Secrets of "Jewish Auntie" Cake revealed!

If you've ever been to a Jewish celebration, be it bris, bar/t mitzvah, or wedding, you've surely had some "Jewish Auntie" cake; sometimes it's in a bundt shape, or maybe a loaf, or maybe you've only ever seen it in its classic "4 mouthful slab" form.

The key to Jewish Auntie cake is its durability. With the right secret ingredient (banana? shmaltz? guilt?) and some careful wrapping in tin foil, the cake can seemingly last forever (frozen, of course). A cake made for little Becky's bat mitzvah will easily make it to her wedding reception; with some luck, it could even make it to her kids' weddings. "Becky bat mitzvah 1993, lemon loaf" written on a piece of masking tape is a sure-fire way to manage a freezer full of cakes.

There's always so much of it to go around; it seems like one of the keys to making a good Jewish Auntie cake is to make a lot of it at once. Why make just one when you can make six? Of course, all the other Jewish Aunties are doing the same, so most of the cakes end up being wrapped up and frozen for the next few years' worth of occasions.

Don't get me wrong, I love Jewish Auntie cake, and I still occasionally get served the cakes I remember from 30 years ago... and if I could see the masking tape from off the tin foil, maybe I'd confirm that it is the same cake from 30 years ago!