The kids were talking about different Yom Kippur things they had learned in school and one of my kids correctly noted that we had not yet gone to do tashlich*. So we did. Kind of. Each child took a turn and threw their chocolate chips into the batter, and they called the cake, Tashlich Cake.
And I have to say, it was quite yummy and the perfect break-the-fast cake with, if you're me, a cup of ice cold orange juice. If you're my mom, it went well with a cup of coffee and if you're my 14 year old male cousin, it went well with, well, nothing, except two hands shoveling it into your mouth.
Here's the recipe we used:
1 cup oil
1 1/4 cups sugar
4 eggs
2 cups flour
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp baking powder
1 1/3 cup orange juice
1 1/2 cups chocolate chips.
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Combine all the ingredients, except the chocolate chips, in a large bowl. We mixed by hand, no need to haul out the mixer for this one. Fold in the chocolate chips. Divide the batter between two loaf pans. Bake for 30 minutes or until the center is firm and a toothpick comes out clean. Let cool and then run a knife around the cake so that it does not stick to the pan. Can be stored, covered, at room temperature.
*Tashlich? I'll explain. Tashlich is a ritual performed anytime between the first day of Rosh Hashana and Hoshana Rabba, which is the last day of Succot. Special prayers are said while standing next to a moving body of water, like a stream or a river. As kids, we always threw little pieces of bread into the water to symbolize throwing away our sins, but as we grew up, we learned that that wasn't really part of it. But at least the bread throwing made if fun for little kids. Right or wrong, my kids throw bread and love it. You can read more about Tashlich here too.