The Medovic, a popular cake in Russia and the Soviet Countries. It is known for its lengthy process, but as they say, all good things are worth waiting for! Do read the Intro page.
♦Prep time:60min ♦Cook time:50min ♦Rest time: 24-hour chilling of the cake.♦Yield: 1 large 9-inch cake, 20-22 servings.
Please read through the recipe before starting, getting ready your equipment and ingredients and working out the process before starting, eliminates a chaotic kitchen.
Russian Honey Cake
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Difficulty:
BeginnerPrep Time60 minsCook Time50 minsTotal Time1 hr 50 mins
Servings:
20
Description
Russian Honey Cake, or the Medovik (pronounced meh-doh-VEEK) originated in the former Soviet Union and is cherished for its delicate, melt-in-your-mouth texture and rich honey-caramel flavor.
Equipment you will need for Medovic – Russian Honey Cake:
Instructions
Video
Prep work:
Using a 9-inch cake pan as a stencil, trace circles onto 12 sheets of baking parchment paper. Set aside.
Preheat oven to 190ºC or 375ºF.
Break the eggs into a bowl.
In another small both, whisk together the baking soda, ground cinnamon and 3/4 tsp salt. Make sure there are no lumps. Set aside.
Keep the flour ready to be measured out.
Make the Caramelized Honey (Burnt Honey)
To a smaller saucepan (large enough to contain your heatproof measuring cup with a spout), add 1 inch of water, and bring this to a simmer on low heat. This will be your water bath. Keep it warm till the end.
Measure out 3/4 cup of the organic honey. Add this to another medium-sized saucepan.
Place over high heat and bring to a simmer. In around 1 minute, the honey should be nice and bubbly. Reduce the heat and stir occasionally. After two minutes, the honey should be quite foamy, and you will notice smoke from the saucepan.
When you see the smoke, turn off the heat. Add 1/4 cup of water gently. I waited a minute to pour the water to avoid splatter.
Wait for the spluttering to stop. Pour this into the heatproof measuring cup. Lower this into the water bath and keep it on a low simmer. This is so that the honey remains liquid and does not solidify.
Prepare Double Boiler and Cake Batter:
Fill a medium-sized saucepan with 2 inches of water. Bring to a simmer.
Take a medium-sized (steel/heat-resistant) bowl that will fit snugly over the saucepan. Make sure the bowl is absolutely dry. Add the cubed cold butter to this. Measure out 1/4 cup of the remaining burnt honey sitting in the water bath and add it over the butter. Return the remaining burnt honey to the low-simmering water bath.
Also, add 3/4 cup of the remaining organic honey (the raw, uncooked honey). Add only 1/2 cup if you like a less sweet cake. Add the light brown sugar as well to the butter bowl.
Next, place the bowl over the medium saucepan of simmering water to create a double-boiler effect. The bowl should not be touching the water, just sitting over it. Stir slowly, till the butter and sugar melt/dissolve.
Using a clean finger, test the mixture to see if it is warm. It should be warm, not hot. While the double boiler is still going on a medium flame, add 1 egg at a time, while whisking with the other hand.
Once eggs are all added, bring the mixture to a 'warm' temperature again. Do the finger test.
Once confirmed to be warm, add the cinnamon-baking soda mix and whisk it in. Due to the presence of baking soda, it will become very foamy and develop a peculiar smell. Keep whisking till it becomes very foamy and a deep copper colour. Check on more time with your finger that the mixture is quite warm again.
Remove the bowl from the double boiler. Add this mixture to a larger bowl to accommodate the flour. Sift the flour into the mixture in three batches. Using a spatula, mix and combine the batter well after each addition. You will end up with a thick batter, almost like biscuit dough. The dough should be warm when we spread it out into 12 layers. Since it gets harder to spread out if cooled, we will take half of this dough/batter and place it inside another bowl. Wrap with cling film, and place in a warm place like over your preheating oven, to keep it warm.
