Honey Cake or, as we call it, Medovik! Tender and flavorful layers of honey dough with tangy sour cream filling. The cake only gets better the more it sits in the fridge making Medovik a great make-ahead option for your next holiday!
Personal confession
I have a tendency to overthink and overcomplicate things! “If it is easy, it’s not good enough” type of a belief. To say it’s not a fun way of living is to drastically downplay a situation haha.
But how does it relate to the blog, you ask? Well, in the past no recipe would make its way to a post if it weren’t “creative” enough (looking at you, eclairs with apricot and lavender!). Needless to say, all treats from my childhood immediately fell into ‘not living up to my high standards’ category.
Honestly, I felt frustrated to see that people didn’t use my recipes but was oblivious to recognize the reason behind it. Until one day when I pulled up Google Analytics only to discover that one of the most popular posts I created was Napoleon Cake. Wait, what?! The recipe which I considered unimaginative (because it’s something that anyone in my childhood would make), my readers found interesting. Whoa, I didn’t see it’s coming!
So I hit pause and sat with this discovery. You can say, I even meditated on it 🙂 And I heard an inner voice quietly telling me it was time to bring forward and own my European upbringing!
You know, we’ve never seen our move to California as a huge achievement. Partially because it felt pretty natural and we sincerely feel at home here. But I guess, the reason for that answer from my intuition was that after moving to US, we were so busy making sure we blended into a new culture that we forgot about own.
I guess it’s now time to go back to square one! In true ‘back to roots’ fashion, I’m going to make and share with you recipes my mom used to make when I was a kid. Or my grandma. Or recipes which were and still are popular in Ukraine. Basically, all the good (and easy) stuff. I promise! 😉
Honey cake recipe
Honey cake or, as we call it, Medovik is probably the most popular cake from my childhood! First of all, honey makes the dough unique in a couple of ways. A) it’s super soft and playable so you can experiment with the shape. B) it’s super tasty so, potentially, you can eat the dough raw (which my brother and I did allll the time).
But on top of that, Medovik is simply a very delicious cake! It checks sweet and sour boxes off of the tastes list. It cuts like a soft butter. And it makes you feel at home.
As for the process — yes, Honey cake takes some time to make but, honestly, it’s fun! Turn on your favorite music, get into the groove and you’ll be surprised to see what you’ve created. (If you’re still not convinced, the cream is super easy to prepare and it has only 2 ingredients!)
Honey Cake or Medovik! Tender and flavorful layers of honey dough with tangy sour cream filling. It only gets better the more it sits in the fridge making the cake a great make-ahead option for your next holiday!
- 180 g sugar
- 2 eggs
- 60 g butter
- 2 tbsp honey
- 2 tsp baking soda
- 360 g flour + up to 100 g
- 450 g sour cream cold
- 200 g powdered sugar sifted
- 1 tsp lemon juice
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Fill a large saucepan with water and bring it to a simmer.
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In a large heatproof bowl, combine sugar and eggs. Place the bowl over the pot of simmering water and whisk the mixture until sugar completely dissolves.
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Add pieces of butter and honey to the bowl and whisk until the butter is melted.
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Add baking soda to the bowl and whisk. The mixture will begin to foam and increase in size. Keep whisking until it thickens a bit and increase approximately 2 times.
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Remove the bowl from the pot of simmering water and let the mixture cool down for 3 minutes.
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When the batter cooled down, sift 360 g of flour (working in batches) on top and mix it in using rubber spatula.
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Transfer the batter to a working surface generously dusted with flour. If the dough feels too sticky, add up to 100 g flour. The dough should remain warm and playable.
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Form a disk and wrap the dough in a plastic wrap. Place it in the fridge for 1 hour.
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Preheat the oven to 180 C/ 350 F. Tear off 7 pieces of parchment paper (large enough to fit 23 cm/ 9 inches layer on it)
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Transfer the dough from the fridge and divide it into 7 parts.
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Lightly dust the surface of one parchment paper with flour. Place one ball of the dough on top and sprinkle it with flour.
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Using a rolling pin, roll the dough working from the center towards the ends. It should be even in thickness and a bit larger than 18 cm/ 7 inches.
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Transfer the dough with parchment paper to a baking sheet and place it in the oven. Bake for 4-5 minutes, or until the dough becomes golden brown.
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Remove the baking sheet from the oven and transfer the layer (still on parchment paper) to a working surface. Let it cool for 1 minute, and then cut using a 18 cm/ 7 inches cake ring (or a plate of a similar size).
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Place the layer onto a cooling rack and store leftovers in the airtight container until needed.
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Repeat baking steps with the remaining dough.
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Place cold sour cream into the bowl of stand mixer fitted with a whisk attachment.
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Sift powdered sugar on top and whisk on a medium speed for 5 minutes.
(The cream can liquify at first, but keep whisking and it will come together!)
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Add 1 tsp of lemon juice to the bowl, increase the speed of the mixer and whisk for another minute.
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When the layers cooled down, start assembling the cake.
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Place the first layer on the plate. Put about 2-3 generous tbsp of the cream in the center and distribute it evenly using the back of the spoon. Place the second layer on top and slightly press with the fingers.
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Continue the process alternating cake layers and cream. You’ll have some cream leftovers to use on top and sides later.
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When the last layer is placed, gently press the whole cake with fingers. Cover the cake with a plastic wrap and place it in the fridge overnight.
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In the morning, unwrap the cake. Add the remaining cream to the top and sides and smooth it with the offset spatula.
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Place the layers leftovers into a food processor and grind them into crumbs (or place leftovers into in a ziploc bag and crush them using a rolling pin).
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Decorate the top and sides of the cake with crumbs.
- When baking, watch the layers closely 'cause they go from nicely brown to overbaked very fast.
- To speed up a baking process, you can roll all layers at once and then bake them OR continue rolling the next ones while the first one is in the oven.
- This dough holds the shape very well so you can cut it any way you want. Make or print a paper template and then use it to cut the layer while it's still warm. Some ideas to spark your creativity: cute animal faces, letters, numbers.
P.S. If you spot something (someone?) unusual in the post, leave me a ???? comment on instagram!
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