Elana's Pantry

New York Times Bestselling author Elana Amsterdam founded Elana’s Pantry, the go-to website for easy, healthy, grain-free, Paleo recipes, in 2006

Paleo Honey Cake

Paleo Honey Cake

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This easy Paleo Honey Cake recipe is fan-favorite made with healthy low-carb almond flour. I love turning classic desserts into wholesome gluten-free versions that everyone can eat.

What is Honey Cake?

Honey Cake, a traditional Jewish dessert eaten during Rosh Hashanah, is referred to as Lebkuchen in Yiddish. I love serving it at our High Holiday table whether for Rosh Hashanah or Yom Kippur break fast. We’ve been breaking our fast with warming, comforting foods since my Ayurvedic training in the early 1990’s. This lightly sweetened apple dessert, spiced with cinnamon fits that bill perfectly.

What is Rosh Hashanah?

Rosh Hashanah is the Jewish New Year and the start of the High Holidays for Jews. Traditionally, we eat honey during this time as the ritual sets the tone for a sweet year to come. The custom of dipping apples in honey at the Rosh Hashanah meal has been one of the boys’ favorite since they were very little!

SCD Paleo Honey Cake

Most honey cake recipes include coffee. I left it out of this one to simplify the recipe and make it even easier. My husband, who has no dietary restrictions, loves this cake! As you can see from the photo above, a large piece has been devoured. One of our friends said this was the best honey cake she had ever eaten, gluten-free or not!

Print Recipe
Paleo Honey Cake
Serves:12
Ingredients
Instructions
  1. In a large bowl, combine almond flour, salt, baking soda, cinnamon, and cloves
  2. In a separate bowl, combine honey, shortening, and eggs
  3. Mix wet ingredients into dry, then stir in raisins
  4. Grease and flour an 8 inch springform pan
  5. Bake at 350°F for 30-35 minutes
  6. Remove from oven and cool for 1 hour
  7. Serve

Gluten-Free Rosh Hashanah Dessert Recipes

Here are some additional paleo dessert recipes for you!

Your Favorite Rosh Hashanah Recipes?

What are your favorite recipes for Rosh Hashanah? Are they family traditions that have been passed down from your Bubby? Or are they new dishes that you’ve adopted to create your own tradition?

This recipe is an oldie but goodie from the archives. I first published it in 2012.

Comments

  1. Do I have to use a spring form pan? Can I use mini loaf pan if grease and flour? Want to make smaller servings for Christmas eve tea. Thank you.

    Reply

    • Cris, I haven’t tried that so not sure. If you do experiment I hope you’ll stop back by and let us know how it turned out :-)

      Reply

  3. This looks delicious. I have used my mother’s recipe in the past by just substituting gluten free flour. But I like the idea of this paleo version. I may need to add the coffee tho!

    Reply

  4. I love this…I have made it every year for the last 4 years, but now my daughter can’t have honey! :(
    Any thoughts on what to sub? No agave either.

    Reply

  6. We love this recipe – my 2 daughters and I are each making it at our respective homes and sharing with our communities. Was wondering what you thought about adding chocolate chips…..

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  8. Hi Elana,
    Thank you for all the wonderful recipes!
    May this New Year be sweet, healthy and happy. L’shanah Tovah! Happy Rosh Hashanah!

    Reply

  10. Oh, this really looks good. How long does it keep? I’d love to make it 2 to 3 days ahead. Should it be kept refrigerated or at room temp? Thanks!

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  11. Have made this recipe now three times and every time EVERYONE has loved it. My friends was licking up the remnants from the dish! Absolute win!

    Reply

  12. I just made this cake using coconut oil as a substitute and took it out the oven. A knife comes out clean but the middle is sunken. Can anyone advise what I may have done wrong? Considered putting it back in the oven but didn’t want it to dry out or burn.

    Reply

    • Sammy, thanks for your comment! If you make this cake with the ingredients called for in the recipe it will turn out perfectly :-)

      Reply

  13. Hi,
    Would love to make this for my gluten intolerant husband for Rosh Hashanah. Just one question: When do you remove it from the pan after it’s out of the oven. Thanks Joyce

    Reply

  14. Oh my, I just made this and it is so delicious!!! Literally smelled so good that I had to risk burning my tongue and try it right out of the over. Yummy! Can wait to make it more often now.

