Medovik – Russian Honey Cake – Recipe By Pastry Workshop
If there’s one thing I admire about Medovik – Russian Honey Cake and Russian pastries that is the patience of actually creating and layering these desserts. It’s unbelievable how much time all these layers take, but then it’s impressive how they taste as well. Medovik is the perfect example of Russian honey cakes with plenty of layers, a delicious sour cream and just a touch of orange and cardamom. The flavors themselves may not be all that Russian, but regardless of what aromas you are using, simply building this cake is a task on its own.
The elements of this cake are: honey dough (biscuit) and whipped sour cream. So quite simple, right?! Nothing too fancy, nothing too complicated! But the honey biscuit is perfect with its subtle honey aroma and the sour cream complements it perfectly, turning the otherwise crunchy biscuit into the softest, most flavorful piece of cake ever!
I have the feeling that Medovik – Russian honey cake is the first dessert to ever come to one’s mind when thinking about Russian desserts. And it is famous not only in Russia, but also the rest of the world. At the end of the day, deliciousness is not Russian, but it speaks to everyone’s heart and this cake surely falls into the category of desserts that go beyond delicious! The subtle honey taste, the soft texture, the hints of orange and cardamom make this cake unique and addictive!
Now that the Russian desserts have been unfolded, perhaps it’s time to dive more into this world and discover more and more what other countries have to offer in terms of desserts. I find it so charming and interesting! Every nation has its own customs, its own recipes, flavors, interests and through desserts we can get to know a lot of them!
Medovik – Russian Honey Cake
Ingrediente
Honey dough – biscuit
- 200 g white sugar
- 130 g honey
- 180 g butter
- 150 g eggs
- 6 g baking soda
- 500 g all-purpose flour
- 3 g salt
- 1 g cardamom powder
Whipped sour cream
- 550 g sour cream
- 400 g heavy cream
- 250 g powdered sugar
- 10 g vanilla extract
- 10 g orange zest
Instructiuni
Honey biscuit
- Combine the sugar, honey and butter in a bowl and place over a hot water bath until melted and hot to the touch.
- Gradually add the eggs and keep on heat until the mixture begins to thicken.
- Remove from heat and immediately stir in the baking soda.
- Mix the flour with the salt and cardamom powder then gradually mix it with the warm honey mixture.
- The final dough will be quite soft and sticky, but don’t add more flour to it!
- Wrap the dough in plastic wrap and refrigerate at least 6 hours before using.
- For the next step, make sure your working surface is well floured. I also recommend working on individual pieces of baking paper.
- Take pieces of dough (80-100g at a time) and roll it into a very thin sheet – 1mm thickness. Cut out discs of 18cm diameter.
- Keep rolling the dough and cutting discs until you run out of dough and you have at least 16 pieces of biscuit.
- Bake the discs of dough at 180C for 8-10 minutes or until golden brown and dry.
- I managed to bake 18 pieces of biscuit.
- Keep in a dry place until needed.
Whipped sour cream
- Combine the sour cream and heavy cream in a bowl.
- Whip until stiff and creamy.
- Stir in the vanilla and orange zest.
To assemble the cake
- Place a 18cm diameter cake ring on a cake board and line it with acetate.
- Begin layering the honey biscuits with the sour cream: 1 biscuit, 80g of whipped sour cream for each layer, biscuit again and so on.
- The final cake will have 15 layers of biscuit while the rest of the biscuits (3 pieces) will be used to decorate the cake later. I usually choose the ones that aren’t that pretty for this particular task.
- Once the cake is built, cover it with plastic wrap and refrigerate it overnight to allow the biscuits to become soft due to the moisture in the cream.
To finish the cake
- Mix 120g of sour cream with 30g powdered sugar and use this cream to ice the cake evenly on all sides.
- Decorate the cake with the remaining honey biscuits that have been crushed into a fine powder.
- Decorate as you wish!
Video
Notes
This is absolutely beautiful. Well done on creating such a neat lovely looking cake!
Thank you, Angela! <3
Well! That sorted out my Friendsgiving dilemma for next weekend! Can’t wait to give it a try.
It is time consuming but well worth it. I used honey from local bee keepers which worked wonderfully well.
Muito obrigada. Adorei a receita. Ficou fantástica.
Medovik is the perfect example of Russian honey cakes with plenty of layers, a delicious sour cream and just a touch of orange and cardamom.
Every time I visit SF I go to this cafe to eat this cake. Now reading all of the work that goes into making this it makes me appreciate it so much more! Amazing.
I’ve never had this before, but it sounds & looks amazing! Love all the layers &.
Thank you!
I made this for my boyfriend’s birthday in February and it was absolutely incredible. You have the best recipe I could fine and your video is so helpful. I am making it again now but exchanged some flour with cocoa powder in the dough to make a chocolate version and will layer it with the cream and raspberry jam. Thank you so much!
Thank you for your feedback, Shanti! I am do glad you liked it! I am sure the chocolate version will be just as delicious! I have made this cake countless times too, one of my favorites!
Mine turned out amazing. Such a great recipe, thank you
Thank you!
I made this for the first time and wow was it delicious. I immediately made more dough because this is going to be on regular rotation at our house. I know it’s a special occasion cake but it makes an average day feel special. The cardamon and orange version is lovely but I can foresee so many variations being delicious. Thank you for sharing this.
Thank you for your trust, Alexis. I am so glad you liked it! Indeed, you can play around with flavors and you can also use various fruits between the layers. Like a raspberry marmalade or a mango jam, just adding here and there a few dollops of fruit.