Pom Koec - Belgian Coffee Cake

From the kitchen of One Perfect Bite...Pom Koec is a Belgian coffee cake that is similar to, but a bit drier than the honey cake that is traditionally served for Rosh Hashanah. The recipe I use comes from the Belgian Recipe Page and should be credited to Margaret Buytaert who brought it with her from Kieldrecht, Belgium. There are no tricks here. A child can make this cake. I changed the spicing a bit, replacing the cloves with ginger and adding a 1/4 teaspoon nutmeg and the zest of an orange to the batter. I also found the cake required more time to cook than is stated in the recipe. That may be a vagary of my oven, but I'd suggest you use 40 to 45 minutes as the estimated baking time. My changes to the recipe appear in red. The cake improves with aging, so it's best to bake it a day before you plan to serve it. I'd like to wish all who will be observing Rosh Hashanah this weekend "L'shana tova tikatevu." May your new year be sweet and spent in the company of family and friends.

Pom Koec - Belgian Coffee Cake...from the kitchen of One Perfect Bite

Ingredients:

3 cups flour

1/2 cup sugar

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon ground ginger

1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg

1 teaspoon freshly grated orange zest

1 teaspoon salt

1 cup honey

1 cup hot coffee

1 large egg

1/3 cup corn oil

Directions:

1) Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees.

2) Grease a 9 x 4 -inch loaf pan. Cut a piece of wax paper or parchment to fit bottom of pan. Lightly grease paper. Set aside.

3) Mix dry ingredients (flour, sugar, baking soda, cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, orange zest and salt) in a bowl to combine.

4) In a separate bowl, quickly mix honey, coffee, egg and oil.

5) Quickly fold in dry ingredients - mixing just enough to combine without toughening cake batter.

6) Fold into pan and bake for 30 minutes (my cake took 45 minutes to bake). Use a tooth pick to see if center is done.

7) Cool on wire rack for 10 minutes. Invert pan and turn cake onto a serving plate. Remove paper. Serve warm with butter, thinly sliced. Yield: 10 to 12 servings.

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