I hadn’t wanted to jump the gun on what the outcome would be, but I did make a cake (I know, any excuse) as a sort of good luck motif. I chose a honey cake called a Lekach from my book of Jewish cooking as it was traditionally made for children on their first day at school to make their learning sweet. What better way to send our new course off into the world? Besides, in the year before he died,
The cake was very easy, but make sure you stock up on honey before you start – a cup is really quite a lot! It was nicely moist and gingery, especially in the middle, and everyone who ate it really liked it. I should really have offered it to the panel to make them sweet, but hadn’t liked to risk being accused of bribery before we knew their feelings on the course!
Lekach (honey cake), from Jewish Traditions Cookbook, by Marlena Spieler
Serves about 8 (I cut it into about 16 quite chunky squares)
175g/ 1 ½ cups plain flour
75g/ 1/3 cup caster sugar
½ tsp ground ginger
½ - 1 tsp ground cinnamon
1 tsp mixed spice
1 tsp bicarbonate of soda
225g/ 1 cup clear honey
60ml/ 4 tbsp vegetable or olive oil
Grated rind of 1 orange
2 eggs
75ml/5 tbsps orange juice
2 tsp chopped fresh root ginger, or to taste [I used stem ginger in syrup from a jar]
Pour the mixture into the prepared tin, then bake for about 50 mins or until firm to the touch [I covered it for the last 15 mins or so so it wouldn’t get too dark on top] or until firm to the touch
Leave the cake to cool in the tin, then turn out and wrap tightly in foil. Store at room temperature for 2-3 days before serving to allow the flavours of the cake to mature.
5 comments:
congratulations on getting your course approved! and what a great cake - did you have the patience to wait for it to sit for a few days?
Thank you! It did get to sit for one day but only from expediency - I knew I wouldn't have time to make it the night before, so did it on the Wednesday. The good thing about cutting it into squares though is that you always get to taste the little bits that hmmm, 'fall off'!
Congratulations! I'm so happy to hear that your hard work paid off. And I love the idea of sweets (or cake!) to start a new academic year. Or a new term. Or a new lecture. Sweets before sending an article to a journal? This concept is very promising!
First off~ Congrats!
Cake specifically~ I can't believe all the great honey recipes that have been posted recently. I've got some treasured finds and I've been trying to figure out what to do with them.
I love this recipe and am wondering if there is a reason for the specifying clear honey? Or do you think it would be ok to experiment?
Thanks!
Tracy - thank you, and I love the idea of cake to celebrate as many events as possible!
Tempered woman: I think that flavoured honeys would be lovely in this - do let me know if you try it. I think the recipe just specified clear honey rather than the thick gooey sort which I suppose would be harder to mix - or perhaps it has a different proportion of sweetness in it?
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