.<br/>but!!! This masterpiece needed no doctoring from the first time I ever made it about 4 years again.This cake if wrapped tightly can last for ever in youor refridgerator. Now i'm going to try to tackle my own taiglach,now that I have a sturdy candy thermometer i'm not to worried,but if anyone ooout ther with tips ,please fill me in-this recipe by marcy goldman is also in her cookbook called a (treasury of jewish hholiday baking,and this year i'm splurging and getting it.On amazon it's worth it. I read my friends and you'll have all the wonderful cakes and deserts you'd remember froooom when you were a child,bye know and let me know how you liked this honey cake,joanie

 

[Maeven6]

My daughter told me about this recipe last year but I didn't realize it was the same one until I told her the ingredients. This is the absolute best recipe! I added all the spices and whiskey. The batter said a good deal but not everything. The finished product was unbelievable. A huge hit at my Rosh Hashannah dinners.

 

[scancan]

I just finished making this cake and the texture and moistness of this cake was outstanding ( I did add an extra egg ). My only issue with this is that people that do not appreciate spicy cakes and children in particular probably will not enjoy this. Were I to make this again I would eliminate using the cloves entirely.

 

[Happy Harry 2]

Ahhh, I just finished the last piece of this delish honey cake this morning with a hot cup of tea. It was as moist today as it was ten days ago when I baked it. The recipe was enough for two regular loaf pans and four mini pans...and I was happy that I did it that way as my guests asked for more to take home...thus the mini's! The only reason this did not get 5 stars is because I personally found it a bit too sweet, but this was not so for some of my guests. This also could be due to using more orange juice instead of whiskey. The two loaf pans took about 85 minutes to get done (I covered the tops at 1 hr) but this could be my oven's fault. All in all, this was an easy recipe to follow and lived up to its name...It sure was a "Honey"!