Yes. Its another food post.
I can’t explain it, but maybe its cause once you cook once, you get the urge to do it again. And unlike most of the time, this time I didn’t sit down and let the feeling pass.
When mom visited early in the year I took her to a cafe in Richmond and we had this russian honey cake. The taste was so familiar, so wonderful… I just had to have it again.
Even if I had to make it myself.
And that’s saying something!
So I looked it up online. Its called medovik apparently, and its a popular russian cake. Contrary to how it looks with all those layers, its not that hard to make. This is pretty much how it looked when I had it:
This is the photo from the page of the recipe I followed:
Now I would never, ever attempt a layer cake normally, but this one is made of large biscuit (or cookie) layers. Not sponge cake. ie, easier. I mean, I can make cookies, right?
This is my cake:
Again, not quite as nice as in the pictures. But it tasted GREAT.
And that’s not just my opinion. I had guinea pigs taste testers at dinner last night.
So, anyway, I’ll include the recipe I used below, but if you want the proper recipe, click on the images above. I will try the other recipe next time I make it, its similar and looks like it might be easier.
Russian Honey Cake – Medovik
Ingredients:
1 cup sugar
2 eggs, beaten
1/4 cup butter
2 tablespoons honey (this time I stuck with the amount stated)
2 teaspoons baking powder
3 cups all-purpose flour (we just call it plain flour here)
Cream Filling (see recipe below)
Preparation:
Preheat oven to 190C or 375F depending on where you live. Cut five sheets of baking paper, I did not cut them into circles as the recipe said, I mean, why bother? You cut the dough into circles, the paper can be triangles if you want.
In a small bowl, combine sugar and eggs.
In a large saucepan over low heat, melt butter. Add honey, egg-sugar mixture, and baking powder; stir constantly until well blended and foamy the recipe says. It didn’t get really foamy, but there was a slight foaminess about the edges…
Remove from heat.
Stir in flour until dough is not sticky. I did have to add a bit more flour and I did work it by hand on the bench in order to make it unsticky enough to roll out. I had to cause the dough kept sticking to my rolling pin.
Divide the dough into five more or less equal blobs. Cover the blobs with plastic wrap to keep them warm. No idea why this is important, but it is.
Using a floured rolling pin, roll one blob into a more or less round shape about 1/4-inch thick. I found it was easier to roll the dough out straight onto the baking paper and not try to lift it up. I mean, its really quite thin even when its thicker than it should be… Once it was rolled out I used the base of a springform cake tin to cut it into circles.
I used the offcuts to patch any edges that didn’t quite reach the edge, and all leftover bits were baked as well for the crumb topping.
Bake 3 to 5 minutes or until just barely golden but not brown. Remove from oven and cool.
Repeat for the other four blobs of dough.
I had to keep a close eye on them as they baked cause our oven (despite being fan forced) doesn’t bake evenly. I also baked them one at a time to be safe.
The recipe says you should prepare the filling at this stage. I prepared it before I did the dough/baking. I mean, it said you needed to let it cool so why would you prepare it last?
But in case you want to make it at this point, here it is now. Otherwise, do it first like I did.
Caramel-Cream Filling
1 and a bit can sweetened condensed milk (the recipe said 14oz, our cans are 12oz so I put in a bit extra. Maybe a little more than a bit extra… of course I had to use a conversion thingy to figure that out cause we work in grams, not ounces
3 eggs, beaten
2 tablespoons honey
1/4 cup butter
In a saucepan big enough for the job, over medium heat, combine sweetened condensed milk, eggs, honey, and butter. Stirring constantly, bring to a boil; boil until the mixture thickens. Or that’s what you’d want ideally. My mixture seemed pretty thick to begin with and at some stage I decided it was thick enough stopped.
Remove from heat and let cool.
I used the springform tin to put my cake together cause I thought it would be easier. I cut a bit of baking paper for the bottom so it wouldn’t stick. Alternate the layers of biscuit circles and filling. I used the crushed offcuts sprinkled on top to finish it off.
Put it in the fridge and leave it for at least 8 hours. I left it for 24 since it was dessert for the next night.
We had it with a bit of cream and my opinion is that its better with coffee or tea during the day than after a full meal at dinner time. It was too rich for after dinner.
It worked great for breakfast though!
The delicate flavour of the honey and the caramel flavour of the filling is just yummy.
z
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