    Reply

  16. I made this today, substituted shortening with coconut oil and it came out absolutely delicious, SO good my whole family loved it, thank you so much for sharing your awesomeness ;D

    Reply

    • Thank for your comment- great to hear that it came out perfect with coconut oil. I live in Peru, and we have plenty of good, organic coconut oil, but no palm shortening :) I will try baking it this weekend. Can´t wait :)

      Reply

  17. I made this for Rosh Hashanah and it was a huge hit! It tasted delicious and moist. My family kept going back to it over the traditional one sitting next to it! Thank you for your recipes!!

    Reply

  18. I’ve made several of your honey cakes over the past 2 weeks, for the holidays. I substituted pieces of apples instead of raisins. The cakes came out great! My biggest pleasure came from coworkers gobbling it up in no time at our office potluck. Usually my healthy deserts sit while the typical deserts get gobbled up. A wonderful change.

    I want to thank you for your wonderful books & online recipes. I have recommended your books & website to many people looking for support in changing their health. You are a blessing to me & to so many. Please keep it going.

    Chag Sameach.

    Reply

  19. I made this for Rosh Hashanah. It rose beautifully in the pan but sank just a bit when it cooled. I baked it for 37 minutes at which point it tested done using the pick method. We ate it the day it was baked and the center was more moist than I expected it to be which made me think it was under baked even though it tested done. However, the next day the moisture had distributed more evenly. This was my first foray into baking with almond flour (I used Honeyville) and I am wondering about what level of moistness I should expect from this (and other almond flour) recipe and if there is a better indicator of doneness than a clean pick.

    It is a delicious cake and I have passed the recipe along to others who are GF/paleo.

    Reply

  22. This is another fabulous recipe. I’ve just made it and couldn’t wait for it to cool down. It’s yummy and not too sweet. Thanks Elana!

    Reply

  23. Would I be able to substitute the eggs with the flaxseed and water mixture for this recipe? I would love to try this honey cake recipe for my son. Thank you!

    Reply

  24. I made this cake several times, but each time, the cake sank in the middle and did not set properly. Did anyone else have this problem? Next time I am going to cover the edges and cook it a little longer and see how it does.

    Reply

  26. I have been wanting to try this recipe and this morning I did. but I changed things around a little to accommodate what I had on hand. The biggest change was that I made this into muffins. I REALLY wanted apple muffins! So, I added chopped apples with the raisins. I also used butter instead of shortening, because that is what I have (and to be honest, I LOVE butter) I also used Trader Joe’s Almond Meal even though I know it is no the same thing as blanched almond flour. It’s what I had in my pantry and it’s much less expensive than Honeyville. It worked beautifully! The muffins were fantastic for a lazy Sunday brunch!

    This will now be a my go-to muffin recipe – I can see added all manner of fruits and nuts to it. Thanks Elana!

    Reply

  32. I have just baked the Paleo Honey Cake but with the following changes, as almond flour is quite hard to obtain in Australia I used 2 cups of fine almond meal with 1/2 cup of gluten free SR Flour, 1/4 cup 100% Grapeseed oil in place of the palm oil shortening and egg replacer in place of eggs.
    The cake turned out really, really nice and quite moist. Thank you for your recipes I enjoy each posting.

    Reply

  33. Delicious hot out of the oven! Not too sweet. I used the vegan shortening recommended and didn’t melt it because the recipe did not say to. I had a hard time getting the shortening to blend in smoothly – I used a handheld electric mixer and still was left with little bits of white shortening…. they blended a little better when I mixed (by hand) the wet to the dry ingredients. At 35 minutes at 350 the center was not at all set. I wrapped foil around the pan to keep the edges from burning and baked for probably another 30 minutes. The center was set but the edges a little dry. Still very good. A keeper recipe for sure. Thanks Elena.

