I love to bake, so, by now, you’re used to all of the desserts you see on this blog. This time of year is always interesting with lots going on, like the beginning of the school year, sports tryouts, back-to-school shopping, and getting ready for fall activities like Canadian Thanksgiving and Halloween.

One thing is for sure, though: I’m back to cooking and baking quite a bit more after the long summer break, where I apparently slacked off in the kitchen! Kids are always so honest. When I came back last week from a trip to Lebanon with tons of fun desserts like date and pistachio-filled maamoul (shown in the round box), pistachio nougats, and boxes of chocolate bars, I was surprised when my daughter said that I need to bake some desserts!

So, bake I did. I made brownies that are gone, and decided to make this Honey Cake (basically a coffee cake made with coffee and honey), which you may be seeing in stores as it’s popular this time of year for the Jewish New Year. By the way, this year the Muslim New Year and the Jewish New Year are on the same day, today – something that happens only once every 33 years! If you’ve ever wondered how the Jewish calendar observes the new year in late summer or early fall every year, despite being a lunar calendar, it’s because of the addition of ‘leap months’ into the lunar calendar to keep the holiday steady. You can read more about when the New Years collide here. Happy New Year!

The recipe (which I slightly modified) is from the Zabar’s site, and I used a chocolate glaze from Epicurious.

For the Honey Cake:

Ingredients:
3 ½ c All Purpose flour
1 T baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
½ tsp salt
4 tsps cinnamon
½ tsp cloves
½ tsp allspice
1 c vegetable oil
1 c dark honey
1 c granulated sugar
1 c brown sugar
3 eggs
1 tsp vanilla
1 c warm coffee
½ c orange juice
¼ c coffee or brandy whiskey

Parchment Paper

Bake in a 10 inch bundt or tube pan

Preparation:
1. Preheat Oven to 350 degrees.

2. Lightly grease pan and line bottom with greased parchment paper.

3. In a large bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt and spices.

4. Make a well in the center on the dry ingredients and add oil, honey, sugars, eggs, vanilla, coffee, orange juice, and brandy.

5. Combine all ingredients well (you can do this by hand but believe me an electric hand mixer works best) making sure to scrape down the sides of the bowl while mixing.

6. Spoon batter into pan

7. Bake until the cake springs back when touched gently in the center (approximately 60 to 70 minutes for bundt or tube pans – small loaf pans will take less time).

This is a very wet batter – and depending on your oven it may take longer to bake.

8. Once baked, allow cake to stand in pan for 15 minutes. Remove from pan and allow to cool on a wire rack

Chocolate Glaze:

Ingredients:
1/2 cup unsweetened coconut milk (not light)
2 tsp light corn syrup
4 oz semi-sweet chocolate, coursely chopped
1/4 c sliced almonds

Heat the milk and syrup until it gently simmers. Add chocolate and let sit for a minute. Mix and drizzle over cake. Sprinkle with sliced almonds.

Have you ever made a Honey Cake? How do you glaze yours? Enjoy!

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