This moist and flavorful Honey Cake is perfect for Rosh Hashanah or whenever you’re craving a delicious sweet fall cake.
For Rosh Hashanah, many typically have apple slices with honey and say a special blessing. Apples and honey symbolize the desire and hope for a sweet new year. I love making Jewish Apple Cake and Honey Cake for this reason. And yes, you can still have the apples and honey, but it’s fun to have a cake for each too!
We also enjoy pomegranates on Rosh Hashanah, a symbol of righteousness, knowledge, and wisdom. Pomegranates are said to have 613 seeds (not that I’ve counted, but there are usually 600) representing the 613 Mitzvot (commandments) of the Torah.
Rosh Hashanah Greetings
During Rosh Hashanah, we can Shanah Tova Umtukah, which means “may you have a good sweet new year. It can also be shortened to Shana Tova; another common greeting is L’Shanah Tova. There’s also L’shanah tovah tikatev v’taihatem, May you and yours be inscribed and sealed (in the Book of Life) for a good and sweet new year.
Recipe ingredients and notes
- All Purpose Flour – We haven’t yet tried this with gluten-free, but I’m sure we have had luck with Bob’s Red Mill for 1+1 with other recipes, like our Gluten Free Mandel Bread.
- Baking Powder + Baking Soda – These help the cake rise.
- Kosher Salt – Kosher and regular table salt use different amounts.
- Spices – We use a mix of ground cinnamon, ground cloves, ground ginger, allspice, and ground nutmeg.
- Avocado Oil – We use avocado oil or vegetable oil, whatever we have on hand.
- Honey – We recommend using good quality honey. Local is great!
- Granulated Sugar – This helps sweeten the cake.
- Light Brown Sugar – We find brown sugar gives it a lovely richness.
- Large Eggs – Ensure you take the eggs out of the refrigerator for about 30 minutes before mixing the batter.
- Vanilla Extract – Use a good quality vanilla extract.
- Coffee – If you don’t like coffee, you can use tea.
- Orange Juice – This helps balance the bitter coffee and add orange notes. You could even add some orange zest if you’d like.
How to make honey cake
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
Prepare your preferred pan. You can use a muffin pan, loaf pan, or bundt pan. Coat the pans generously with nonstick spray or buttery spread.
In a mixing bowl, combine dry ingredients; flour, baking powder, baking soda, spices, and salt.
Next, add all of the wet ingredients; oil, honey, brown sugar, eggs, vanilla, coffee, and orange juice. Then you’ll mix until the batter is combined. It will be a bit runny.
Pour the honey cake batter into the prepared pan or pans.
Bundt cake takes about 50-65 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. Loaf pans should take about 40-45 minutes.
Make sure you allow the cake to cool before removing it from the pan and slicing.
Recipe tips and variations
- Use quality ingredients like real vanilla and local honey,
- In addition to greasing your loaf pan, you can also use parchment paper on the bottom to make the honey cake release easily.
- You can also make this recipe in muffins or a bundt pan. It will fill one bundt pan or make 3 dozen muffins. We like to do a combo of muffins and loaf cakes.
- This honey cake freezes beautifully!
Storage and reheating tips
- Refrigerate: Store any leftover honey cake in an air-tight container on the counter for 1-2 days or 2-3 days in the refrigerator.
- Freeze: To freeze the honey cake, you’ll want to allow the cake to cool completely. Slice or keep whole and then wrap in plastic wrap. Place the wrapped honey cake into a freezer-safe bag or container and enjoy it within 6 months.
How to serve
We love serving honey cake as a dessert. During Rosh Hashanah, we serve it alongside our Jewish Apple Cake.
Frequently asked questions
Yes, we love adding chopped apples or even slices of apples on top. You can even coat the apples in a cinnamon sugar mixture for more flavor.
You can use this honey cake recipe to make honey muffins! You’ll get about 3 dozen. You can also do 12 muffins and 2 loaf pans, or 1 loaf pan and 24 muffins.
Honey Cake
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Print Pin RecipeIngredients
- 3 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
- 1 tablespoon cinnamon
- 1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
- 1/4 teaspoon allspice
- 1/4 teaspoon ginger
- 1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
- 1 cup vegetable oil
- 1 cup honey
- 3/4 cup sugar
- 1/2 cup brown sugar
- 3 large eggs at room temperature for 30 minutes
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 cup coffee
- 1/2 cup orange juice
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
- Prepare a bundt pan with nonstick spray or buttery spread. You can also use 3 loaf pans and line them with parchment paper to prevent sticking. Another option is making honey cake muffins.
- In a mixing bowl combine dry ingredients; the flour, baking powder, baking soda, spices, and salt.
- Make a well in the center of the bowl and add the wet ingredients. (oil, honey, brown sugar, eggs, vanilla, coffee, and orange juice) Mix until combined.
- Pour the honey cake batter into the baking pan or pans you prepared prior.
- Bake loaf pans for about 40-45 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. L. A bundt pan will take about 50-65 minutes. Honey muffins take about 18 minutes.
- Allow the cake to cool before removing it from the pan and slicing.
Video
Notes
Nutrition
The nutritional information is automatically calculated and can vary based ingredients and products used. If the nutrition numbers are important for you we recommend calculating them yourself.
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- 3 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1 tablespoon cinnamon
- 1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
- 1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
- 1 cup vegetable oil
- 1 cup honey
- 1 cup sugar
- 1/2 cup brown sugar
- 3 large eggs at room temperature for 30 minutes
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 cup coffee
- 3/4 cup orange juice
Preheat oven to 350 F. Line the bottom and sides of a 10 inch angel food cake pan lightly greased parchment paper, cut to fit. Stack two baking sheets together and line the top one with parchment paper. Place cake pan on that (this prevents the bottom from browning too quickly)
In a large bowl or large food processor, blend together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, cloves and allspice. Make a well in the centre, and add oil, honey, white sugar, brown sugars, eggs, vanilla, coffee, orange juice and rye or whisky. Blend well, making sure that no ingredients are stuck to the bottom. This is a thin batter.
Spoon batter into prepared pan and sprinkle top of cake (s) evenly with almonds. Place cake pan on baking sheet.
Bake until cake tests done, that is, it springs back when you gently touch the cake centre, 55–65 minutes.
Let cake stand fifteen minutes before removing from pan.
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