Red Wine Honey Cake With Plums Recipe (2024)

Wow!! This was my first-ever honey cake, and it will become a regular part of my repertoire. I fed it to my synagogue choir last night -- many of whom are great bakers with their own honey cake specialties -- and it was a HUGE hit. I didn't do the plums, but served it with some mascarpone whipped cream, which was lovely. I used a beautiful Merlot for the wine part -- definitely worth using the best wine, honey and olive oil you have.

Tastes great. I only used half a cup of sugar and agree with dropping all the sugar, given the honey and wine. I would like it less sweet. I also used whole wheat pastry flour, which was fine. The spices are great.

35 minutes into baking it fell! I live at 7,000 feet and perhaps I should have made adjustments for altitude. Oops

Made this cake on the fly with just a few adjustments and it turned out perfect! Here’s what I did: reduce olive oil to 1/2 cup; add 1/4 more red wine; add 1/2 cup whole milk; omit fresh ginger (because I didn’t have any on hand, but I think more ginger would overpower the wine). It baked in exactly 45 minutes at 350F in a 9x9 square glass dish, greased and floured. Easiest, tastiest cake I have ever made and I can’t wait to play on it with different flavors.Note: I bake at high altitude.

Before baking this cake I'd never met a honey cake I liked. Totally with Melissa Clark on this. Honeycakes are usually dry, leaden, tasteless, or some combination. This, however, is delicious: moist, with a really lovely, complex flavor thanks to the spices and red wine (and especially if you get a robust, spicy red). I've baked this several times now and it's always a HUGE hit.

Yum, great flavors. I buttered & sugared the pan, used scant 1/2 t salt, 2 large eggs (room temp), 1 cup olive oil, 3/4 cup sugar, and 3/4 cup honey. Didn't use fresh ginger (only ground), as I didn't have on hand. Didn't do fresh plums but good served with pears, yogurt, and honey. Baked about 44 minutes at 350.Next time I'd further reduce sugar to 1/2 cup (and keep the 3/4 cup honey). I'd also maybe increase the red wine to 1 cup so the flavor comes out more. Also add orange zest next time.

Edit to my last note: I also omitted the sugar! Yikes, that would have made it way too sweet.

Freezes beautifully! And was a hit at our table.

I made this twice and both times it was excellent. The only difference the second time was that I had cardamom, ground and fresh ginger -- but I didn't notice an appreciable difference in the taste. I used a 9" springform pan but it came out fine. It rose nicely and was very tender and moist.

I baked this for guests and while it was still warm slavered it with honey which soaked in beautifully. I served vanilla ice cream on the side instead of plums (wrong season).

Only if it’s a meat meal. If it’s fish/parve or a dairy meal, butter is not a problem.

This cake is my favorite ever. Moist and rich and deeply flavorful. And easy! AND mine was gluten free! I used Bob’s Red Mill 1:1 gluten free baking mix. (and 1/2 cup sugar.) Thank you Melissa. Happy New Year!

Passed on the plums and thyme. Served warm with vanilla ice cream. Delicious!!!

My plums are unripe but this cake is totally fine solo (although I will probably whip some cream to go with it). I used a mix of almond, oat, and brown rice flours and left out the sugar entirely. It is still very sweet! I cannot imagine what it would taste like with sugar too. Will definitely make again, maybe next time when my plums are in better shape.

First cake I ever made and it was so easy and it came out perfect

I made this cake on Thursday for Friday night’s Rosh Hashanah dinner. I also have a bad opinion of honey cakes. But it was delicious!! And all by itself!! I used all the sugar and hone called for in the recipe and was surprised that it wasn’t too sweet! I think the red wine helps to neutralize all the sugar. Next time I might reduce the sugar, but if I forget, that’ll be ok too. This is one of the tastiest cakes I’ve ever made!!! Thanks, Melissa!!

I have memories of a beloved great-aunt's brick-like honey cakes -- this one is nothing like that! Very easy to put together, and it came out of the bundt pan with great ease. So beautiful with seasonal plums and thyme from the garden. A new addition to the holiday and special occasion table.

Amazing! My 4 and 5 year old told me, ‘I don’t like this cake, I love it!’ I decreased sugar to 120grams, kept all other ingredients as described in the ratio. It was sweet, but not overly so. And definitely festival for Rosh Hashannah!

I love this cake and have made it many times. Today, because it will be for just my husband and me, I baked it in two 9 X 5 loaf pans. We'll eat one on Rosh Hashanah and freeze the other for later. Baking time was about 35-40 minutes.

Superb. Melissa's (name means "honey") signature dish? Batter mix looked dubious (thin), but the accompanying video was convincing enough, so I soldiered on, having followed the recipe to the letter, and using a scale with metric weight measurements (in grams), on the flour and sugar, rather than by volume (cups). Though I did go with volume measures (by tsp) on the spices, because there did not not seem to be an accurate correspondence when weighing out spices. Result: Best cake ever!

Has anybody made this with gluten-free flour? I’m wondering if I should add an extra egg yolk for moisture.

I make this every year, ever since MC wrote it up. It is spectacular. It is the ultimate cake for Rosh Hashanah. For the topping, I use vanilla ice cream on the warm cake. Oh momma. Good stuff, MC.

Subbed cardamom with cinamon and nutmeg a little extra cinnamon

does it need to be made in a bundt pan, i do not own one?

I heeded the advice to go to 1/2 cup and I actually used coconut sugar, plus full amount of honey from a neighbors beehive (amazing). Didn't have cardamom so subbed cloves. Smelled amazing cooking-- oh and I do all breads as muffin size so cooked 16 min. in a convection oven at 350 and so perfect and moist.

Made this Bundt pan