This sweet and tender plant-based Jewish honey cake from the Jewish Food Hero Kitchen is a healthy makeover of a classic Jewish dessert. Traditionally, honey cake is served during the Jewish holiday of Rosh Hashanah. This plant-based version is lightly sweetened with honey and made with real, whole ingredients – a dessert you can definitely feel good about baking and eating. About this Plant-Based Honey Cake The Jewish Food Hero plant-based honey cake is dairy-free, refined sugar-free, and oil-free. It has a very tender and scrumptious crumb, proving that you don’t need tons of butter or oil to make a delicious cake. Instead, this recipe includes applesauce, plant-based milk, and honey or date syrup – all of which gives the cake a wonderful texture. Local Raw Honey or Date Syrup If you are going to use honey, try and use local raw honey to get all the nutritional benefits and to support local agriculture. Harvesting honey can be ethical or exploitative for the bees, so check with your honey provider to learn more about their agricultural practices. Honey is not a vegan product, and if you want to make a traditional “honey cake” without honey, you can use natural date syrup. Date syrup is just as delicious as honey and contains lots of vitamins and minerals. To make this cake gluten-free: try substituting the whole-wheat flour with an all-purpose gluten-free flour blend. This recipe also includes pumpkin pie spice which rounds out the cake with some warm spice, as well as sweet currants for additional texture and chew. It can be served both slightly warm from the oven or cold from the fridge and pairs great with a cup of afternoon tea or coffee. Yield: Makes 1 9- and 1/2-inch bundt cake If you like this recipe, you’ll love the Jewish Food Hero Cookbook: 50 Simple Plant-Based Recipes for Your Holiday Meals. Check out our complete collection of Rosh Hashanah recipes for mains, sides, soups, desserts, and more inspiration for the holiday.

Directions

Prepare the Cake

1. Preheat oven to 350 Fahrenheit (180 Celsius) degrees.

2. In a large bowl, combine the flour, baking powder, baking soda, sea salt, and pumpkin pie spice; whisk to blend.

3. In a separate large bowl, whisk together the applesauce, non-dairy milk, honey, and vanilla. Add the dry to the wet ingredients and stir to combine. Don’t overmix.

4. Lightly oil the Bundt pan with Earth Balance. Pour the cake batter into prepared baking pan.

5. Bake in 350 Fahrenheit (180 Celsius) oven for 15 minutes. Reduce oven temperature to 325 Fahrenheit (160 Celsius) and bake for 45 more minutes. Top should spring back to the touch when finished.

6. Cool completely before inverting onto a plate.

Variations:

To make this cake gluten-free: try substituting the whole-wheat flour with an all-purpose gluten-free flour blend.

Prepare the Glaze

1. In a small saucepan, combine the honey with the cornstarch and whisk to remove any lumps. Bring to a simmer over medium heat while stirring constantly. Cook for a few minutes until it thickens. Remove from the heat to cool.

To Garnish

1. Either dust the cake lightly with powdered sugar or evenly drizzle the cake with the honey glaze.

About

If you like this recipe, you’ll love the Jewish Food Hero Cookbook: 50 Simple Plant-Based Recipes for Your Holiday Meals

Kenden Alfond is a psychotherapist who started Jewish Food Hero as a community service project to support personal and environmental health. When she was 12 years old, she chose to become a vegetarian (and now is 99% vegan). She has a BA from Brown University and an MA in counseling psychology. In 2005, she went to India as an American Jewish World Service (AJWS) volunteer and went on to live and work in Afghanistan, Democratic Republic of Congo, Switzerland and Cambodia working on various projects for the United Nations and NGOs. In 2013, she obtained a certificate in plant-based nutrition from Cornell University. She started Jewish Food Hero to get healthier food onto Jewish tables around the world. She is the author of The Jewish Food Hero Cookbook and Feeding Women of the Bible, Feeding Ourselves.

Recipe tags

Bundt cakes Classic Classic Jewish foods Dairy free Date honey Date syrup Gluten free option Honey cake Jewish holidays Kenden Alfond Lekach Low sugar Non-dairy desserts Pareve Parve Plant-based Rosh Hashana Rosh hashanah Rosh Hashanna Rosh Hashannah Roshhashana Silan Traditional Vegan Whole wheat

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Rachel Evgey

2 months ago

I followed all the instructions. The only change that I made, I substituted the maple syrup with date syrup.
the cake came perfect. And smells great.
I will prepare the glaze and plan to serve it in Rash Hashana meal

Jan Golden

1 year ago

This was a total fail. I followed the recipe exactly except that I substituted the whole wheat flour for almond flour because my husband is gluten-free (which everything I read says is quite acceptable as a substitution ratio to ratio). I also used applesauce made with only apples (North Coast brand), but that shouldn’t have mattered. When it was done, it didn’t even resemble a cake. The whole thing had collapsed in on itself, and I had to literally spoon it out of my bundt pan. It tasted good, so we ate it in bowls, but I’m glad I didn’t make it for company. Also, once the glaze cools, it becomes as hard as taffy. My spoon actually stuck to it in the pot. I had to reheat it and remelt it to get it back to glaze consistency. I just bought The Jewish Food Hero cookbook and am planning to make the Rosh Hashanah main dish recipe for the holiday. I sure hope that comes out better than this honey cake did.

Raquel Admin

Reply to Jan Golden

1 year ago

Hi Jan! I would not recommend substituting almond flour for whole wheat flour. Almond flour is very fatty and makes dishes chewy and softer, it has to be mixed with something else for a cake or the cake would turn into soup (which sounds like happened). Whole wheat flour absorbs liquids so the closest gluten-free option would be gluten-free 1:1 flour ratio. Glad to hear that it tasted good 🙂