Sherri and Michael Leon, co-owners of Noshes by Sherri noshesbysherri.com/, are known for their delicious Jewish baked goods. They were featured in the March 4 edition of the Exponent.
Noshes by Sherri sells their goods at many local farmers markets and food collectives, including the Sisterly Love Food Fair facebook.com/Sisterly-Love-Citywide-Food-Fair-105088188102542/, and offers online ordering for both local delivery and shipping services. They make all of their items from scratch, using local ingredients whenever possible.
This honey cake was a specialty of Michael Leon’s mother, who they all called Bubbe.
“This came straight from the metal file box where Bubbe kept her recipes, which she typed on her manual typewriter on 3-inch-by-5-inch cards. We built many of our recipes around these, and some we use just as she wrote them,” Sherri Leon said.
Bubbe’s Honey Cake
Makes 1 loaf
3 eggs
1 cup sugar
2 tablespoons salad oil
2 teaspoons baking powder
½ teaspoon salt
¼ teaspoon nutmeg
Dash of cloves
1 cup warm coffee
3½ cups flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
½ teaspoon ground ginger
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 cup honey
½ cup chopped nuts
Heat your oven to 325 F, and grease a standard loaf pan.
Beat the eggs with the sugar until combined. Stir in the oil until smooth. Sift the flour with all the other dry ingredients twice. Stir this into the egg mixture gradually, alternating with honey and coffee until it is combined and smooth. Add the nuts and stir until just combined.
Pour the mixture into the prepared pan and bake 50* minutes until done.
*A note on the timing; The typed recipe card states a cooking time of 50 minutes, but there is a handwritten note next to the instruction that says “70 minutes,” which appears to have been added by Bubbe or someone else to advise bakers that additional time may be needed.
Ovens vary, and this is baked at a lower temperature than many other cakes. My recommendation is to start checking it at 50 minutes, but recognize that it may require longer in the oven.
