Honey Cake = Pain d'épices

I'm back from Paris and it's time to get back to work in the kitchen!

The Jewish holidays are this week, and during Rosh Hashanah we eat honey cake in hopes to have a sweet new year.

This is the best recipe for honey cake that I have found so far.

The recipe is from Marcy Goldman's Treasure of Jewish Holiday Baking, by way of Smitten Kitchen.

If you don't want to make this for the Jewish New Year, then by all means, make it anytime and call it a Pain d'épices!

Same animal. It's a spice cake made with honey and strong coffee.
Tastes best for some reason at 3:00 w/ my espresso.

This recipe makes 2 huge loaf cakes or one bundt (which I have not tried yet). Go with the loaf pans, I say 2 cakes are better than one, freeze one or give one away.

This is a great cake, tastes like my grandmother made it.

Honey Cake (adapted from Smitten Kitchen):

3 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
4 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
1/2 teaspoon ground allspice
1 cup vegetable oil
1 cup honey
1 1/2 cups granulated sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar
3 large eggs at room temperature
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup warm coffee
1/2 cup fresh orange juice
1/4 cup whiskey or bourbon
1/2 cup slivered or sliced almonds (optional)

Fits in two full size 9" loaf pans; two 9-inch square or round cake pans; one 9 or 10 inch tube or bundt cake pan; or one 9 x 13 inch sheet cake pan. I made mine in two full-size loaf pans, but you could probably get away with using a 3rd small loaf pan, there is a lot of batter.

Preheat oven to 350°F. Generously grease pans with non-stick cooking spray. For tube or angel food pans, line the bottom with lightly greased parchment paper, cut to fit.

In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, cloves and allspice.

Make a well in the center, and add oil, honey, white sugar, brown sugars, eggs, vanilla, coffee, orange juice and whiskey. (If you measure your oil before the honey, it will be easier to get all of the honey out of the measuring cup!).

Using a whisk, mix all ingredients to get a nice thick, even batter, leaving nothing on the bottom of the mixing bowl.

Pour into prepared cake pans and sprinkle the top with sliced almonds.

Bake about 45 minutes. My tops had nice high domes, and though the middle looked a little underdone when I took them out of the oven, they were totally cooked and perfect.

Let rest 5 minutes in the tins, then release onto cooling racks.

Tastes great warm, but even better the next day.

I love this cake!

L'Shanah Tovah 5777!