If you prepare it, let us know, and you could win a free weekend here at Ascent! (Raffle prize valid within one year.)  [rr@ascentofsafed.com]

Here’s our recipe and, briefly, the story of why we eat honey cake on Rosh Hashanah

There’s a Chassidic custom at this time of year and particularly before Yom Kippur, to ask one another for something sweet to eat (usually honey cake) and to offer some to others. The deep reason behind this is that a Jew says, a few hours before the significant High Holidays begin, “If it is to be that I will have to beg for my sustenance this coming year, I have fulfilled this by asking for the honey cake.”

It was customary to receive this sweet cake from one’s rebbe on the eve of Yom Kippur along with a sincere blessing for a good, sweet year. 

In 1950 the Lubavitcher Rebbe told a story from his father in law, the previous Rebbe, that the Baal Shem Tov used to say that the giving of honey cake is an ancient custom, and while giving it one would say, “I give you honey cake, something sweet, and may G-d give you a good, sweet year!”

So, let’s get to it!

ingredients:

4 eggs

1 cup oil

1 cup honey

1 ½ cups water

1 tbs. cinnamon

1 tsp. ground cloves (optional)

4 ½ cups flour

1 sachet baking powder (10 gram/2 tsp.)

1 tsp. instant coffee 

Method:

Mix all the ingredients and pour into four bread-loaf baking dishes. The batter rises a lot, so it is recommended to fill the dish only ¾ full. 

Bake at 150-180C for approximately 45 minutes until the cake has risen. Test using a knife. Insert it into the cake. When you remove it, if it is dry, the cake is baked. 

You can also use cupcake molds, but again, remember not to fill them to the top. 

Good Luck and enjoy!