Israeli Birthday Cake

Rabbi Deborah R. Prinz
Recipe by
Rabbi Deborah R. Prinz

Every birthday deserves a great cake. This iconic cocoa-based, richly iced Israeli birthday cake known as ugat yomledet (birthday cake) fits the bill. 

I've also prepared it to celebrate a family welcoming a new baby. Israeli-born Yigal Ben Aderet remembers his Turkish mother mixing up this "big deal," spongy, moist, chocolaty cake, sometimes frosted, sometimes with whipped cream. It was eaten with milk and/or dunked in milk. Yigal Rechtman recalls that the kibbutz class mothers responsible for treats were expert bakers who made a dark, unfrosted, and coarse round cake with a hole in the middle.

This recipe is modified from Al Hashulchan: A Gastronomic Monthly.

Ingredients
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CAKE
1 cup milk
4 large eggs, lightly beaten
12 ounces butter, melted
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
3 cups flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1⁄2 teaspoon salt
2 cups sugar
1 cup boiling water (optional: 1⁄4 cup instant coffee for additional flavor)
3⁄4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
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FROSTING
1⁄2 cup whipping cream (optional: add 1 tablespoon instant coffee)
4 1⁄2 ounces dark chocolate, crumbled
Sprinkles, for decoration (optional)
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Directions

For the cake

  1. Preheat the oven to 320ºF.
  2. Lightly grease a 10-inch springform pan or Bundt pan, or line a cake pan with parchment paper.
  3. Mix together the milk, eggs, melted butter, and vanilla.
  4. In a separate bowl, sift the flour with the baking powder, baking soda, and salt.
  5. Add the sugar  to the dry ingredients and mix.
  6. Fold the milk mixture slowly into the dry ingredients.
  7. Mix the boiling water with the cocoa and stir into the batter.
  8. Pour the batter into the prepared cake pan.
  9. Bake for 40-45 minutes. Check with a toothpick to see how firm it is; bake until it is firm inside. Cool completely in the pan.

For the frosting

  1. Warm the cream in a large heatproof bowl set over a pan of simmering water; do not let it boil.
  2. Add the chocolate and stir until melted. If you prefer to cover the entire the cake with frosting, double or triple the recipe.
  3. Once the frosting has cooled, apply it to the cake. Decorate with sprinkles.

 

Reprinted with permission from On the Chocolate Trail: A Delicious Adventure Connecting Jews, Religions, History, Travel, Rituals and Recipes to the Magic of Cacao (2nd Edition) by Rabbi Deborah R. Prinz.