Rosh Hashanah is the beginning of the New Year so Jewish families love to make it sweet. Honey cake has recently been a common Rosh Hashanah dessert because of how sweet it is. This recipe makes a cake that gets moister and sweeter as it gets ready for the New Year. For other sweet things straight from Israel, click here. 

Ingredients: 

·         1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour 
·         1 teaspoon cinnamon 
·         3/4 teaspoon baking soda 
·         3/4 teaspoon salt 
·         1/2 teaspoon baking powder 
·         1/2 teaspoon ground ginger 
·         1 cup honey (preferably buckwheat) 
·         2/3 cup vegetable oil 
·         1/2 cup freshly brewed strong coffee, cooled 
·         2 large eggs 
·         1/4 cup packed brown sugar 
·         2 tablespoons whiskey or bourbon 
·         a 9- by 5- by 3-inch loaf pan 

Preparation: 

Put oven rack in middle position and preheat to 350°F. Oil loaf pan well and dust with flour, knocking out excess. Whisk together flour, cinnamon, baking soda, salt, baking powder, and ginger in a small bowl. Whisk together honey, oil, and coffee in another bowl until well combined. 

Beat together eggs and brown sugar in a large bowl with an electric mixer at high speed 3 minutes. Reduce speed to low, then add honey mixture and whiskey and mix until blended, about 1 minute. Add flour mixture and mix until just combined. Finish mixing batter with a rubber spatula, scraping bottom of bowl. Pour batter into loaf pan (batter will be thin) and bake 30 minutes. 

Cover top loosely with foil and continue to bake until cake begins to pull away from sides of pan and a wooden pick or skewer inserted in center comes out clean, about 30 minutes more. Cool on a rack 1 hour. Run a knife around side of cake, then invert rack over pan and invert cake onto rack. Turn cake right side up and cool completely. 

For coffee with your cake, check out our Israeli coffee gallery.