Most honey cakes are just okay, this one is a different league

Most honey cakes are tasty, but they are just simple batter cakes without a drop of festivity. If I had to bring a cake to a family holiday dinner, a Russian Medovik cake, with its stunning layers, rich texture, and wonderful taste, is exactly what I would make.

Ingredients:

• 300 g honey

• 9 g baking soda (2 flat teaspoons)

• 150 g cold butter

• 60 g sugar

• 380 g flour

• 3 L-sized eggs

• a pinch of salt

Preparation method:

1. Preheat the oven to 180 degrees Celsius (turbo/convection). Weigh and measure all ingredients in advance.

2. Pour the honey into a pot and heat it until it becomes liquid. Add the baking soda. Note that the honey will start to foam and rise, so use a sufficiently high pot.

3. Cook the honey over medium heat until it starts to change color and takes on an amber-yellowish-orange hue. Remove from heat, add the butter and sugar, and stir until the butter melts and cools the honey slightly.

4. Add half of the flour and mix well. Add the eggs one by one and incorporate. Finally, add the remaining flour and mix well. The batter should be semi-liquid and not thick like in most recipes.

5. Spread the batter on parchment paper or a silicone baking mat (preferred) in a thin and even layer. If the batter hardens slightly and becomes too sticky to spread, warm it up. It is recommended to decide in advance what shape and size you want the cake; I recommend the size of an English cake tin to get many even layers and a tall cake.

6. Place in the oven for 5-7 minutes, until the biscuit has browned slightly and is no longer sticky to the touch. Remove from the oven, separate from the parchment paper, quickly cut into the desired shape, and continue baking all the batter so that as many layers as possible are created (save the edges for later). This is a slightly Sisyphean stage, but it is worth it, trust me. Put on some music or something.

7. Grind the remaining edges into powder using a food processor or with a rolling pin inside a bag, like in the old days.

8. In a large bowl, mix the sour cream together with the powdered sugar until combined, add the whipping cream, and whip until a stable cream is obtained.

9. Assemble layer by layer of biscuit and cream. After finishing, spread the remaining cream on top and all sides. It is okay if the sides are not the most aesthetic; after cooling, we will fix it. Sprinkle the biscuit powder over the cake (you can also do the sides if you want) and put it in the refrigerator for at least 3 hours, preferably for a whole night.

10. If you did not cover the sides of the cake with crumbs, you can cut half a centimeter from the edge of the cake before serving to expose the layers in a clean and aesthetic way.