Honey Chocolate Cake
with a Mocha Tehina Glaze
It’s Rosh Hashanah and the aroma of deeply caramelized honey cake is wafting through the air. It’s a smell of comfort, warmth, home and family. It’s love. But let’s be honest and say the quiet thing out loud: No one ever asks for a second piece of honey cake. No offense to your family recipe, but it’s dry, over-baked, burnt and the only reason we eat it is because that’s what we do on Rosh Hashanah. It’s the emotional connection we have with the scent that we love, not the taste of the cake. And that’s not OK. My Honey Chocolate Cake with a Mocha Tahini Glaze will fill your home with the familiar scent of Rosh Hashanah AND be eaten in seconds.
Ingredients
1 cup (240 ml), Boiling Water
1 ½ cups (210 grams), Flour
3 heaping Tbps (40 grams), Cocoa Powder
1 ½ tsp Baking Powder
½ tsp Baking Soda
½ tsp Salt
½ cup (120 grams), Light Brown Sugar
â…” cup (130 grams), White Sugar
â…” cup, (130 ml), Neutral Oil (Canola, Grape seed oil, etc)
â…” cup plus 1 Tbps, Honey
3 Large Eggs
1 tsp. Vanilla Extract
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Preheat your oven to 350 F / 180 C.
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Generously oil and line a loaf pan with parchment paper.
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The first step in achieving supreme chocolate domination is to “bloom” the cocoa to maximize and deepen the chocolate flavor. Sift the cocoa powder and add the cup of boiling water. Keep whisking until all lumps vanish! Set aside to cool.
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Sift the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt and whisk until combined.
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Combine the light brown sugar, white sugar, oil, eggs, honey, vanilla extract and bloomed cocoa powder. Note: Make sure the bloomed cocoa powder has cooled, it can be warm, but not super hot. Whisk thoroughly until all the ingredients are combined.
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Fold in â…“ of the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients. Once fully incorporated, and another â…“ and once that is incorporated, add the last â…“.
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Pour batter into the loaf pan (this cake will rise a lot, so make sure to leave at least a â…“ of space at the top. Any extra batter can be used in muffin tins, mini bundt cakes, etc. Though keep in mind the baking time for these smaller tins will be less. Bake until the cake is set. Generally 25-30 minutes, but it can certainly be more. Insert a toothpick or paring knife into the center of the cake to see if the crumb has set. If the toothpick is wet or has crumbs on it, your cake needs more time. Let the cake cool for about 15 minutes before removing from the pan. Slide a knife around the edges of the pan to loosen the cake if necessary. Let the cake completely cool before icing.
Tahini Mocha Glaze
2 tbsp, Raw Tahini
10 tbsp, Cold Dark Coffee
1 ½ tsp, Sifted Cocoa Powder
2-3 tbsp, Sifted Powdered Sugar
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Whisk all ingredients together. The measurements above might be off for you, since not all tahini and powdered sugar act the same. If it is too thick, add more liquid, if it is too loose, add more powdered sugar. You’ll know it’s perfect once you lift the whisk and see a straight stable ribbon of icing fall back into the bowl. If it drips, it’s too wet. If it’s gloppy, it’s too dry.
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Drizzle the glaze over the cooled cake. Once the icing has set, it is ready to serve.
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Important! Even though you're likely going to bake the cake the day before, make sure to drizzle the glaze on the day you serve it.