Sweet Traditions
The only thing wrong with it is that it reminds me of... well, honey cake
Every three or four years or so I find myself at it again; it is Rosh Hashanah, after all. I already made apple cake. And coffee crumb cake. Maybe even a cinnamon-laced carrot cake.
But I am a frum Jew! And an eishes chayil. And a Yiddishe mamma. So I face the task and resign myself to the inevitable. How can I desist from making honey cake for yet another Rosh Hashanah?
Is it only my family?
I feel like those people who breezily say, “Oh, we don’t do cholent…” What do you mean don’t do cholent?! Women spanning every continent on the planet, even those who had lost touch after galus, all make some version of cholent, but you don’t do cholent?!
But see, that’s the thing. Cholent on Shabbos is kind of like honey cake on Rosh Hashanah — or (gulp) tzimmes for that matter. I’m into traditional, I truly am. Minhag avoseinu b’yadeinu… It’s not exactly zechus avos, but definitely related. Or so I hope.
And when is my alignment to my bubbes paramount if not on Rosh Hashanah?
So here I am pulling out my trusty Kitchen-Aid for yet a new trial for the ultimate, must-try, zinger of a honey cake. I faithfully take down the recipe for You-Won’t-Be-Disappointed-In-This-One Honey Cake, which comes after a mere three-year hiatus following the You’ll-See-You’ll-Thank-Me-Just-Try-It Honey Cake debacle.
Looking over the recipe, I know it doesn’t get better than this. There’s barely any honey in this one, and it even has cocoa and coffee, so I know I’ve struck gold. And heeeeeeere I go again.
I must admit, this time I like almost everything about the cake; the texture is amazing, it’s sweet but not overly so. It begs for a cup of coffee, which I dispatch pronto, and the only thing wrong with it is that it reminds me of… well, honey cake. Yah.
It gets served for kiddush and dessert and left out with tea from Rosh Hashanah through Succos. But even my four-year-old son passes it up for wafers that cost two shekel a pack.
In light of Einstein’s definition of insanity, I cannot justify another try at tzimmis. And for all you out there judging me, yes, I’m a great cook, if I may say so myself. But after the last attempt, my husband muttered something under his breath about our yearly minhag to throw out tzimmes every Simchas Torah, and I knew I’d be throwing in the towel this year instead.
But I have a new crop of little ones who may just love honey cake! And I haven’t tried Baila’s famous honey cake, the one my aunts have been raving about for years. So hey, you never know….
(And yes, there is already a safe stock of honey-free chocolate fudge squares in the back of the freezer marked “Silka: chopped beets” just in case.)
(Originally featured in Family First, Issue 709)
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