Honey Cake (Lekach)
I sometimes find honey cake heavy and dense, but this recipe is light and moist. These cakes are traditionally baked for Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year, and whilst there are numerous different recipes, this moist, flavoursome cake always has honey, in the hope that the New Year will be sweet.
Nuts can be added for texture and apples are often used. Here, the flavouring is tea, but you could use coffee, rum or brandy and lemon/orange zest. It’s good to make a day or two ahead so the flavours develop and mature.
Ingredients: 175g plain flour 100g honey 80g sugar 80ml vegetable oil 40g golden syrup 1 tsp baking powder 1 tsp ground cinnamon ½ cup warm tea ½ tsp vanilla extract ½ tsp bicarbonate of soda ¼ tsp ground cloves ¼ tsp ground nutmeg ¼ tsp salt 2 eggs
* optional almond slices to scatter on top
Method: Preheat oven to 170⁰C. Grease and line a 2lb cake tin. Prepare ½ a cup of tea and leave to cool. In a bowl mix the flour, baking powder, bicarb of soda, cinnamon, cloves, nutmeg and salt. In another bowl, (with whisk attachment), whisk the eggs, sugar, honey and golden syrup on high until light and fluffy. Turn the speed down to low and while it is still on, slowly add the oil and vanilla. Whisk until well incorporated.
Change attachment to beater and add a third of the flour mixture, beat and then add half of the tea, and mix in. Repeat with another third of flour, the rest of the tea and finally the remaining flour. Beat until you have a smooth consistency, but don’t over mix.
Pour the batter into the prepared tin, scatter the almonds and place in the oven for appx 40-45mins. A skewer inserted will come out clean when the cake is ready.
Take out the oven, leave to cool a little and then turn out onto a wire rack to cool completely.
Enjoy.
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