Jewish holidays rather famously tend to revolve around ceremonial foods, or simanim, and Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish new year, is no exception. We eat pomegranate seeds so that we may be fruitful, the head of a fish so we may be mindful, and honey-dipped apples so that our year ahead will be a sweet one. Apple cake is one of the staple dishes of Rosh Hashanah, and I’ve often thought that, while quite good, it could be even better, so I set out to improve it with a sweet secret weapon—toffee sauce.
After a religiously ambiguous upbringing, I first began observing Rosh Hashanah when I was 30 years old. At the time, I found an abundance of apple cake on the menus of the Rosh Hashanah meals I ate with my friends’ families, and, while I never found a bad version, per se, I noticed that the texture was often simultaneously moist in spots and, bafflingly, too dry in others—a sad result of overbaking to compensate for the water content in the apples. There also wasn’t a ton going on in terms of flavor beyond the subtly tart apples and a hint of cinnamon. The versions I tried seemed to be calling out for some kind of frosting or, better yet, a buttery sauce to permeate the warm cake and add a rich, fudgy texture to each bite.
While musing on how to improve this classic while still honoring it, I looked to some of my favorite cakes for inspiration. Sticky toffee pudding is one of those desserts that I’ll order every time I get the chance, and with its rich date flavor and velvety toffee sauce, I saw it as the dessert that apple cake could become with just a little tweaking. So I set out to combine the best elements of both desserts in a warm, luscious union, just in time for the upcoming holiday.
To make this apple sticky toffee pudding, I begin by prepping a half dozen Honeycrisp apples—peeling, coring, and dicing—before cooking them briefly on the stove with butter, brown sugar, and cinnamon until the apples are glossy and tender but not mushy. They cook down and soften further in the cake, so this initial sauté is mostly about kick-starting the softening process so the textures harmonize within the cake. While the apples are cooking, I soak a cup of chopped dates in some warm coffee, plumping them up and adding a bitter note to balance the sweetness of the apples.
Once the softened apples and dates have been incorporated into the cake batter and placed in the oven, I prepare the toffee sauce, a glorious combination of butter, cream, and brown sugar that’s also great on ice cream sundaes or as a dip for apple slices. After cooling the cake in the pan for a few minutes, it’s just a matter of inverting it onto a platter and brushing it with the warm toffee sauce, which soaks into the cake, amping up the sweet, caramelized flavor. I pile some of the cooked apples on top with a scoop of vanilla ice cream to provide some contrast to the warm cake. Any leftovers can be revived with a few brushings of reheated toffee sauce for a perfect breakfast with a big cup of coffee.
Without my own family traditions to lean on, I’ve had to shape what Jewish holidays look like for our family, and that’s meant a fair bit of this kind of riffing. I’m not bound to please the elders by replicating their dishes—instead, I can use tradition as a launchpad for creativity. I like to think of it as honoring the past while creating new classics, both for my own family and for anyone who uses my recipes. This might not be your bubbe’s apple cake, but it’s still a pretty sweet way to welcome in the new year.