    Reply

  34. We served your delish paleo honey cakes at our oneg. The raisins were soaked in pomeg/blueberry juice. The leftovers went into the kiddos lunchboxes. Beyond moist and so yummy. Thanks for sharing such sweetness xxx

    Reply

  36. I made your older recipe that includes coffee for Rosh Hashanah this year, and it was amazing. I gave some to my mother in law as a gift, baked in a heart shape paper case, along with some sun dried tomato crackers – inspired from your fig crackers. Thanks so much for the wonderful recipes. Shana Tova from Jerusalem x

    Reply

  37. Over-the-top good! I think this may be my favorite treat yet. No one else in the family is aware that I made it- I don’t want to share. :)

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  38. Made this after I got home from work yesterday and OMG… it is so wonderful.. didn’t have palm shortening, so also used coconut oil.. found I needed to bake about 15 minutes longer, but it came out absolutely beautiful!!

    Taste & texture is even better than the traditional and it rose so well, you’d never know it wasn’t made with flour..

    Will be making again and again.. so easy & good!!

    Reply

  39. I am making this right now and it smells wonderful! It was a breeze to whip up. However, I used coconut oil because I didn’t have palm shortening, and now I’m thinking that was a mistake. It isn’t cooking through. :( Does anybody know what to use in place of the palm shortening?

    Reply

    • I made this yesterday, using melted butter instead of palm oil shortening. It baked in 30mins. It’s delicious. My kids love it, they’ve taken big wedges of it to school in their lunchboxes.

      Reply

  40. Looks super yummy (as do all your recipes) – think it’s possible to do without eggs? My kids are allergic to them. :-( Thanks, LG

    Reply

  41. I know Lebkichen to be a glazed spice cookie, so this cake version is a fun new way to try it! I am going to test it out for New Year’s. It is a family tradition to put a whole almond in the batter of the New Year dessert, and whoever gets the almond gets good luck for the year!

    Reply

  43. I will totally make this for the cake in a pumpkin trifle (Paleo) I am planning on making for Fall gatherings and Thanksgiving. This looks utterly incredible! I have been searching for the perfect gluten free cake for this trifle and my search is over. Thanks Elana!

    Reply

  44. Sorry – should have consulted the FAQ’s on substituting coconut flour for almond. I should be able to make almond flour in the Vita-mixer?

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  45. Looks very tasty! I might try to make a variation using coocnut flour. One of my all time favorite flours!

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  47. I want to make this right away! I made your banana chocolate chip cake with vegan chocolate frosting for my daughter’s birthday earlier this month and everyone loved it. Thanks for sharing such easy and delicious recipes.

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  53. Hello from the Netherlands,
    I am very happy with this website as in Holland we are not so very familiar with paleo recepies.
    So please can you tell me what does vegan palm oil shortening do in the backingproces or where does it stand for?

    grtz. Suzan

    Reply

    • Susan, I believe this is the “fat” part.

      I’m in the UK, and wondering what I could put in instead of it, because I don’t know where to get palm oil from, but I *think* you could substitute coconut oil, or maybe even butter..?

      I think I will try using coconut oil. I also think I might sub some of the cinnamon for nutmeg and ginger for a really nice rounded spice taste.

      Reply

      • I use the same product as Elana, I think, and it’s really just a basic non-hydrogenated vegetable oil shortening. It’s a reasonable substitute for butter for those who don’t eat dairy.

        Reply

  54. Does anyone know how to make this wonderful recipe with the addition of the coffee? I think it would be well worth the extra steps and time! Thank you, Elana, for another gem!

    Reply

  55. I was just thinking I needed to find a recipe for honey cake! I meant to make one for this years holiday but got distracted. Next year!

    Reply

  56. Sounds wonderful … just wondering though, as we do not eat raisins, could I substitute chopped dates instead? Would this work as well?

    Reply

    • Robyn, I have substituted different dried fruits is Elana’s other Honey Cake recipe and they turned out wonderful. The different dried fruits impart a slight difference in flavor to the cake, so just think about weather or not the coffee, cinnamon, and cloves would be something you would pair with that dried fruit and change the spicing to suit the fruit.

      Reply

  57. Thank you for being so willing to share your recipes. My husband has gluten intolerance and his diet is rigid to extreme as he celiac ataxia n celiac cardiomyopathy. So when a tested n tried recipe is shared I truly appreciate it.

    Reply

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