Roll out the Cake layers and Bake:
Now, working with one traced sheet of parchment paper at a time, place the pencilled side down.
Drop 1/3 cup of the thick batter into the centre of the circle. Use a small offset spatula to spread the batter towards to border of the circle, smoothing out the edges and creating an even border. Refer Video. Don't add more batter ( you might be tempted). 1/3 cup will spread thinly and be sufficient. Repeat this process with 11 - 12 sheets of the paper. Hopefully, you should get 12. If not, it's ok.
After you have rolled out 4 layers, you can start baking them. Depending on the size of your oven, place as many layers as you can in no more than 2 oven trays for better results. Bake for 6 - 7 minutes. The cake layer should be baked deep golden, soft to the touch, and slightly springy to the touch. DO NOT OVERBAKE.
Keep rolling our remaining cake layers on parchment paper while one batch is being baked.
Remove the parchment sheets and continue with the next layers. Peel the parchment paper off the cake while still warm for easier removal. Place the cake layers back onto the individual papers. Allow to cool off completely. Take one or two ( if you have 12 total) of the less perfect-looking honey cake layers. Return to the oven at a reduced temp - 120ºC or 250ºF. Bake for about 10 minutes, till deep reddish-brown and crisp. We will make crumbs from these.
Whipped Cream/ Sour Cream frosting with Dulce de Leche and Burnt Honey:
Add all of the remaining Burnt Honey that's left in the water bath to a dry bowl. Add Dulce de leche. Whisk till smoothly combined. Add salt.
Add the Chilled whipping cream or sour cream( if using that) to the bowl of your stand mixer and beat till soft peaks are reached.
Add the Dulce de Leche- Burnt Honey combination and continue beating till a medium-stiff peak stage is reached. Scrape down the sides of the bowl.
Keep the frosting chilled till ready to layer the cake.
Frosting and Assembly of Cake:
Once all the layers of the Honey cake are completely cool and the frosting is ready, place a cake plate on top of a decorating turntable if you have one.
Put a dab of frosting on the cake plate, followed by the first layer of honey cake.
Spread thin layers of the frosting evenly over the cake layers, leaving 1/4 inch from the border for a cleaner finish later.
Top with the next cake layer and repeat the process. If at any stage, you find the cake is lower on one side, just add a dollop of cream to provide a slight lift. Align the layers as you add each one. The cakes are quite durable and not delicate to be handled like this. Refer Video.
Try to keep the best layers for the bottom and top. After the tenth layer is placed, cover the sides and top of the cake with the cream frosting. As you do the sides, the small gaps that were left near the border of the cake layers should be filled. Use a cake scraper to give the sides a semi-naked look. I use a textured scraper.
Chill the cake in the fridge for 20 minutes.
Put the crisp, baked extra cake layers into a food processor and get a fine crumb.
Remove the chilled cake and decorate the cake lightly with some cake crumbs. You can add walnuts, as many people like them in Medovic. Finely chop the walnuts, if using.
Chill the cake overnight or 24 hours in the refrigerator before serving. This is necessary as it softens the layers into a perfectly smooth, soft cutting cake!
A labour of love but really worth it!! I often serve my cake with a little plain whipped cream and dark chocolate shavings.
Note
Check out how to make Dulce de Leche. It can be made the day before making the cake.
Some methods add less honey to the batter to make a thick, rollable dough. The dough is then rolled out using a rolling pin into 12 equal layers. However, I got thinner and more precise circles, using the spatula method.
If you have two ovens, preheat both, since we have several layers. Each layer takes only 6-7 minutes, so you can easily also make them in one oven, it just takes more time.
Not all Honey is the same. I tried this cake with regular light-coloured honey and preferred the wildflower honey.
No, the 'burnt Honey' does not taste burnt. It is a caramelized syrup basically.
Make sure the mixture over the double boiler is warm to the touch when adding eggs. If it is too hot, you will get a scrambled egg mess.
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