Some New Yearish thoughts

Today I began my baking for Rosh HaShanah.

My daughter had made us an excellent honey cake for Thanksgiving which made me think fondly about my mother's honey cake. There were cakes that my mother always had on hand in the freezer in case of unexpected company. Honey cake was one of them.  In case you were wondering about the other cakes that were nearly always on hand in the freezer, there were usually a few loaves of cranberry bread, several rectangles of a brownie adjacent chocolate syrup cake studded with walnuts, some mandelbrot, and a few bags of ruggelach. My mother could put together a decent dessert platter at a moment's notice.

My mother was a big believer of serving a platter of small desserts made up of the sorts of goodies that were in the freezer accompanied by a big cake that would be cut up at the table with a great deal of ceremony and served with tea. The big cake was often a chiffon cake. My favorite was her walnut chiffon cake. The walnuts combined with the chiffon base were just flavor alchemy of the best kind. My mother preferred to make the cake with a hefty addition of shaved chocolate which to my mind diluted the excellence of the walnuts.

But that was perhaps too long of a digression. I found the honey cake I
was looking for in the old Kehillath Israel of Brookline cookbook.

 Although (Mrs. Joseph) Roxy A. Paley was just a name to me when I was a little kid studying my mother's cookbooks. I now am very fond of several of Roxy's descendants. I decided to be a responsible baker and let my eggs come up to room temperature before I started baking.

While the eggs were warming up I made a plum tart. This is not the classic German plum tart made with a muerbe-teig crust and Damson plums that reminds me of my dear friend Herta and all of the daughters of proper German Jewish ladies who all make plum tart for Rosh HaShanah with the same religious intensity that they recite Kol-Nidre. This is my take on that tart, inspired by it but not exactly that.

 I made up a crust made with brown sugar and some bulgur wheat for texture along with the white flour, coconut oil for the fat, and lots of spices for flavor. I pressed the crust into a 9x13 pan and let it par bake while I made a custard with more of the coconut oil, flour to thicken, sugar, orange juice, and lots of fresh ginger and freshly squeezed lemon juice and some orange juice from the store. After the mixture came to a boil I strained it over the crust and let it bake while I sliced up a dozen plums and let them macerate in a mixture of sugar, flour, and bourbon. Once all the plums were sliced I arranged them in the pan ( not as elegantly as my friend Herta would have) and then baked until the mixture was done.

 While the plum tart was in the oven I started on the honey cake. Instead of using strong instant coffee, I brewed a cup of strong coffee made with ground cardamom. I also took Roxie Paley's spices as suggestions.

I decided to bake the cake in a big 13x18 jellyroll pan. I thought that if I cut the cake into strips and put filling between the strips the cake would look pretty and I wouldn't have to deal with the less than  gracious thing of serving half a round cake that makes it clear to the guests at that meal that they are on the B-list of guests as opposed to being on the A-list.

Cutting the cake up into strips left some cake over. I agree with my mother's penciled comments. It is a very good honey cake.

I made a filling out of a mixture of apple butter, and date butter, a bit of cocoa, and some silan. I cut the cake into four-inch strips and stacked the cake strips and filling.

I may top the cake with something pretty before I serve it. I have a couple of days before I decide how to make the cake look cute. There may be some additional desserts if I have time. Tomorrow is challah baking day and the main dishes will be cooked on Monday.

Earlier today I saw this gentleman on the corner of Amsterdam and 96th Street. 

I had some serious theological issues with his sign, especially at this season of repentance.

This year (actually, year and a half) HAS been pretty terrible but I don't think that the end is near. The cool ray of light was not Divine light but most likely some schmutz on my lens.