Honey Cake

Hellooooooooo! I took a little break, but I. AM. BACK! Summer is on the way out the door, the heat has *finally* broken here in Chicago and I'm back in my kitchen. I don't know when fall officially starts, but here in Julie Vision world, it's up and running. I love fall. I the weather; the flavors; bonfires; hoodie sweatshirts; Thanksgiving; everything short of raking leaves, I love.  For me, the start of fall eating is signaled by Rosh Hashanah. For those of you who do not celebrate Rosh Hashana, it is the Jewish New Year. The Rosh Hashanah meal consists of sweet fall flavors to celebrate the season and project sweetness into the year to come. These flavors include apples, honey, and pomegranate. One traditional desert to serve at your meal is honey cake.

Going back to my love of all things fall-- I love honey cake! Though this is a lesser known fall desert, I find it to be a fantastic fall-food-starter. It has great warm, fall flavor, without being pumpkin or apple. I love pumpkin and apple, but, in a season where you can get pumpkin flavored everything--from your coffee to your car air freshener--this sweet, fall-spiced cake is a good one to work into your fall baking rotation. Plus, this recipe is super easy. Double plus, I love to eat it for breakfast. (Cake is *totally* an acceptable breakfast......right? If you aren't sure if that's true, tell yourself it's acceptable to eat holiday foods for breakfast in celebration of your own culture or someone else's culture.....that just makes you worldly.) :-)



This recipe originated from my pre-school. I'm not sure who gave it to my mom or where it came from before that, but my mom has it clearly labeled with the preschool's name on it in her recipe box. I'm going to guess it came from a Jewish celebration cookbook somewhere, but I'm not sure which one. I've played with the spices a little bit to give it a little more of a fall 'kick.' I like this recipe because it does not involve orange juice, like many honey cakes do. Being allergic to citrus, this knocks me out of the running for a lot of these cakes. This one packs lots of flavor without the allergens.

(For a printable version of this recipe, click here)
Honey Cake (Yield - 2 loaves)

2 eggs
¾ cups honey
1 cup brown sugar
½ cup vegetable oil
2 ½ cups flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
2 heaping teaspoons cinnamon
1 teaspoon allspice
½ teaspoon nutmeg
1 cup strong coffee

Step #1 - Preheat oven to 375* F.

Step #2 - Mix eggs, honey, sugar and oil together.

Step #3 - In a separate bowl, mix the flour, baking soda, baking powder, cinnamon, allspice and nutmeg.

Step #4 - Add flour mixture and coffee to egg mixture. Stir until well incorporated.


Step #5 - Pour mixture into two well greased loaf pans. (If you want a deeper loaf, use one loaf pan and increase baking time.)

Step #6 - Bake at 375* for 35-40 min until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Note: DO NOT OVER BAKE! Over baking the cake will make it dry.