Recipe: Sister Sadie's Honey Cake
It's traditional to have honey cake at the Jewish New Year, and boy, do we need the promise of something sweet.
With sweet wishes and much hope, this year especially, the celebration of Rosh Hashana begins Friday at sundown. The start of the Jewish New Year, it’s a joyous two-day holiday ushering in the solemn and reflective ten-day period called The Days of Awe.
At Rosh Hashana, a favorite custom is to dip slices of tart apple in honey, both celebrating the new fruits of the season and ensuring that the upcoming year will be sweet.
My tradition for the holiday is to bake two loaves of Sister Sadie’s Honey Cake. One we keep, and the other is mailed to my mother in Buffalo. The recipe is adapted from Matzoh Ball Gumbo: The Culinary Tales of the Jewish South, written by my dear friend, Marcie Cohen Ferris.
Sister Sadie, creator of this particular honey cake, was a daughter of the Russian immigrant family who owned the revered Gottleib’s Bakery in Savannah, Georgia. Sadie was celebrated for her cakes, pies and strudel and the secret ingredient in her honey cake was flat Coca Cola. Gottleib’s Bakery was passed on successively through the family and remained in business for 100 years, closing in 1994, “after a century of service to the Jews of Savannah,” writes Marcie.
Pictured below with the honey cake, is a drizzle of newly collected buckwheat honey, a sweet New Year’s gift from my friend, Cathy Zises. Cathy tends bees and a small crop of buckwheat and spelt on her land, Lightforce Sanctuary, in Columbia County.
Wishing everyone a happy and healthy New Year.
Sister Sadie's Honey Cake
Makes 1 cake, about 12 slices.
Adapted from Matzoh Ball Gumbo: Culinary Tales of the Jewish South by Marcie Cohen Ferris. UNC Press.
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour, spooned into cups and leveled off
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
½ teaspoon ground ginger
1/2 teaspoon ground allspice
1/4 teaspoon fine salt
3 tablespoons finely chopped crystallized ginger
2 large eggs, at room temperature
½ cup demerara or white granulated sugar
1/3 cup canola oil
1 cup honey
1/4 cup flat Coca Cola or cold strong brewed coffee
2 tablespoons sliced natural almonds
1. Preheat the oven to 325°. Grease a 9x5-inch loaf pan. Line the long sides (but not the ends) of the pan with a piece of parchment. The paper should hang over each side to act as a lifter. Grease the parchment. Or, line the pan with foil, letting the excess hang over the sides; grease the foil.
2. In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, ginger, allspice and salt. Whisk in the crystallized ginger.
3. In a medium bowl, with the same whisk, beat the eggs. Beat in the demerara or granulated sugar until frothy and well blended. Beat in the oil and then the honey and cola or coffee.
4. Pour the honey mixture into the dry ingredients and stir with a wooden spoon just until blended. The batter will be quite thin; a few lumps are okay.
5. Scrape the batter into the prepared pan, squashing any lumps of dry ingredients at the bottom of the bowl. Sprinkle the top with the almonds.
6. Bake the cake until it is browned, just springy to the touch, shrinks from the sides and a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean, 40 to 50 minutes. (Be careful not to overbake this cake.) It may sink slightly in the center. Sister Sadie warns that the top may crack.
7. Transfer the cake in the pan to a wire rack and loosen the ends gently with a thin knife. Let cool for 30 minutes. Loosen the edges and sides. Using the parchment or foil as a lifter, remove the cake from the pan. Carefully peel off the parchment or foil and let it cool completely on the rack, almond side up. Let it stand at least a day before serving for the best flavor and texture.
