It is customary to wish friends and loved ones a sweet New Year on Rosh Hashana, literally translated The Head of the Year, the Jewish New Year. Rosh Hashana is traditionally observed by eating sweet foods, along with a host of symbolic foods that are each accompanied by their own special blessing. Apples are dipped in honey, as is Challah (traditional egg bread, which is normally formed in the shape of a braid all year long, but during the High Holidays - nope, not getting high on the holidays...more just an elevated state of mind and consciousness - are shaped in rounds to symbolize the cycle of life and the cyclical nature of the year. It also resembles a crown, for the head of the year. Often, raisins are added to further sweeten the loaf. I add apples and a thread of honey to mine, to incorporate the tradition of eating apples dipped in honey.
It is also customary to bake honey cake. This year I decided to switch things up a bit, and rather than bake the traditional loaves of honey cake, I made them into cupcakes. To further enhance the spicy sweetness of the cake I topped them with a cloud of orange honey cream cheese frosting. Then, to add a touch of whimsy, I topped each one with the most adorable little marzipan and fondant honeybees.My daughter made a bee of her own. She had such fun trying to get the almond slice wings to stay on, and then enjoyed painting on their little eyes and stripes and stingers with a food coloring marker.
It was fun to see everyone's reaction to the honey cupcakes and the bees. Watching how one attacks the bee on a cupcake is definitely entertaining. Some picked the wings off first, others worked around the bee. Some just picked it off first and popped them in their mouth, and others left them on the side of their plates...not sure they wanted to eat them at all. I will definitely be making these again. They were a hit!
Here's to a bzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzy year filled with fun, love, happiness, joy, prosperity, abundance, and - of course - sweetness!
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