Moist Jewish Honey Cake

Hello! It's been almost 2 months since my last post. Been busy as I have returned to the corporate world after a year's break. It took me a while but I finally found a job that allows me work-life balance. I am now 6 weeks into the job and still enjoying it. I have another HR colleague who is into baking and did took his sabbatical to do baking 2 years ago so we have been exchanging tips and ideas. Now I mostly experiment with recipes in the evenings and bring them to my colleagues the next day. Yay! A group of people to help finish the cakes! I still take in orders for cakes and cookies mostly over the weekends.

Back to the cake I am introducing today. This is a Jewish Honey Cake and is typically eaten during the Jewish New Year, Rosh Hashana. A Jewish colleague of mine baked a cake for us 3 years back and I loved the cake! Being a baker, I asked her what are the ingredients as the cake was moist and full of flavour! She told me there's coffee, orange juice, honey and various spices in the cake. It sounded very interesting. I had always wanted to try baking it but never got round to it. I finally tried it about 2 weeks back and fell in love with it. It was a very easy cake and wonderful for those of us who are busy. Everything gets thrown into one bowl and mixed together. I only have to wash a bowl, a measuring cup and a sieve! Greats news for people like me who hate to wash.

Moist Honey Cake (recipe from here)
31/2 cups plain flour
1tsp baking powder
1tsp baking soda
1/2tsp salt
4tsp ground cinnamon
1/2tsp ground allspice
1/2tsp ground cloves
1 cup brown sugar
1 cup caster sugar
1 cup vegetable oil
1 cup honey
3 large eggs
1 cup warm coffee
1/2 cup orange juice
1/4 cup whiskey (optional - replace with orange juice for non-alcoholic version)
1tsp vanilla extract

1) Pre-heat oven at 175 deg C
2)Sieve the plain flour, baking powder, baking soda, allspice, cinnamon, cloves together in a mixing bowl.

3) Add in the brown and caster sugar
4) Make a well in the centre and add in the rest of the ingredients.

5) Whisk till everything is well mixed.

6) Pour into a oiled and floured 10" Bundt cake pan

7) Bake at 175 deg C for 60-70 mins.
8) Cool in the pan for 15-20 mins before unmoulding
9) Decorate with icing sugar if desired.

As I am typing, the smell of the baking cake is wafting in from the kitchen. I am baking it this time for a church event tomorrow. I find that spiced cakes usually takes a day for the flavours to develop so it would be good to bake the cake a day in advance. My friends loved the Honey Cake and it reminds me of Christmas! This is certainly a cake I will bake for the Christmas Holidays, easy and delicious. Lovely when served with a cup of coffee or tea.