Honey Cake for Rosh Ha'Shana

During the past two weekday sessions the 5th and 6th graders from all 3 tracks participated in the first of 8 Hebrew elective sessions planned for the school year - one each month. This week, all the students participated in the cooking elective during which, in preparation for Rosh Ha'Shana, we prepared a simple honey cake recipe. Honey cake has been a traditional Rosh Ha'Shana treat for centuries, especially among Ashkenazi (European) Jewish communities. Symbolically, we begin the new year with a sweet taste in the mouth.  This particular recipe includes coffee (we used decaf). We prepared the recipe in 2 classrooms on Tuesday and in 3 classrooms on Wednesday. Below are some action photos taken during the half hour elective session:

Tammy, our Hebrew specialist, introducing the students to the Hebrew vocabulary

OK - this isn't an action photo, but if you're interested, here's the vocabulary we used

Back to the action - reisheet kol, leesh'bor et ha'beitza l'toch ha'ke'ara ha'g'dola  (first of all, break the egg into the big bowl)

Achshav, l'hoseef sookar l'toch ha'ke'ara ha'g'dola (Now, add sugar into the big bowl)

L'hoseef shemen... (add oil...)

...v'l'arbev et ha'kol b'yachad eem ha'kaf. (...and stir everything together with the spoon).

Achshav, l'hoseef et ha'keenamon... (Now, add the cinnamon...)

...v'ha'd'vash... (...and the honey...)

...v'ha'kemach. Az, l'arbev et ha'kol b'yachad eem ha'kaf. (...and the flour. Then, stir everything together with the spoon.) This cake has undergone strict inspection during its preparation and is definitely kosher for Rosh Ha'Shana!

Leesh'foch et ha'ta'a'rovet l'toch ha'tavneet. (Pour the batter into the baking pan.) Definitely a group project!

Use the spatula to scrape out every bit of that delicious batter!

Sof sof, zeh moochan la'afot ba'tanoor. (Finally, it's ready to bake in the oven.)

The resulting cakes were very tasty according to the students, who are, of course, the most important critics as far as we're concerned.We even baked a gluten-free version on Wednesday which turned out very well.