Certain traditions from my 10 years in Israel remain with me still. One of them is the "need" for a Sabbath cake or Ugat Shabat ("u-GAT sha-BAT" in Hebrew). In Jerusalem, when shops shut down for the Sabbath day of rest, life takes on a different pace. What do you do when stores are closed and there are no buses? You visit friends, of course. And because no observant Jew would use the telephone on the Sabbath, you can just drop in on friends, unannounced, as my younger son and I did on a recent trip to Israel. And the food you will be offered (as we were offered), as you sit and chat, is Ugat Shabat. Although my weekends are not the same here, they don't seem complete without a simple Sabbath cake.
There is no set recipe for Ugat Shabat. Often it is a sponge cake or honey cake.
My favorite is a marble cake my family loves. Baked in a bundt pan, it tastes good uniced, with a cup of tea or coffee. A scoop of ice cream can be served with it if desired. It was given to me by my friend Pearl, from Kibbutz Hazorea. Perhaps I'll write about Pearl sometime. I have been thinking about her today, as I often do when I take out her recipe...
Maybe that is reason enough for friends to share recipes with each other more often!
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