Recipe: “Honey Cake” by Rabbi Hillel Lavery-Yisraëli

Honey Cake
Pareve ✡ Chametz

Submitted 08/12/25 by:

“My mother's adaptation of my great-grandmother's”

Fluffy, tall, soft, light-tasting honey cake, baked in a bundt pan
Snacks Desserts & Cocktails Vegetarian Pareve / Dairy Free Rosh Hashanah Shabbat

Prep time: 30 min
Bake/Cook Time: 1.5 hours
Total time: 2 hours

Cook/Bake temperature: 325 F

Ingredients:

Amount	Ingredient
1/2 Cup	Honey
1 Cup	Hot tea (rec. Earl Grey)
3/4 tsp	Baking Soda
6	Eggs
1 Cup	Sugar
1 Cup	Brown Sugar
1 Cup	Oil
3 Cups	All-purpose flour
1/4 tsp	Salt
1 1/2 tsp	Baking Powder
2 tsp	Cinnamon
1 tsp	Ground Cloves

Instructions:

Preheat oven to 325 Deg
Make one cup hot tea. Pour & dissolve honey into the cup, add baking soda. Set aside.
In a large mixing bowl, beat eggs, sugar, brown sugar and oil together until there are no clumps.
In a small bowl mix flour, salt, baking powder, cinnamon and cloves.
Alternate between adding small amounts of the tea mixture and the flour mixture into the large bowl, and beat until the mixture is liquidy and frothy.
Pour into a greased bundt pan and bake at 325 for 1 to 1.5 hours, until it is light and fluffy.

Serving instructions and additional notes:

Notes from Rabbi Hillel:
I like to add some vanilla and/or almond extract and/or rum flavor, sometimes a little coffee... I use lots of cinnamon. Also, I don't bother with the small bowl for the flour etc - I just put all that straight into the big bowl and mix well using a hand mixer. For me the cake usually takes 75 to 90 minutes to bake. I test by pressing the top with my finger and seeing if it bounces back.
This requires a LARGE bundt pan, otherwise it will overflow during the baking.
My favorite cake ever, tried and true. Originally was my great grandmother's recipe, which got altered by my mother.