Spray the sides and bottom of a 9-inch cake pan with nonstick cooking spray. Cut a circle of parchment paper that fits into the bottom of the pan. Lay the parchment circle into the greased pan; spray the paper with nonstick cooking spray.
For the topping, melt the butter in a small saucepan over medium heat; add the sugar, stirring. Once the sugar and butter have melted together, stir in the honey. While it’s warm, pour into prepared pan. Top the caramel with mango, slightly overlapping the slices.
Heat oven to 350 degrees. For the cake, combine the oil, sugar and honey in a large bowl. Add the eggs; mix until combined. Sift all dry ingredients together in a second bowl. Combine the sour cream, orange zest and vanilla together in a third bowl. Add the dry ingredients to the egg mixture one-third at a time, alternating with one-third of sour cream mixture.
Pour batter into the prepared pan. Bake until cake is golden brown and a wooden skewer comes out clean when inserted into the center, 25-35 minutes. Allow the cake to cool in the pan on a wire rack until just warm to the touch. Unmold the cake onto a serving platter while it’s still warm. Makes 10 servings.
Wednesday at sundown, Jews everywhere will observe Rosh Hashana, the Jewish New Year, by attending synagogue, gathering with family and, of course, with food.
From matzo ball soup to honey cake, food is an intrinsic part of Jewish culture. The Jewish Museum of Florida celebrates that with its upcoming exhibit, Growers, Grocers and Gefilte Fish: A Gastronomic Look at Florida Jews and Food, which opens Oct. 15.
The story starts with Moses — Moses Levy, who began the state’s first agricultural colony, Pilgrimage Plantation, in 1822. Then comes 190 years of delis and dairies, restaurants and ranchers, right up to today.
The exhibit embraces 250 Florida individuals, families and business with ties to food and to Judaism. We spoke to two of them about Rosh Hashana.
THE CATERER
As a child, caterer Sarah Davidoff cooked with her mother, making classic boeuf bourguignon and buttery Parker House rolls. By her teens, she was catering parties. “I could make $3 an hour babysitting or a couple hundred dollars on a Saturday afternoon,” she says.
Food is a business for Davidoff, 43, but it’s also personal. From hitting the deli “to get our corned beef fix” to preparing and sharing holiday meals, “my Jewish identity has always been strong,” she says. And Rosh Hashana has always revolved around family, friends and food.
When she was growing up, her grandparents would fly in for the holiday, her mother, Judith, would invite “an eclectic group of guests,” and mother and daughter would cook together, baking challah and a turkey stuffed with challah, apples, and nuts.
“My mother would make a potato kugel with the most amazing crust on the bottom,” Davidoff recalls. “We waited all year for it.”
Davidoff opened her catering business, Fare to Remember, in 1997. When she married David Goodman eight years later, she got new insight into the food business from her father-in-law, Artie Goodman, manager of the legendary Miami Beach deli Rascal House.
“That place pumped out more food than any restaurant I’ve seen in South Florida,” says Davidoff. “… They made everything old-school, from scratch. It was just as busy at three in the morning as it was at ten in the morning.”
Goodman worked long hours, holidays and weekends, and Davidoff does, too. In addition to doing private parties and corporate functions, Fare to Remember is the anchor caterer at Temple Beth Am in Pinecrest, so weekends are often filled with bar and bat mitzvahs and weddings.
But even after 25 years in the business, she still delights in how food brings people together.
“I have gotten teary standing in the corner of a ballroom at the temple, watching everybody eating and drinking and dancing and enjoying their evening,” she says. “It’s one of the best parts of my job.”
Davidoff will be working during Rosh Hashana, but a few days later, she, her husband, their 6-year-old son, extended family and friends will have a do-over “when we can do it together.”
Their belated holiday meal is guaranteed to be “crazy, loud, boisterous, with dogs running around, jokes being told” and plenty to eat, she says. “Spectacular.”
THE BAKER
Zak H. “Zak the Baker” Stern grew up in Pinecrest, “a rebellious punk kid” who attended Bet Breira Hebrew School but “didn’t connect to one single bit of it.”
Read more here: http://www.miamiherald.com/2013/08/27/3589629/miami-food-pros-share-rosh-hashana.html#storylink=cpy
