This cake is sticky, sweet, dense, and decadent. It’s everything that you’d expect in an authentic honey cake - but vegan!
Honey cake is a favourite dessert in my family. For me, this particular cake is nostalgic and brings me back to holiday celebrations at my grandparents’ house throughout my childhood. Honey Cake is usually served for Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year, which takes place around this time of year. I recently adapted a traditional honey cake recipe that I used to make before going vegan. The result was a rich and decadent cake, which both my vegan and non-vegan family members absolutely loved.
I served my honey cake at a small, socially distanced gathering in my grandmother’s backyard the other day. Even my grandmother, who is not vegan, enjoyed it and said that it was delicious and tasted the same as regular honey cake! My dad who is vegan and a tough critic was a huge fan of this cake too. It’s safe to say that the flavour and texture of this honey cake are authentic, and approved by my family!
This Honey Cake with cinnamon & walnuts is sticky, sweet, dense, and decadent. It’s everything that you’d expect in an authentic honey cake - but vegan!
Choosing bee-free sweeteners
The significance of consuming honey in celebration of Rosh Hashanah is that it represents wishes for a sweet new year. Honey has been used traditionally because, in biblical times, honey was the most commonly used sweetener. Sweet festive dishes typically could include round raisin challah (egg bread) dipped in honey, apple slices with honey, honey-glazed carrots, and honey cake. In my family, we like to eat our apples with maple syrup or date syrup as easy and accessible vegan alternatives to honey!
The question of whether honey is considered to be vegan has been a common source of debate as some argue that locally-produced honey from a small beekeeper is ethical to eat. My position is that it is difficult to conclude that a product is ethical based on it being produced locally, especially if it’s something like honey that is made by the bees for the benefit of their colony. Honey is one of the primary nutrition sources for bees. They produce honey from the nectar that they collect from flowering plants to store food for the winter months when there are fewer flowers around to gather nectar from.
The Vegan Society sums it up well by explaining that, “honey is made by bees for bees, and their health can be sacrificed when it is harvested by humans. Importantly, harvesting honey does not correlate with The Vegan Society’s definition of veganism, which seeks to exclude not just cruelty, but exploitation.” In commercial honey production, the queen bee can be artificially inseminated and have her wings removed to prevent her from leaving the hive and colonizing a different one. You can read more about this topic in this article from LIVEKINDLY.
This Honey Cake with cinnamon & walnuts is sticky, sweet, dense, and decadent. It’s everything that you’d expect in an authentic honey cake - but vegan!
In order to make this cake vegan, I opted for a vegan liquid sweetener instead of honey. The cake that I photographed for this recipe post was made with date syrup. You could also choose to use maple syrup. I found that the difference between using the two sweeteners is that the date syrup will result in a darker colour and denser cake, while maple syrup gives you a lighter colour and a cake that is the slightest bit fluffier.
I removed the eggs and replaced them with flax “eggs” which is an easy swap for most baking. I also cut down on the sugar and used spelt flour which I always love using for baked goods, but you could also use regular flour or gluten-free flour (see my notes below). This recipe has less oil than most honey cakes. I suggest using a neutral oil that’s safe for high temperatures like 100% pure avocado or sunflower oil.
A note on making this cake gluten-free:
I’ve had success using gluten-free flour, all-purpose flour and spelt flour with this recipe. When it comes to gluten-free flours my preference is to use 1-to-1 gluten-free baking flours as there is no guesswork involved. I always try to avoid gluten-free flour mixes that contain conventional potato and corn starch because I am wary about using non-organic potato and corn since these are often grown with pesticides and are commonly genetically modified. I have tested out gluten-free flours over the years and I have found the best results with Bob’s Red Mill Gluten Free 1-to-1 Baking Flour.
Vegan Honey Cake with cinnamon & walnuts (gluten-free option)
INGREDIENTS (makes 8 servings)
Wet ingredients:
1/4 cup ground flaxseed + 3/4 cup filtered water
3/4 cup organic cane sugar (or date sugar)
1/2 cup neutral oil, safe for high temperatures like 100% pure avocado oil
1 cup liquid sweetener - date syrup or maple syrup
1 teaspoon orange or lemon zest
1 cup orange juice
Dry ingredients:
2 & 1/2 cups spelt flour (you can also use regular flour or gluten-free flour - see my note above)
1 tablespoon baking powder (aluminum-free)
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon Celyon cinnamon
Fold-in Ingredients:
1 cup walnuts, chopped
INSTRUCTIONS
Preheat your oven to 350°F. Prepare a 9" springform pan or cake pan by greasing the bottom and sides. You may also choose to line sides with nbleached parchment paper to make removing the cake easier.
In a large mixing bowl or in the bowl of a stand mixer combine 1/4 cup ground flax seeds and 3/4 cup filtered water. It will take about 10 minutes to thicken and create a "flax egg".
In a medium mixing bowl sift all of the dry ingredients together: flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and cinnamon. I like to use a whisk to quickly mix everything together.
Add the sugar, oil, and liquid sweetener (date syrup or maple syrup) to the flax mixture in your large mixing bowl or bowl stand mixer. Beat at high speed for about 5 minutes, until the mixture is light. Next, add in the lemon or orange rind.
Alternate adding small portions of the orange juice and dry mixture to the wet mixture. Mix just until the batter is smooth.
Fold in the chopped walnuts, being careful not to overmix.
Add the batter to your prepared baking pan or dish. Bake at 350°F for about 45-50 minutes. Turn the temperature down to 325°F and bake for an additional 10 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the centre comes out clean. Keep an eye on the cake to ensure that it doesn’t burn.
Did you make this recipe?
Tag @avraepstein on Instagram and hashtag it #lovewildlivefree!
If you make this recipe let me know what you think by leaving a comment! I'd love to see if you share this recipe on socials - tag me when you share on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter so that I can see and share your creations. Sharing my content really helps me and I am truly grateful for any support!
Much love,
Avra
#lovewildlivefree
Save my Recipe on Pinterest!
This is not a sponsored post. The Amazon links provided are affiliate links, which means that if you visit Amazon through these links and purchase product, I’ll get a commission. Don’t worry – the price doesn't increase if you use my link - you'll receive a discount while helping to support the free content that I share.
To work with Avra and Love Wild Live Free on collaborations, reviews, and sponsored posts please get in touch on the Contact page!