Celebrating Modern Jewish Living Through Food, Tradition, and Family
Bubby’s Honey Cake
This is the old-fashioned good stuff, made by a real Bubby.
The Backstory: Recently, I chatted with my Canadian cousin, Rhonda. After discussing family happenings, I asked her if she had any recipes to share with me. And, did she ever! Thanks, Rhonda. Some of the recipes came from relatives that are no longer with us, but I still have very fond memories of them. This cake recipe was my great Aunt Esther’s, however, her grandson tweaked it. I don’t know if its the whiskey that was added (I can’t really see my great Aunt Esther dabbling in rye whiskey, but you never know), I am only guessing. I’ll have to check on that. More of the Backstory after the recipe…
Bubby's Honey Cake
Ingredients
- 2 cups honey
- 2 cups sugar
- 4 eggs, beaten
- 1/2 cup vegetable oil
- 1 1/2 ounces rye whiskey
- 2 tsp. baking soda (must be fresh)
- 1 tsp. baking powder
- 3/4 tsp. ground nutmeg
- 3/4 tsp. ground allspice
- 1 1/4 cups black coffee cooled
- 3 1/2 cups flour
- zest of one orange
Instructions
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Preheat oven to 300 degrees. Line a 11" x 16" x 2 1/2" baking dish with a paper bag. Make sure you cover the bottom and the sides of the dish. Set aside.
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Mix together the honey, sugar, eggs, oil, whiskey, baking soda, baking powder, nutmeg, allspice and orange zest. Then add the coffee. Mix. Slowly add the flour. Mix all.
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Pour into baking dish and bake for one hour and 15 minutes or until a cake tester inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean. Remove and let cool on wire rack before slicing .
…The Backstory continues: Aunt Esther always had her home baked cookies on hand whenever we visited her. My kids loved them and so did I. Her baking method is not exactly the norm (as you’ll see when you read it). However, this recipe has been given to family and friends over the years, so I’d say it has passed the test of “I’ll have another slice, please”.
Amen to that.