Medovik – Russian Honey Cake
Paper-thin layers of honey-caramel dough alternating with sour cream filling, which after a night in the refrigerator melt into an unmistakable silky texture. The best-loved cake in Russian baking.
The layers are rolled while the dough is still hot, between sheets of parchment. Cooled, it stiffens and cracks; warm, it stretches to the diameter of a plate.
And the overnight rest is not for convenience: the cake is inedible fresh. Straight after assembly the layers are dry and crisp; it is the eight hours of moisture from the cream that turn them into the cake.
The sour cream is what stops it being cloying — with plain whipped cream, honey on honey is too much.
Ingredients
- 100 g butter
- 120 g honey
- 150 g sugar
- 2 eggs
- 1 tsp baking soda (bicarbonate of soda)
- 400 g all-purpose flour (plain flour), approximately
- 500 g heavy cream (double cream), for the filling
- 300 g sour cream or plain Greek yogurt, for the filling
- 100 g powdered sugar (icing sugar), for the filling
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- Reserved dough trimmings, to decorate
Method
- 1
Melt the butter with the honey and the sugar in a water bath. Add the baking soda and stir: the mixture foams and takes on a light caramel color. Take it off the heat, let it cool slightly and beat in the eggs.
- 2
Add the flour a little at a time until you have a tender, barely sticky dough. Divide it into 8 balls and, while still hot, roll each one very thin between sheets of parchment, to the diameter of a plate.
- 3
Bake each layer at 180 °C for 4-6 minutes, until barely golden. Trim the edges with a plate as a guide while they are still hot and keep the trimmings.
- 4
Make the filling by whipping the cream with the powdered sugar and the vanilla to medium peaks, then folding in the sour cream. It should be spreadable and slightly tart — the classic counterpoint to the honey.
- 5
Assemble the cake alternating layers with generous cream, cover the whole surface and sides, and sprinkle with the crushed trimmings. Refrigerate for at least 8 hours, ideally overnight: the rest is what turns the crisp layers into cake.
Slavic Cooking: Tradition, Technique and Comfort
Slavic cooking does something few other kitchens do as well: it turns simple ingredients into unforgettable dishes. Here are the Eastern European classics — from delicate syrniki to a warming buckwheat soup — each one written so the authentic, familiar flavor actually comes out. If you want food that warms from the inside and surprises your guests with something unfamiliar, this is the place.
