A Honey of a Honey Cake

I'm back! After a really long hiatus (insert life-got-in-the-way excuses here), I'm thrilled to present the easiest, most delicious honey cake ever. And just in time for Rosh Hashanah. Honey cake, the traditional holiday dessert to symbolize a sweet new year, has a deservedly bad reputation. It's often dry and dense. Even my grandmother's version was nearly inedible without a gallon of milk to wash it down.  And she was a fabulous baker. 

This recipe, however, is a winner.  It is one of hundreds of recipes gifted to me a few years ago by the legendary Arthur Schwartz, and was sent to him by a listener who wrote: Now this is a honey cake! He'd given me a number of honey cake recipes, but I chose this one for its utter simplicity.




Start by beating the eggs and sugar until very, very light.  Add in the honey and oil, then alternate adding the flour mixture and coffee. Begin and end with the dry ingredients.



The batter is very thin. Pour into a greased loaf pan.  I just sprayed mine with Pam. It released pretty well, except for one small spot which, after I "repaired" it, was unnoticeable.  You could line the greased pan with parchment if you want to ensure a complete release.



Bake for about an hour. The edges will look a bit well done, but test with a skewer to ensure the center is cooked.



Let it cool, then slice and serve. It's even better the second day!



Some of my tasters, Cheryl and Alex. Baby Stellan is too young to enjoy the cake, though he's trying to grab it! Cheryl declared he cake moist and delicious and Alex finished off the loaf. The DH especially enjoyed the caramelized edges.



The recipe, below. I followed it exactly. The nuts I used were blanched slivered almonds, a tribute to my grandmother who always decorated her cake with whole almonds across the top of the loaf, like buttons running the length of the cake.

Apple Dapple (aka Fresh Apple Cake)

Greetings after a rather lengthy blog sabbatical, but A Cake Bakes is back with a lovely fresh apple cake recipe, perfect for your Rosh Hashana dinner or any dinner or teatime, for that matter. It's a vintage recipe, probably from the 1950s, and it gave me a chance to use my personalized baking pan, a thoughtful gift from my boss. (David, I'll bring you a slice on Monday!)

This is a quick and easy recipe which puts your apple picking harvest to excellent use. The caramel glaze heightens the depth and flavor (and sweetness) of this rather simple cake. I have no idea why it's called Apple Dapple, but its unusual title is why I chose it from my vast collection of apple cake recipes.

The most time consuming part of this recipe is peeling and chopping the four large apples. The recipe didn't indicate the size of the apple pieces; you can see what I did below.

Mix the eggs, oil and sugar by hand or machine...

until it looks like this, smooth and glossy.

Add in the dry ingredients, then the apples. The batter is so thick that, fearing the machine would crush the fruit, I mixed them in with a spoon (right after I took this photo).

Place the batter in a greased and floured 12 x 9 inch baking pan.

Use a spatula to spread it to the edges.

Bake for about 30 minutes.

Just before the cake is done, make the topping by melting butter, and adding brown sugar and a bit of milk. Let the mixture boil for three minutes.

Pour the topping onto the hot cake.

I followed this recipe exactly, using vegetable oil for the oil, and using one stick of butter for the Oleo. I added a teaspoon of cinnamon but not the nuts, as my son who will be enjoying this cake later, wouldn't touch it if he detected a nut. Always preheat the oven before beginning any recipe.

Karmel (Caramel) Glaze Apple Cake

So the author of this recipe card won't win any spelling bees (karmel?), but if you're looking for a honey cake alternative for Rosh Hashanah, or a delicious apple cake for any time, try this beauty with its moist crumb and seductive caramel glaze, pictured here at our friends' gorgeous pool in Connecticut.  (I'm obviously vying to win the run-on sentence competition.)

The recipe is from a vintage recipe card box from Lancaster, Pennsylvania, and couldn't be easier to make. Mix up the batter and add in the diced apples.

Spoon into a pan, which has been greased and floured.  The recipe called for a 10 x 10 square pan but (not having that size), I used a 9-inch cake pan.

After baking, let the cake cool somewhat and turn out.

The only "trick" to this recipe is that you must make the caramel glaze while the cake is baking because it needs to cool and then be poured on the warm cake. Below is the start of the glaze. The recipe calls for one teaspoon of corn syrup to enhance the texture of the glaze.  Do not skip this ingredient: the Karo Syrup sold in supermarkets and used in recipes like this is not the devil high-fructose corn syrup.

I followed the recipe exactly, using butter in place of the Spry. (Is Spry even made anymore?) And I only sifted the flour once, not three times.