I have been eating this Russian Layered Honey cake since I was a little tyke. I used to love the night before the holidays when my mom would bake the layers… I’d get to eat the left over trimmed pieces dipping them in cream. Yum! This is still one of my favorite things to make and eat. These days I make it with one of the ancient flours, Einkorn or Spelt, sprouted whenever possible. I also use raw sour cream and raw sugar making this cake an unprocessed and nourishing treat that’s only mildly sweet.
It looks a lot more complicated than it is, and I was often told that it must be a big job to make because of how delicate the layers are. I don’t think so, and I don’t find any more difficult that most of the cakes from scratch. Here is a summary:
    Make honey dough base
    Make dough
    Bake the layers
    Frost the layers
    Sprinkle with dusting
Even though the name of this cake is ‘honey cake’ or ‘Medovik’Â – it has very little honey. It got its name from the time of Russian Queen Elizabeth who had a serious dislike for honey. So serious that nobody in court was allowed to even utter the word. Once a young and ambitious cook prepared this layered cake with honey based dough, and the queen fell in love with it. The cook confessed to her that it did have honey as one of the ingredients, expecting to be punished, but the graceful queen rewarded him instead, admitting her ignorance. I don’t know if there is much truth left in that story but it’s pretty cute.
- [b]To make dough base:[/b]
- 3-4 eggs
- 3 tablespoons honey
- 2/3 cup sugar
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- [b]To make dough:[/b]
- 2 cups all purpose Einkorn or Spelt flour (where to find [url href=”https://jovialfoods.com/shop/einkorn/flour.html?___SID=U” target=”_blank”]einkorn[/url], spelt is available at Whole Foods)
- 2 cups of whole Einkorn or Spelt flour (I grind my own wheat berries at home)
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- [b]To make cream:[/b]
- 2 pints of pasture raised sour cream, I use raw
- 1 cup of powdered sugar (grind raw cane sugar in a coffee grinder)
- [b]To make dusting:[/b]
- Trimmed pieces of layers, ground into crumbs using a food processor or blender
- 1/2 cup toasted finely chopped nuts (optional)
- 1/2 grated chocolate (optional)
- To make [b]dough base[/b], combine eggs, honey, 2/3 cup sugar and baking soda in a small pot. Mix really well, and simmer on very low.
- While mixing continuously, wait for the volume to double (5-10 minutes).
- To make [b]dough[/b], remove from stove, allow to rest for 5 minutes, add flour. Mix with a spoon, then your hands until you get a firm dough ball that doesn’t stick to hands.
- Allow the dough to rest for 10-15 minutes (this helps flour to absorb moisture).
- Preheat oven to 350F.
- Separate the dough into 6 or 7 equal pieces.
- Roll each piece of dough to the approximate shape of your serving dish (making a paper shape is helpful). Don’t worry about precision, you will trim the edges afterwards.
- Bake each layer at 350F for 4-5 minutes, or until slightly golden.
- After you remove the layer, immediately trim it using a paper shape (mine is 8″). Reserve the trimmings.
- Repeat the baking/trimming with all the dough pieces.
- To make [b]cream[/b], mix sour cream and powdered sugar in a bowl by hand. Do not use electric mixer!
- Place the bottom layer on a plate or a stand, frost it with a generous amount of cream. Repeat with all the layers making sure to reserve enough to frost the sides and the top.
- Grind the trimmed pieces with a food processor until they look like small crumbs.
- If using nuts and chocolate, mix with the dough crumbs and sprinkle the dusting all over the cake.
- Allow the cake to rest in the fridge overnight so that the layers become moist before serving.
10 comments
this recipe looks fun. I am a novice baker. Would you confirm that recipe calls for a total of 4 cups of flour?
Also can this cake be stored at all or must it be eaten upon assembly?
Hi Debra, thank you for checking out my recipe! Yep, it needs a total of 4 cups of flour, I normally mix 2 cups of all-purpose einkorn and spelt flour, and 2 cups of whole grain flour (made by milling the grains at home). I have made it with all whole grain several times, and even though it tastes good – the dough is a bit hard to handle. I think 2 and 2 is a good balance. The layers I made for this recipe are round, 10 inch diameter. And thank you for asking about storage! I just corrected the recipe adding that it needs to rest overnight before serving, in order to absorb the cream. I have eaten it immediately before 🙂 but it’s dry, and after sitting in the fridge overnight it becomes wonderfully moist while keeping the shape really well. It stores well for 4-5 days. I haven’t kept it longer than that.
This looks like a Russian millefeuille:) The difference is that this one has moist layers while millefeuille has crusty layers. It needs a little work to make this, but it must be divine!
One small question: We don’t have sour cream in Greece. Greek yogurt is very similar in texture. Should we use that or opt for whipped cream instead?
Loved your post!
Panos and Mirella
Thanks! Mille-feuille is called Napoleon in Russia, and is another very popular cake 🙂
I wouldn’t use yogurt, but that’s me, I used full fat yogurt once to substitute for half the sour cream, and didn’t care for the taste, too tangy! If you are used to it though, you might enjoy it! If you have access to fresh cream, you can make sour cream is about two days, just add a little cultured dairy, like live yogurt or kefir and leave at room temperature until it thickens. Or if you decide to use yogurt, add some whipping cream to make it creamier.
I had this once as a kid and the awesomeness of it is burnt into my memory. Wont be able to make it for a while here, but cant wait!!! And I love the name story too 🙂
love the part about eating the trimmed corzh pieces with creme before the actual cake. We did this all the time, but my mom mostly made napoleon and mishka na severe cakes so we did that with those cakes. Ahh. Good times ;)))
Lol, it’s fun to run into things again that you forgot about for a long time, love it when it happens 🙂
Valeria,
I make my honey cake in the exact process like you do. Try using a mix of white flour with rye flour. This is my top secret in making a honey cake 🙂 I never used einkorn flour, hope it works in your recipe. In any case, when you mix some rye flour to the batter (about 1/3 of the total flour amount, i never really measure out flour), the texture of the honey cake is not as “sticky”, it’s very light, airy, and “sandy” like. I have hard time describing it. But it makes a different honey cake, and people can never guess what makes it so different! They always go crazy for my cake. Sometimes I add some cut up prunes and walnuts in between layers, but my favorite version is without any nachinki. Just sour cream and sugar, occasionally I add some whipped cream. Also, when the dough is a bit sticky to work with, I rub my hands and rolling pin with coconut oil, and vse idet kak po masly 😉
I’ve been reading your recipes like a novel these past couple of weeks, now I’m printing one by one anytime my three babies are sleeping (I’m ready to sacrifice my precious sleep for your recipies!!! first time in my life i’m doing that). I’ve been paranoid that your website will shut down or whatever, wish you had a book for sale, I’d buy it in a blink of an eye!!!! Thank you so much for all the recipes, and all the links!!!
Privetik, Anechka! Thanks for the tips, love it! I never thought to add rye flour to this cake but that sounds awesome. It’s probably one of my favorite cakes, maybe because I know it for as long as I can remember.. I do like the prune and nut version a lot, but my kids are not big fans so I normally just keep it simple, like in this recipe 🙂
Thank you sooo much for the kind words, you just made my day!!
Just made it. Delicious!
I also grew up eatting this cake.
Einkorn adds a subtle nutty flavor. Thanks for sharing the recipe.