I’m not Jewish. At best I’m a by-association or want-to-be chosen person, but that didn’t land me any honey cake. An influx of Rosh Hashanah food blog posts left me with an insatiable desire for moist, sweet & sticky dessert. So I made one, this cake from Smitten Kitchen.
The cake was delicious. I’ve reproduced the recipe below, with my notes.
For dinner, we had smoked pork chops from Empire Market in College Point, which is a totally rad place to visit if you’ve never been. Think wooden counters and built-ins with old fashioned penny candy store jars, and of course, a lot of homemade and organic meats.
Shane likes to pan-fry his smoked pork chops. They’re pre-cooked so you just need to warm and brown them a tiny bit. He recommends them with sour kraut and mustard.
I made green beans with tomatoes which were supposed to be the Marcella Hazan-style beans my mom makes, but I couldn’t find the recipe and don’t think I remembered it quite right. If I ever get it right, I’ll post the recipe for you.
• Moist Honey Cake •
from Smitten Kitchen
3 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon kosher 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 large eggs at room temperature
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup warm coffee or strong tea
1/2 cup orange juice
1/4 cup rye or whiskey
1/2 cup slivered or sliced almonds (optional – I skipped the almonds)
Preheat oven to 350°F. Generously grease a bundt cake pan with non-stick cooking spray, dust with flour and shake out excess.
In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, cloves and allspice. Make a well in the center, and add oil, honey, white sugar, brown sugars, eggs, vanilla, coffee or tea, orange juice and rye or whiskey. (If you measure your oil before the honey, it will be easier to get all of the honey out.)
Using a strong wire whisk or in an electric mixer on slow speed, stir together well to make a thick, well-blended batter, making sure that no ingredients are stuck to the bottom.
Spoon batter into prepared pan. Sprinkle top of cake evenly with almonds, if using. Place cake pan on two baking sheets, stacked together (this will ensure the cakes bake properly with the bottom baking faster than the cake interior and top).
Bake until cake tests done, that is, it springs back when you gently touch the cake center. For angel and tube cake pans, this will take 60 to 75 minutes, (mine was done in 50 minutes, so start checking early).
Let cake stand fifteen minutes before removing from pan. The cake is better served at room temperature than warm. I think it would be lovely with some whipped cream.
You are such a good jew!
I am glad that you guys cooked porkchops. That reminds me of the time that i cooked a giant roasted pork loin and my roomate came home and was like “what is that smell?” and i said “delicious roasted pork loin!” and her face fell and she looked dismayed and said “it’s Yom Kippur. I am off to services and i am going to tell your Dad when i see him.”
Then my dad came home and saved the day by busting in loudly and saying “Randi told the rabbi and i you made a pork loin! so let’s break this fast in style!” and he ran upstairs and grabbed a bottle of wine.
Our family does a lot of high holiday pork. They’re reform so I guess it’s okay.