Russian Honey Cake (Medovik) with Sour Cream

This cake is one of the favorite and most cooked cakes in Russian cuisine. While I did not find the original recipe to be easy to bake, I as always, modified it and made it so.

Healthy, easy and quick - these are the three words we follow when it comes to baking, right?

Before moving to the actual recipe, read this interesting story about cake Medovik and the wife of Russian Emperor Alexander I, Elizabeth.

At the Court, where the Emperor family lived, it was a well known fact that Elizabeth did not like honey. All cooks of the Court knew about it and made sure never to use honey in their recipes. However, a new and ambitious young cook, who had been just accepted to work in the Court's kitchen, was very eager to impress everyone with his talents, especially the Empress. He prepared his personal and unique recipe cake. The cake was warmly accepted and highly praised by the Empress - layers with custard were melting in the mouth. When she asked about the ingredients of the cake, the young cook was embarrassed to reveal them, as someone had already told him about Elizabeth's dislike for honey. However, when he told Elizabeth that one of the major ingredients of the cake was honey, she only laughed and ordered to reward the cook. Since then Medovik cake became the favorite dessert of Elizabeth and has always been present on every royal feast table.

Ingredients:

For the layers

- 100 g (7 tbsp.) unsalted butter

- 4 eggs

- 2 tbsp honey

- 1 cup (200 g) sugar

- 2-3 cups whole wheat flour

- 2 tsp. baking soda

For the cream

- 700 g sour cream

- 1/2 cup sugar

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 180 C (360 F).

2. In a heatproof medium bowl mix together butter, sugar and honey.

3. In a saucepan, bring 2 inches (5 cm) water to a simmer. Place the heatproof bowl over the simmering water. Melt and stir the mixture occasionally. Add eggs and mix all ingredients until fully melted.

4. Add flour and baking soda to the same bowl. Gently stir the mixture. Cook for 5 more minutes. Remove the bowl from the heat.

5. Prepare a baking dish. Put a little bit of oil on it (either vegetable oil or melted butter) and spread it throughout the dish, including walls.

6. Place the dough (the one we have just removed from the heat) to the baking dish and bake it for approximately 40 minutes (check the color of the dough. It should become more and more dark).

7. Transfer the cake on to a flat surface (a big plate, for example).

8. While it is still hot cut the cake into layers. Starting from the bottom cut the layers as thin as you can. But no drama if the layers are not thin. As you can see on the picture my layers are not thin at all.

9. Place the cut layers on separate surfaces to cool down for several minutes. Save crumbs from the layers for decoration later. Also slightly crumb the upper layer.

10. While the layers are cooling down, mix sour cream and sugar. Whip the mixture with a mixer until sugar is fully melted. Your cream should be fluffy and firm.

11. Top each cake layer with a generous amount of cream and spread it around evenly. Repeat with all cake layers. As you place the layers on top of each other, some of the frosting will come out of the side. Spread it out if you want. Sprinkle the crumbs on top of the cake.

12. You can leave the cake in the refrigerator for several hours or over night.

Have A Nice Baking Time!