Recently, Rachel and I made a delicious honey baklava in a collaboration with the American Technion Society. They reached out so that we could highlight honey, as well as the incredible technologies that scientists at the Technion are developing to support the world’s bee population, from AI-monitored hives to robotic bees, to supporting the plant life that allow bees to thrive.

Honey-sweetened cakes, like baklava, date back to the ancient civilizations of Greece and Rome. The Ashkenazi Jewish recipe for “lekach” (honey cake) dates back to medieval Germany. The Yiddish name “lekach” comes from the High German word “lekke,” which means to lick.

Jewish European immigrants brought the recipe to Israel and America and lekach still plays a significant role in Ashkenazi New Year tradition. Every Erev Yom Kippur, the Lubavitcher Rebbe, Menachem Mendel Schneerson, would stand for hours, handing out a piece of “lekach” to each of his devoted Hassidim to signify a blessing for a sweet new year. It also fulfilled a spiritual custom where asking for lekach right before starting the fast will preempt a possible Heavenly decree that one must ask others for sustenance. It is a symbol of our wish that all our material needs should be provided by Hashem.

Jewish European immigrants brought the recipe to Israel and America and lekach still plays a significant role in Ashkenazi New Year tradition. 

I was lucky enough to have spent a couple of Yom Kippurs in Crown Heights while he was still living. My brothers ensure that we all eat a bite of honey cake every year before the fast.

As a young girl, my Iraqi-born mother Nana Sue learned to bake fabulous cakes at her boarding school in Jerusalem. I would stand at her side as she would whip up honey cake or marble cake or fruit cake for Shabbat and the Jewish holidays.

Every mother who has daughters knows that eventually her daughters will take over the baking. I had my turn baking and now my girls love to bake.

This honey cake recipe was perfected by my daughter Alexandra (and it’s so good that you’ll want to make it all year round).

Unlike those notoriously dry heavy honey cakes you may have tasted, this recipe results in a light, airy texture and a moist, flavorful cake. Adding vanilla, cinnamon, cloves, nutmeg and Earl Grey tea lend it an exquisite taste.

This delightfully spiced and fragrant honey cake is the perfect symbol of our wish for you, dear reader, to be blessed with a sweet New Year!

—Sharon

Honey Cake

6 eggs, at room temperature

1/2 cup brown sugar

1/2 cup white sugar.

One cup avocado oil

One cup honey

2 tsp vanilla extract

2 1/2 cups all purpose flour

1 tbs baking powder

1 tsp baking soda

1 tsp kosher salt

1 tbs ground cinnamon

1 tsp nutmeg

1 tsp cloves

1 cup Earl Grey tea

Place an oven rack in an upper position in the oven.

Preheat oven to 350°F.

Spray a 12-cup Bundt cake pan .

In the bowl of a stand mixer, whisk the eggs together by hand. Add the brown sugar, white sugar, oil, honey and vanilla then beat until well combined and slightly frothy.

In a separate bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, cloves and nutmeg.

Add the dry ingredients to the wet cake mixture. Using a low to medium setting on the mixer, whisk the ingredients together. Do not overmix. Add the tea and gently whisk again.

Pour batter into pan and bake for 50 to 60 minutes or until a toothpick inserted comes out clean.

NOTE: Cake can be stored in an airtight container for three days, or in the refrigerator for five days.

To freeze the cake, allow the cake to cool then wrap tightly.

Sharon Gomperts and Rachel Emquies Sheff have been friends since high school. The Sephardic Spice Girls project has grown from their collaboration on events for the Sephardic Educational Center in Jerusalem. Follow them
on Instagram @sephardicspicegirls and on Facebook at Sephardic Spice SEC Food. Website sephardicspicegirls.com/full-recipes.