Elizabeth Brewer’s Honey Cake

Honey cake is traditional for Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish new year. This is my great-great-grandmother’s recipe.

2 cups flour
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
½ tsp salt
2 eggs
1 cup sugar
1 scant tsp allspice
1 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 tbsp lemon rind
1 tbsp orange rind
1 tbsp marmalade
4 tsp oil
1 tbsp whiskey
1 cup hot honey
1 cup strong coffee

Mix together the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt. In a separate bowl, beat together the eggs, sugar, spices, vanilla, rinds, marmalade, oil and whiskey. Mix in the honey and coffee. Add the dry ingredients and whisk thoroughly.

Pour the batter into a well-greased 9×13-inch glass baking pan. Bake at 325 °F for 45 minutes to 1 hour. (A cake tester should not be completely dry when it’s done.) Let the cake cool away from any drafts and bangings, and cut it in the pan – don’t turn it out.

My father prefers a denser, chewy version: for this, leave out the baking powder and baking soda.