This Gluten-Free Honey Cake recipe is easy to throw together. Made with a base of almond flour, eggs, and honey, your guests that follow a gluten-free diet can eat it, and others at your table will be so busy enjoying this rich, moist cake that they won’t care what’s in it!
Honey cake is a Jewish holiday dessert recipe, traditionally served at Rosh Hashanah, or Jewish New Year. This cake, also referred to as lekach, is a symbol of the sweetness we hope for in the year to come. Coffee is traditionally used to flavor honey cake, and I use it in my recipe. I also use cinnamon, and a hint of cloves to spice up this Jewish holiday dessert.
My Gluten-Free Honey Cake tastes just like the lekach my Bubby made, when I used to visit her on Long Island. She was an amazing cook and an incredible business woman and is my favorite family role model. My Bubby’s lekach had chopped nuts in it. You may want to add half a cup of walnuts or pecans to this recipe if you like nuts. I left the nuts out as my boys prefer their desserts without chopped nuts.
Gluten-Free Honey Cake
Ingredients
- ½ cup boiling water
- 2 tablespoons organic decaf ground coffee (not instant)
- 2½ cups blanched almond flour (not almond meal)
- ½ teaspoon celtic sea salt
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- ¼ teaspoon ground cloves
- ½ cup agave nectar or honey
- ¼ cup grapeseed oil or palm shortening
- 2 large eggs
- ½ cup raisins
Instructions
- Pour ½ cup boiling water through a filter containing 2 tablespoons organic decaf coffee; discard grounds and cool liquid
- In a large bowl combine almond flour, salt, baking soda, cinnamon, and cloves
- In a separate bowl, combine agave, oil, eggs, and coffee
- Mix wet ingredients into dry, then stir in raisins
- Transfer batter to a greased and floured 9 inch springform pan
- Bake at 350° for 30-35 minutes
- Remove from oven and cool for 1 hour
- Serve
This gluten-free, pareve lekach is a fantastic dessert all year round. We don’t limit it to the Jewish holidays. My younger son likes Gluten-Free Honey Cake so much that I’ve been packing it for dessert in his school lunch.
Here are some of my paleo Jewish holiday recipes:
amy says
Could you use Brown Rice/Sweet Rice flour Blend with this recipe as a substitute for Almond Flour?
Joan says
Amy, I once read somewhere (chef Coppedge?) that rice flour used as a substitute one for one with wheat flour would produce a loaf useful only as a chock for a tire on a hill. So, if you decide to experiment with rice flours, add more liquid, and probably more protein, such as egg white, for structure to replace the gluten in wheat. Best look at other GF cookbooks for ratios. Elana has done a nice job of testing almond and coconut flours in her two cookbooks. Happy research!
Dean says
Made this for Valentines Day dinner, and WOW! What a moist, delicious cake. I used honey to make a heart shaped cake. My spouse loved it. Just the right spices. Will be making this many times over. Thank you.
Elana says
Dean, I’m so glad this had the WOW factor for you and your spouse!
Maya says
I just wanted to thank you for this recipe!!
I made it for my family this Rosh Hashannah, and it was a hit! The only changes I made was using honey instead of agave and chopped walnuts instead of raisins (I just don’t like raisins). I also made a double batch and had some left over for the rest of the week!
Elana says
Maya, you’re welcome! So glad you liked it!
Jasmin says
Does anyone have a frosting they recommend for this cake?
Thanks xx
Dean says
I was thinking Elana’s light cream cheese frosting would be good.
Elana says
Dean, great idea!
S says
I have a nut allergy so I am just wondering if you have tried this with brown rice flour? Would you need to add some starch to it too? Sorry I am new at this!
Elana says
Hi S, I haven’t tried this with any other flour. You might like to take a look at my Nut-Free Recipes page:
https://elanaspantry.com/diets/nut-free/
Enjoy!
Elana
Cristina says
I just wanted to thank you for this delicious recipe! I made it yesterday and my family and guests loved it.
I did, anyway, make a few changes to suit our tastes and wanted you to know it works out great. I added 1/4 tsp. nutmeg, 1/4 teaspoon ginger, used honey instead of agave and olive oil instead of grapeseed oil. And also I previously soaked the raisins in some sweet wine (any will do, even brandy, but I used Málaga Virgen which is actually made with raisins and is very much used here in Spain for cooking.
I have to say this is one of the best desserts I have ever eaten!! Thanks so much, Elana.
Elana says
Cristina, you’re welcome!
Rachel Sacks says
I just made this cake for Rosh Hashana (in a couple of days). I decided to stick with honey instead of agave, and I used 1/2 cup of mini-chocolate chips instead of the raisins and the nuts. I think my kids are more likely to enjoy the cake this way. I also cut down the cinnamon and left out the nutmeg. I was hoping to make it more like a pure honey cake flavour and not a spice cake (I know, chocolate chips are not pure honey, but I was worried the cake would feel like it was missing something, and since I had never tried this recipe before I thought better safe than sorry, so I added chocolate chips. I find that almost anything is eatable, at least by my kids, if I put chocolate in it). Anyway, it is delicious and super moist (even though I think I over cooked it a bit). Thank you Elana for another holiday favourite in the GF style! Shava Tova U’Metuka :)
Elana says
Rachel, so glad your kids liked this and Shana Tova!
Rochelle Eissenstat says
Shalom and best wishes for a new year full of blessings from Jerusalem!
I want to try this recipe with [1] honey replacing the agave syrup, and [2] separating the egg whites and beating them to add height to the cake. Do you think that would work? Or should I use the 2 whole eggs as the recipe is written but beat an additional 2 whites and fold them in?
Thank you!
Rochelle
Rachel Sacks says
Hi Rochelle,
since Rosh Hashana is almost here I thought I’d tell you what I think, even thought I’m not nearly as experienced as Elana. I would suggest to follow your first idea, or separating the eggs and beating the whites separately. I considered doing that tonight but I was too tired to add a step. I don’t think it could hurt anything and most likely it would make it more fluffy. Let me know how it turns out if you try it. I replaced the agave with honey and it’s delicious. I don’t think you should add extra egg whites because that would change the ratio of wet to dry ingredients. Shana Tova to you in Yerushalaiim :) ~Rachelli
Heather Rodriguez says
Hi Elana,
I made this recipe today and it is (soon to be was) fabulous! I halved the recipe and used honey instead of agave but kept the same amount of eggs. I also substituted molasses for the coffee per a previous reviewer and I used pumpkin pie spice, dried blueberries, and butter instead of grapeseed oil as that’s what I had on hand. It is so yummy. Thank you for the great recipe!
Elana says
Heather, glad to hear this was fabulous!
Heidi says
This turned out perfectly. It tasted like a coffee cake that I used to make with flour and 2 cups of sugar. Hard to believe it was almond flour and agave.
Elana says
Heidi, so glad to hear it turned out perfectly!