According to the Jewish calendar, the holy day of Rosh Hashanah, marking the start of the New Year, begins at sundown on Wednesday, Oct. 2. Jews often wish each other “Shana tova u’metukah” (“A good and sweet year”). To emphasize this tradition, it is customary to celebrate with a meal that features sweet ingredients, such as a brisket glazed with honey or brown sugar, accompanied by sweet potatoes or carrots.
And then there is the dessert. It is traditional to make a Honey Cake, which I used to make at the Martha’s Vineyard Hebrew Center with my friends Bari and Judie, using Judie Mopsik’s family recipe. Even though we have our own honey that is collected from my son-in-law’s bees, my family prefers to eat my Apple Bundt Cake, which I sweeten with both brown and white granulated sugar. The original apple cake recipe, which I tried to duplicate, was from my Great-Aunt Ida. It was lost many years ago, and the one I use today is the closest I have come to her recipe.
If you google “Jewish Apple Cake,” you will see pages and pages of variations. All have one thing in common: There is no milk or butter in the recipe. That is because traditional Jews don’t mix meat and dairy. I make my cake with olive oil (you can also use a neutral oil, such as canola or corn oil), and I use some freshly squeezed orange juice instead of milk. There are many thoughts on the best type of apple to use. I use McIntosh or Gala.
This cake can also be used in the meal to break the fast on Yom Kippur (the Day of Atonement), that follows 10 days after Rosh Hashanah.
Apple Bundt Cake
For the apples
6 small apples (I use McIntosh or Gala)
1 Tbsp. ground cinnamon
5 Tbsp. light brown sugar
For the cake
2¾ cups of all-purpose flour
1 Tbsp. double-acting baking powder
2 tsp. fine kosher salt
1 cup olive oil (or a neutral oil, such as canola or corn oil)
1 cup granulated sugar
¼ cup freshly squeezed orange juice (you can use commercial O.J.)
2½ tsp. pure vanilla extract
4 large eggs, beaten
Heat oven to 350°F. Lightly grease a 10-inch bundt pan or tube pan. Peel, core, and chop apples into 1-inch chunks, and toss with cinnamon and brown sugar. Set aside.
In a large mixing bowl, stir together flour, baking powder, and salt. In a medium-size mixing bowl, whisk together oil, granulated sugar, orange juice, vanilla, and eggs. Pour wet ingredients into the dry ones, and scrape with a rubber spatula to incorporate until smooth.
Pour half the batter into the prepared pan. Spread half the apple chunks and their juice over the batter. Pour the remaining batter over the apples, and place the rest of the apples on top. Bake for one hour, or until a cake tester comes out clean.
Cool until the cake is still warm (about a half-hour), and then unmold onto a platter. You can keep it covered in foil on the counter for two or three days. It freezes well.
I would like to wish all my readers a good and sweet year.
