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Honey Cake Medovik
Serves 12
60 mins prep
30 mins cook
90 mins total
This honey cake is the cake I made for my own wedding. It’s soft, moist, tangy, and tastes like honey! It has an impressive eight cake layers with an easy four ingredient sour cream filling. You do need some patience to roll out each layer but it is well worth it. This is a popular Russian and Ukrainian cake - for good reason!
Layers
Filling
Border and bees (optional)
Layers
Preheat oven to 180°C (350°F). Line a large cookie sheet or pizza pan with parchment paper. Whisk eggs in a separate bowl to combine, set aside for later.
½ large eggsIn a medium saucepan combine honey, sugar, and butter. Heat on medium low heat until combined and comes to a simmer. As soon as it simmers, take it off the heat.
⅕ cup honey⅕ cup granulated sugar½ tablespoons unsalted butterSlowly pour the whisked eggs into the hot honey mixture. Whisk well to combine and to prevent scrambled eggs.
Add salt, whisk to combine. Add baking soda and whisk vigorously to break up the lumps. It will foam up a bit.
⅕ teaspoon sea salt⅕ teaspoon baking sodaSift flour into the saucepan. Use a spatula to fold the flour and form a dough. The dough should be as thick as a cookie dough.
⅔ cups all purpose flourWorking while the dough is still warm, dump out the dough onto a heavily floured work surface.
Shape the dough into a ball. *Add more flour a few tablespoons at a time and mixing well if needed.* Cut into 8 equal wedges (like a pizza). Shape each wedge into a ball.
Working one by one, roll out one ball into approximately 9” circles. Try to roll it out as evenly as possible. Place an 8” round pan on top and use a knife or pizza cutter to trace out a circle. You can use a plate if you prefer. Set the scraps aside. *if the cake layers aren't even you can trim them after baking and cooling*
Transfer the cut dough round into the prepared baking sheet. Bake in the preheated oven for 4-5 minutes, or until the bottom is slightly golden. They burn quickly so keep a close eye on them.
While it bakes, roll out another few layers. Let the layers cool on a cooling rack.
Roll out and bake until there are no more balls of dough left. Bake the scraps on a separate baking tray. You can stack the cooled layers on top of each other. Work on the filling while the cake layers cool completely.
Filling
Pop a large bowl or stand mixer bowl and whisk into the freezer for 5-10 minutes.
In a separate very large bowl or pot, whisk together the sour cream, powdered sugar, and vanilla extract. Set aside.
5 ⅓ oz sour cream⅕ cup powdered sugar⅕ teaspoon pure vanilla extractPour the cream into the bowl and whip with a whisk until stiff peaks.
⅕ cup heavy whipping creamTransfer the whipped cream into the sour cream mixture. Gently fold together until no more streaks remain.
Assembly
Have a large plate or cake stand ready. Place a tablespoon of filling onto the plate. Place a layer on top.
Add a layer of filling on top of the cake layer, about a third of a cup. Spread all the way to the edge. Continue layering cake layer, filling, cake layer, filling, until all are used up. Make sure to leave a bit of filling for the sides.
Use a spatula to cover the sides with the rest of the filling, fully saturating them. Poke three skewers or chopsticks right through the cake if it starts to lean and slide. Refrigerate overnight to allow the layers to absorb all the moisture.
Crumble the baked layer scraps. Set crumbs aside for later.
After chilling, use a spatula to smooth out the top and sides of the cake. Press the crumbs onto the sides of the cake. You can stop here or decorate the top with borders and bees.
Border and bees (optional)
In a medium bowl, combine cream cheese, vanilla, powdered sugar, and mix until smooth.
⅔ oz cream cheese⅕ cup powdered sugar⅕ teaspoon pure vanilla extractIn a separate large bowl (chill the bowl and whisk in the freezer for easier whipping), whip the cream to medium stiff peaks. The cream should hold its shape but have floppy peaks.
⅕ cup heavy whipping creamAdd the cream cheese mixture into the whipped cream. Combine with a whisk and whip until stiff peaks form and the cream holds its shape. Be careful not to over whip or it will become grainy.
Set aside about a half cup of frosting in one bowl and a few tablespoons of frosting in a separate bowl. Transfer the rest of the frosting into a piping bag fitted with a piping tip or a zippered bag with the end cut off.
Add yellow food coloring to the half cup of frosting. Carefully fold to combine. Add black food coloring to the smaller portion of frosting.
yellow gel food colouringblack gel food colouringTransfer the yellow and black food colouring to separate piping bags. Cut the tips off the piping bags - a smaller bit off the black bag and a larger opening off the yellow.
Pipe a rope border on top of the honey cake with the white frosting. Use the yellow piping bag to pipe short sausage shapes on top (bee bodies). Pipe stripes and a stinger with the black frosting.
Insert sliced almonds into the backs of the bee shapes for wings. Slice the cake and serve or refrigerate for later.
⅓ tablespoons sliced almonds