Saturday, October 01, 2005

Honey Cake

I made this for lunch today and it was a big hit. I got the recipe from an old Canadian Living from 1993. This is apparently a Jewish cake, containing no dairy and traditionally consumed at Rosh Hashana.

Honey Cake

1 1/3 cups liquid honey
1 cup strong coffee
1 tbsp grated orange rind
2 3/4 cup all purpose flour
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp ground nutmeg
1/4 tsp each cloves and ground ginger
pinch of salt
1 cup chopped walnuts
4 eggs
1/4 cup vegetable oil
1 cup granulated sugar
icing sugar to sprinkle over the top, if desired

1. In a small saucepan, bring honey just to the boil. Remove from heat and stir in coffee & orange rind. Let cool slightly.

2. Stir together flour, soda, baking powder, salt, spices. Add walnuts and toss together.

3. In a large mixing bowl using an electric mixer, beat eggs until lemon-coloured. Beat in the oil. Add sugar gradually, beating until pale & thickened, about 3 minutes.

4. Using a whisk, alternately fold dry ingredients and liquid mixture into the eggs, making 3 additions of dry and 2 of liquid.

5. Pour the batter into a 10" or 3L bundt pan (or you can use two 9"x5" loaf pans) that is either non-stick or has been well buttered/floured. Bake at 325F for 60 - 65 minutes, or until tester comes out clean and the cake springs back when lightly pressed.

6. Let the cake cool in the pan for 30 minutes, then invert onto a rack to cool completely. Sift icing sugar over the top.

Notes.

- I found this took longer to cook than the recipe stated by about half an hour. Keep an eye on it and you should be fine.
- Like many cake recipes, you add the flour and liquid in in stages. This is mainly so you don't overwork your flour and get a denser cake, or a cake that flops. Don't skip this step!
- The recipe mentions some variations. One is that you can substitute the walnuts for candied citron (citrus peel), raisins, or walnuts. The other thing you can do is substitute 3 tbsp of cognac for 3 tbsp of the coffee.

Let me know how it goes and enjoy!

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

i so love these old-time recipes. i fear that they'll all get lost! thanks for writing this one down.

Joe said...

Great notes and the recipe looks fantastic. How does the coffee play in the flavor here? Is it a strong or just a subtle taste?

Wandering Coyote said...

Joe: I didn't use particularly strong coffee like espresso or anything, just what I had on hand in the dining room. So the taste was very subtle. Not sure how it would taste with a stronger coffee. It also adds colour. The citrus was nice in this and you could definitely taste that.

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