Chocolate Honey Cake for a Sweet New Year

Rosh Hashana, the Jewish New Year, starts tonight, so I wanted to post one of my favorite recipes for Chocolate Honey Cake. This is a great and easy honey cake to make for a Sweet New Year! Recipe is adapted from Molly Katzen's The Enchanted Broccoli Forest, one of my favorite (and most dog-eared) cookbooks. I've been making this Chocolate Honey Cake for years, and it always turns out perfectly and tastes delicious.

The flavor will change with the honey and chocolate you use. I use local honey that is gathered from Claremont Canyon, right near my home, but any honey will work! Molly Katzen has a hint about baking with honey. Because baking cakes with honey can be tricky (it is much heavier and wetter than sugar), you have to take extra care that the texture of the finished product be light enough and has "enough crumb." To accomplish this, whip the honey separately at high speed with an electric mixer, until it is opaque (about two minutes). This incorporates air into the honey, increasing its volume, and drying it out some, so it can make a good cake. Please don't skip or skimp on this step.

CHOCOLATE HONEY CAKE

Ingredients
Nonstick spray for the pan
1/2 cup canola oil or softened butter
1 ounce dark chocolate (75-85% cacao)
3/4 cup light-colored honey
2 eggs
1 tsp Madagascar vanilla extract
1/4 cup unsweetened DARK cocoa
1 cup unbleached all-purpose flour
1/2 tsp salt
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1 cup chocolate chips or chunks 

Directions
Preheat oven to 350°F (325°F for glass pan). Spray medium-sized loaf pan with nonstick spray.
Melt butter and chocolate together over simmering water (double boiler or a saucepan over a saucepan). If using oil, melt chocolate alone, then remove from heat and stir in oil.
Place honey in medium-sized bowl, and beat at high speed with electric mixer for 2 minutes. Add eggs one at a time, beating well after each. Stir in vanilla.
Sift together dry ingredients in separate medium-small bowl. Beat melted chocolate mixture into honey-egg mixture. Fold in dry ingredients and chocolate chips, and stir until well combined. Spread into prepared pan.
Bake 25 to 30 minutes or until knife inserted into center comes out clean.
Cool before slicing.