Makes 2 9-by-5-inch loaves

Skill level: beginner

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Hands on: 30 minutes

Total time: 9 1/2 hours (includes refrigerating)

Dense and loaf-like, this aromatic honey cake is not too sweet, keeps for weeks in the refrigerator and is a close cousin to the French pain d'épices. The recipe comes from Ester Kramer, who remembers her mother lining their farmhouse's windowsills with batter-filled pans to chill overnight. Sliced thinly, this cake is the traditional dessert after a rich Rosh Hashanah meal when its honey is an auspice to a sweet new year. Our family likes to break the Yom Kippur fast with it as well, and we serve it with tea or coffee anytime.

I have made just a few changes to Mrs. Kramer's recipe (but feel free to restore it to its milder roots) — coffee instead of water, dark brown sugar for white granulated sugar, and salt for flavor. Chopped crystallized ginger adds a rich, vibrant spiciness but it is not tradition and can be omitted. If you prefer a more pungent spiciness, you could easily double the spice quantities given, or add allspice, mace, nutmeg, anise, or whatever you prefer.

Note: Some people omit the nuts in this recipe when making this cake for Rosh Hashanah because they refrain from eating nuts during this holiday. According to Professor Daniel Spencer, the Hebrew word for nut, egoz, is numerically similarity to the Hebrew word for sin, chait when spelled without the initial alef as was "common in early rabbinic manuscripts" and in later German manuscripts. Another reason he states is to prevent excessive phlegm which would interfere with praying and the blowing of the shofar.

6 cups unbleached all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon, preferably Ceylon

1/2 teaspoon ground cloves

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder

1 1/2 cups dark brown sugar

3/4 cup vegetable oil

3/4 cup mild honey

1 tablespoon table salt

2/3 cup hot strong coffee

3 large eggs

1 1/2 cups walnut pieces, optional

1 1/2 cups chopped diced crystallized ginger plus extra for decorating the cakes, optional

THE DAY BEFORE BAKING

Mix the dough: Oil two 9- by 5-inch loaf pans. In a very large bowl, mix together the flour, cinnamon, cloves, baking soda, and baking powder.

Separately, in a large pitcher or bowl, whisk together the sugar, oil, honey (measure it in the same cup as the oil), salt, and hot coffee until the sugar and salt have dissolved.

Whisk in the eggs until they are well blended. Pour the liquid ingredients into the dry ingredients, and stir the batter until it is very smooth and thick. Fold in the nuts and the ginger if you are using it. Scrape the dough into the prepared pans and smooth the top of the batter. For a pretty presentation, press whole cubes of ginger across the top of the cake. Cover the pans with plastic wrap and refrigerate them for at least 8 hours or for up to 24 hours.

BAKING DAY

Thirty minutes before baking the cakes, arrange an oven rack in the lower third position, remove all racks above it, and preheat the oven to 325 degrees.

When the oven is hot, uncover and bake the cakes for 1 hour. Be sure to turn the loaves from front to bake after about 30 minutes of baking so that they brown evenly.

When the loaves are well browned, and a tooth pick or wooden skewer poked into the center of the cake comes out dry, the cakes are fully baked. Let the loaves cool thoroughly on a rack before serving them. They keep for weeks sealed in plastic bags in the refrigerator.

(From Maggie Glezer's new book on Jewish breads called "A Blessing of Bread" (Artisan, $35), due out Nov. 1.)