Honey cake and caramelised apples
Sarit and Itamar’s Rosh Hashanah honey cake is a delicious and sticky way to welcome a sweet year to come.
Ingredients
For the honey cake
- 1 tsp instant coffee powder
- 1 black teabag
- 200ml/7fl oz boiling water
- 2 free-range eggs, beaten
- 200ml/7fl oz vegetable oil
- 340g/12oz honey
- 200g/7oz caster sugar
- 350g/12oz plain flour
- 1 tsp bicarbonate of soda
- 1 tsp ground cinnamon
- ½ tsp ground ginger
- 1 clove, crushed
For the caramelised apples
- 2 dessert apples, such as Pink Lady, Golden Delicious or Braeburn, peeled, cored and each cut into 8 pieces
- 1 lemon, juice and pared zest
- 100g/3½oz caster sugar
- 1 tbsp honey
Method
Place the coffee and teabag in a jug and add the boiling water, mix well and leave to infuse.
Preheat the oven to 180C/160C Fan/Gas 4 and grease and line a 26cm cake tin with baking paper.
Place the eggs, oil, honey and sugar in the bowl of a stand mixer with the paddle attachment. Mix to combine, then mix the flour, bicarbonate of soda, cinnamon, and clove together in a bowl, add them to the wet ingredients and mix again. Strain in the coffee and tea infused water, discarding the teabag, and mix again.
Pour into the lined cake tin and bake for 30 minutes, then turn and bake for another 20 minutes, until a skewer comes out slightly damp but not gooey and the cake is bouncy.
To make the caramelised apples, toss the apples in the lemon juice and add a couple of strips of the zest.
Place the sugar and honey in a small saucepan with a splash of water and place over a medium heat until it starts to caramelise. Add the apples and stir in the caramel until softened and coated in caramel.
Serve slices of the cake with the caramelised apples on the side and a good drizzle of their cooking syrup.
Recipe Tips
The cake keeps well and is actually better after a day or two. However, Itamar says, "The minute it comes out of the oven you will descend on it like a seagull." Good luck.
