Medovik

The very first birthday of the new year was my sister-in-law's birthday.  For her birthday I decided to try a new cake recipe which I have been wanting to try for so long. The cake, or maybe I should say torte, is called Medovik. It is one of the most popular cakes in Russia; it's a honey torte with layers and layers of melt in your month honey cake, each layer is slathered with a sour cream filling. There are many variations of this torte. Hope you enjoy my version!!

Medovik  (Honey Torte)

6 eggs
11/2 cup butter softened

2 cups sugar

11/4 cup liquid honey

3/4 cup sour cream

8 cups flour

11/2 tsp baking powder

2 tsp salt
2 cups chopped walnuts

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Prepare baking sheet by lining with parchment paper. I used 2 - 12" x 18" baking sheet and split the cake batter into 3 portions .  9"x 13" baking sheet would work too, split cake batter into 4 portions.  This is a quite a large cake recipe it can easily be cut in half for a smaller cake.

In a large bowl whisk flour (I use cake and pastry flour but all-purpose is fine), baking powder and salt. Set aside. In a mixing bowl combine eggs, softened butter, sugar and honey. Beat mixture until light and creamy.

Beat in sour cream.

Then add flour mixture all at once. Mix on low until flour mixture is blended and then on med-high for 2 minutes. The cake mixture will be light and fluffy, add chopped nuts and mix thoroughly.

Bake for 18 minutes or until golden brown. Flip onto wire rack, remove parchment paper and cool completely. Once cooled cut cakes to the size you prefer. I cut each cake in half to fit my serving platter and trimmed edged that were dry and uneven. Save the trimmed piece, place them into a Ziploc bag and crush with rolling pin. The crumbs will be use to decorate the top and sides of cake.   

For Cream:

4 cups milk

Pour 4 cups milk into a pot. Use a pot that is less likely to burn, mixture can burn on bottom easily. Start warming milk on medium. While the milk is warming, prepare cream mixture.

Combine:

4 egg yolks

5 tbsp flour

1 1/2 cup sugar

pinch of salt

Mix well, until mixture is light yellow. Add 1 cup cold milk, mix well. Avoid lumps. Slowly pour cream mixture into warming milk, using a whisk to stir the cream in.

 Bring mixture to boil, stirring the whole time. Gently boil for 2-3 minute  until mixture thickens.

Remove from heat. Cool completely, add 1 tsp. vanilla. Beat 1 cup softened unsalted butter in mixer until light and fluffy, add 1 cup cold sour cream and cooled custard mixture. Beat mixture till creamy, fluffy and combined. Cool in refrigerate for 1/2 hour. 

 After cream has chilled, spread cream between each layer, leaving enough to cover sides and top of cake. Sprinkle top and sides of cake with reserved cake crumbs. Let the cake set for up to 12 hours or overnight to allow the cream to absorb into the cake. Once the cake has absorb the cream the honey cake layers will be soft and melt in your mouth one bite at a time:) 

I decorated the cake with tuile cookies that I shaped into roses, hot out of the oven.

This is definitely on my make again and again list!!!

Layer after layer of sweet honey cake with sour cream filling, oh my! 

Oh, and now to mention the best part. My dad is a beekeeper, so that means fresh honey, all the time, anytime. My mom and dad harvest the honey together, lately I have been helping out. I think it's so exciting to watch how sweet golden honey is produce from hives filled with buzzing bees.

Pleasant words are like a honeycomb, sweetness to the soul and health to the bones. Proverbs 16:24

Not to mention all the other great things that you get besides the honey. Natural beeswax, for example. I make homemade beeswax hand cream. There is no need for expensive facial creams that contain many unnatural ingredient and hardly ever produce the promised effect. This homemade cream works wonders. It helps achieve a naturally healthy and younger looking face and skin. Ask anyone that has used my cream and they will tell you first hand. I can post the recipe in a later post if anyone is interested.

Propolis, Royal jelly, and Bee pollen are a few other amazing products that you get from harvesting bees. All you have to do is a simple goggle search on any of these products and you will see for yourself just how beneficial these are. 

If you think about it making a cake and beekeeping are very similar, they both start with simple ingredients which someone works with and in the end it produces a delicious finished product that anyone is sure to enjoy!!! Sure the ingredients are totally different but the one main ingredient that is very important in both procedures is Love. You need to love what your doing to want to do it over and over again!!

With SweetBakedLove