Lekach ~ Spiced Honey Ring Cake

It's that time of the year when my house is always filled with the divine smell of baked goodies every other day. Yes, It's Christmas time. Whole world is in festive mood now, Christmas is just around the corner. Don't know why I love to try out traditional baking recipes at home during this time. This is one such experiment I did yesterday. I got this recipe from my old collection of Baking recipe book. It is a honey cake which is known as Lekach/lekakh.
Lekach, or Jewish honey cake, is sweetened by honey, no sugar. It is one of the symbolically significant foods traditionally eaten by Ashkenazi Jews at the Jewish holiday of Rosh Hashanah, in hopes of ensuring a sweet New Year. Recipes vary widely. Lekach is usually a dense, loaf-shaped cake, but some versions are similar to sponge cake or pound cake, with the addition of honey and spices, sometimes with coffee or tea for coloring. [Info.: Wikipedia]

I tried the version of honey cake with spices, like cinnamon, nutmeg, caradmom and cloves. It's a very easy recipe and healthy too. Cake is sweetened by honey and no sugar. But I used half honey and half jaggery powder and added a little date syrup too for flavour. Very flavourful, soft and moist cake which is perfect with a hot cup of tea/coffee.

You Need :

For the cake:
Honey : 1/2 cup
Unsalted butter : 1/2 cup
Jaggery powder : 1/2 cup [can substitute with brown sugar]
All-purpose Flour : 1 cup
Whole-wheat Flour : 1 cup
Cocoa Powder : 2 tblsp.
Rum extract : 1 tsp.
Eggs : 2, slightly beaten
Baking Powder : 1 tblsp.
Baking Soda : 1/2 tsp.
Ground Cinnamon : 2 tsp.
Ground Nutmeg : 1/2 tsp.
Ground Cardamom : 1/2 tsp.
Ground Cloves : 1/4 tsp.
Raisins : 1/3 cup
Mixed nuts(almonds or walnuts) : 1/2 cup
Sugar Glaze :
Powdered Sugar : 2/3 cup
Lemon extract : 1/2 tsp.
Milk : 2-3 tblsp. as needed
Raisins and whole almonds for decoration
Lemon rind(grated) : 1 tsp. for decoration

How To :

Preheat oven to 180 degree C or 350 degreeF. Grease your baking tray. I used a bundt pan, a loaf or a round baking pan can be used too.
In a medium saucepan, combine honey, butter and jaggery powder. Stir over low heat until butter melts. Pour into a mixing bowl and let it cool in room temperature. When cold, add in beaten eggs and rum extract. Stir to combine. In another bowl, blend both the flours, cocoa powder, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, cardamom, cloves and nutmeg powder. Add this dry ingredients mixture or flour mixture into honey mixture little at a time and combine. Finally, stir in raisins and nuts. Pour into prepared baking pan.
Bake for 45-50 minutes or until a wooden pick inserted into the center of the cake, comes out clean. Cool on wire rack. Remove from pan and place on a serving plate.
To make icing, In a small bowl, blend powdered sugar, lemon extract and enough milk to make a smooth drizzing icing. Spoon icing over the cake. Decorate with more raisins, almonds and grated lemon rind extra lemony flavour.