This moist honey cake is rich in flavor and full of spices that will make your house smell like autumn. This cake is definitely a family favorite. Every Rosh Hashanah we make this cake, it's our favorite time of the year.

This cake says moist and delicious for a few days. It even tastes better one or two days later. This cake will become your new favorite tea cake, I cant wait for you to try it!
If you like simple cake recipes, you should try our apple upside down cake, apple sharlotka cake, moist honey cake, fudgy flourless chocolate cake, and our favorite marble loaf cake.
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Honey cake for Rosh Hashana
In Rosh Hashana in the Jewish culture, it’s a tradition to make lots of foods and desserts to celebrate the Jewish “new year’s” holiday. This cake is one of the desserts that we see every year around the table.
Ingredients
Before you start to make this Jewish honey cake recipe, measure and prepare your ingredients so the cooking process will go smoothly and easily.
Flour– we used all-purpose flour for this recipe. cake flour will work great as well.
Granulated sugar– we like to use granulated sugar, also the most common sugar used in baking. Caster sugar will work great as well.
Oil- we used vegetable oil for this recipe, canola oil can work as well.
Eggs- you will need large eggs for this recipe. Make sure that your eggs are at room temperature.
Honey- use fresh honey.
Tea- make a strong black tea and cool it lightly.
Vanilla extract- for flavor.
Baking powder and baking soda– baking powder and baking soda allow the cake to rise. Make sure that your baking powder and baking soda are not expired.
Salt- we used kosher salt for this recipe, you will need ¼ teaspoon of salt.
Cinnamon- gives this cake an amazing taste.
Nutmeg- you will need ¼ teaspoon of nutmeg.
Instructions
Step 1: Preheat an oven to 160c (320f) and prepare a parchment paper-lined loaf pan.
In a medium mixing bowl, add the dry ingredients: flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, and nutmeg. Mix with a whisk until combined.
Step 2: In a separate large mixing bowl, add the eggs, oil, vanilla extract, and honey, and mix well with a whisk. Add the hot tea into the wet mixture and mix until combined.
Step 3: In a separate medium mixing bowl, add the dry ingredients: flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, and nutmeg. Mix with a small whisk until combined.
Step 4: Pour the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients mixture and carefully mix until just combined. (don’t overmix!)
Step 5: our the batter into a parchment paper-lined loaf pan and bake in a 180c (350f) preheated oven for 40-45 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.
Step 6: Drizzle honey on top of the cake right when it comes out of the oven. Smooth it out with a spoon.
Step 7: Let the cake cool for at least 30 minutes and serve!
Expert tips
- Use room temperature ingredients. It is important that you use room-temperature ingredients like eggs. This step ensures that your mixture mixes into a homogenous mixture and bakes perfectly. you don’t want to place cold batter into the oven.
- Don’t overmix the batter, you don’t want to develop the gluten in the flour. This step ensures you have moist cake and not dense and dry cake.
- Measure your flour correctly! When measuring your flour, avoid scooping it with a measuring cup. Instead, stir the flour with a spoon to create as many air pockets as possible, and spoon it into your measuring cup. Finally, level it with a back of a knife.
- Line your baking pan with parchment paper! This step helps the cake to release easily from the pan.
- Before you start to make this recipe, measure and prepare your ingredients so the baking process will go smoothly and easily.
Faq's
Store this cake in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 3 days, or in the fridge in an airtight container for up to 5 days.
The flavor of this cake is sweet, tender, moist, full of cinnamon flavor, and delicious.
Yes! It's popular to mix and sprinkle nuts in this cake, add chopped walnuts to the batter of the cake, or top the cake with sliced almonds.
Check the middle of the loaf by inserting a toothpick into the loaf. When the toothpick comes out clean, the cake is done. If not, bake for another 5-10 minutes.
Serving tips
Serve this cake next to your coffee or tea, this cake makes every coffee or tea break a million times better.
Freezing
This cake is very easy to freeze. After baking, let the cake cool to room temperature, transfer it into a freezer-friendly Ziploc bag, or wrap it tightly with a plastic wrap. Freeze up to 3 months.
To thaw: place the cake in the refrigerator overnight or place it a room temperature for a few hours.
More fall recipes:
Pecan upside down cake- This pecan upside down cake is made with a moist and simple vanilla cake and topped with an easy caramel pecan topping.
Apple upside-down cake- This apple upside-down cake recipe is a must-have for fall. This apple upside-down cake features an incredibly moist cake that is loaded with cinnamon and nutmeg, topped with a caramelized apple topping.
Easy apple cake- This cake is fluffy, light, airy, moist, soft, and delicious. This apple cake contains only a few simple ingredients to make and takes under 20 minutes to prep.
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Moist Honey Cake (Rosh Hashanah)
Ingredients
- 1 ¼ cups Flour
- ½ cup Sugar
- ½ cup vegetable oil
- 2 Eggs
- ½ cup Honey
- ½ cup Tea
- 1 teaspoon Vanilla extract
- 1 teaspoon Baking powder
- ½ teaspoon Baking soda
- ¼ teaspoon Kosher salt
- 1 teaspoon Cinnamon
- ¼ teaspoon Nutmeg
Instructions
- Preheat an oven to 160c (320f) and prepare a parchment paper-lined loaf pan.
- In a medium mixing bowl, add the dry ingredients: flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, and nutmeg. Mix with a whisk until combined.
- In a separate large mixing bowl, add the eggs, oil, vanilla extract, honey, and mix well with a whisk.
- Add the hot tea into the wet mixture and mix until combined.
- In a separate medium mixing bowl, add the dry ingredients: flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, and nutmeg. Mix with a small whisk until combined.
- Pour the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients mixture and carefully mix until just combined. (don’t overmix!)
- Pour the batter into a parchment paper-lined loaf pan and bake in a 180c (350f) preheated oven for 40-45 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.
- Drizzle honey on top of the cake right when it comes out of the oven. Smooth it out with a spoon.
- let the cake cool for at least 30 minutes and serve!
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