Back in the days when I wrote for Mishpacha magazine, I used to feature my best, tried-and-true recipes.

Let’s face it: I’m a pretty busy person (ya think?! 🤣), so I don’t have a lot of time to potchke in the kitchen. At the same time, I’m freezer-phobic, which means that my family eats fresh. Period. (My choice, but they’re definitely not complaining! 😄) This means that I need killer recipes, the ones you make DIRECTLY IN THE PAN without dirtying a million bowls. The ones that don’t call for fancy ingredients or techniques or equipment. In fact, I don’t even OWN a mixer! Or a microwave, for that matter, but don’t tell; I have kids in shidduchim! 😁

Oh, another thing about my cooking meshugas is this: I tend to have these Recipe Quests for Perfection that can literally drive me to distraction. The Quest for the Perfect Chocolate Chip Cookie, for example, nearly brought me to my knees, but finally, after trying out Recipe #4981 and implementing Tweak #328, I struck gold. Ditto on The Perfect Potato Kugel, The Perfect Chocolate Cake, The Perfect Vanilla Icing… You see where I’m going with this?

Honey cake recipes abound. They range from the super moist to the unabashedly dry, from the sticky tops to the crumbly textures. Some are drenched with honey; others–charlatans!–contain no honey at all. Well, guess what, my friend? I. Have. Tried. Them. All.

Your Great Aunt Minna’s recipe that she received from her mother and from her mother’s mother before that, who traces her lineage–and the recipe!–all the way back to Dovid HaMelech? Yep, did that one. The gourmet version that calls for grated lemon rind and slivered almonds? Well, I nixed the almonds cuz my husband’s allergic, but still gave it a try. And the recipes go on… But after two decades of baking honey cake for Rosh Hashana, I think I can finally truly say that The Quest is over. I have found The Recipe. I have discovered The Perfect Honey Cake, and my family definitely concurs! In fact, just yesterday, I got an email from a reader asking me to send her the recipe; she makes this cake every year and she just lost her copy. Rosh Hashana just wouldn’t be the same without it! 😋😍

It’s a humble cake–no pretenses, minimal honey, and I don’t know if ever actually graced Dovid HaMelech’s table, but it’s a one-bowl shindig that you whip up with a hand mixer in two minutes flat, and THAT earns it at least ten stars in my books! No separating eggs, no grating lemon peels, and definitely no almonds. Hope you enjoy it as much as we do!

Wishing you and your family the sweetest year, chock-full of bracha, hatzlacha, good health, nachas, Shalom, inspiration, and so much joy.

Avigayil’s Honey Cake

Note: This recipe makes 2 9×13 foil pans. You can cut the measurements in half to make a single cake, if you’d like.

5 eggs
3 c. sugar
1 c. oil
½ c. honey
2 tsp. cinnamon
½ tsp. ginger
3 tsp. coffee
Pinch salt
1 can apple sauce (approx 500 grams or 18 oz.)
1 c. hot water
3 ½ tsp. b. soda
5 c. flour

Beat eggs for a couple of minutes till fluffy. Slowly add oil, honey, apple sauce and spices. In empty apple sauce jar (See? I’m always looking to help save you from washing another measuring cup! :-)), mix hot water and coffee, then add baking soda and quickly pour into mixture. (It will froth and rise!). Beat in flour, baking soda and salt and finish off mixing by hand when the batter gets too thick.

Pour into 2 9×13 pans. Bake at 350 until toothpick comes out clean.

Enjoy! 💗💗💗

Photo by Caroline Hernandez on Unsplash