If one doesn’t daven Ma’ariv early, and he only arrives home after tzeis hakochavim can his wife make kiddush and have cake? The best thing would be for the woman to make kiddush and eat a kezayis of bread to fulfill the requirement of kiddush bemakom seudah, kiddush followed by a meal. However, if this is difficult, she can make kiddush and eat cake. This would seem to be the opinion of the Mishnah Berurah (273:25) who writes that eating sweet foods (מיני תרגימא), i.e. cake, is considered kiddush bemakom seudah, and he doesn’t differentiate between Friday night and Shabbos day.
We can bring a rayah from another Mishnah Berurah (s.k. 26). The Mishnah Berurah brings the Shlitei Gibborim who says that even eating fruit is considered kiddush bemakom seudah, and on that the Mishnah Berurah writes, “although some say we can rely on this for Shabbos day, at night, certainly we can’t rely on it.” From the fact that the Mishnah Berurah speaks out that at night fruit is no good, and doesn’t mention about sweet food/cake, we see that he holds that cake is considered kiddush bemakom seudah.
Should She Recite a Berachah Achronah?
In regard to whether the woman should recite a berachah achronah, it’s clear from the Mishnah Beruah (176:2 and Biur Halachah) that if she ate cake before the meal she shouldn’t recite a berachah achronah, since there is an opinion that Birchas HaMazon goes back on the cake. However, it’s important to mention that some say if there is a gap of 15 minutes, or half-an-hour between the eating of the cake and the meal, and it looks like two separate meals, one should recite a berachah achronah on the cake (VeZois HaBerachah, Perek 9, pg. 85). They bring from R’ Elyashiv (VeZois HaBerachah) that it’s better to recite a berachah achronah on the cake, at wait a bit of time before starting the meal.
