Medovik – Russian Honey Cake
Medovik Honey Cake Recipe: A Sweet Russian Delight
Medovik Cake, also known as Russian honey cake, is a beloved dessert characterized by its multiple thin layers and rich, honey-infused flavor. Originating in Russia, this cake has a history dating back to the 19th century. Each layer is made from a dough that incorporates plenty of honey flavor, which provides its distinct taste and moist texture. These layers are traditionally filled with a creamy mixture, often made from sweetened condensed milk, butter, or sour cream, creating a perfect balance between sweetness and tanginess. The honey layers and the tangy cream are a match made in heaven for any sweet tooth! This Medovik Russian Honey Cake Recipe is just perfect!
Medovik is more than just a cake. It’s a testament to the art of pastry, requiring patience and skill to make and assemble. The cake improves with time, allowing the flavors to meld and the layers to soften, resulting in a melt-in-your-mouth experience. Its unique flavor and elegant presentation make it a favorite for special occasions and celebrations. Whether enjoyed with a cup of tea or as a grand finale to a festive meal, this Medovik Russian honey cake recipe is sure to impress with its delicate sweetness and sophisticated layers.

Flavors
If there’s one thing I admire about Medovik – Russian Honey Cake and Russian pastries in general that is the patience of actually creating and layering these desserts. The dough itself is not difficult to make, but the baking requires so much time spent rolling, baking and cutting each layer. But the effort pays off as the final taste is incredible! I chose vanilla and orange zest as flavorings this time, but pretty much anything can be added both in the dough and in the filling. Cardamom is another flavor I found perfect for this cake, but feel free to replace it with vanilla or cinnamon if you want.


Medovik – Russian Honey Cake
Ingredients
Honey dough – thin biscuits
- 200 g granulated white sugar
- 130 g honey (choose a fragrant honey)
- 180 g butter
- 150 g whole eggs
- 6 g baking soda
- 500 g all-purpose flour
- 3 g salt
- 1 g cardamom powder
Whipped sour cream
- 550 g sour cream (minimum of 30% fat content)
- 400 g whipping cream
- 250 g icing sugar
- 10 g vanilla extract
- 10 g orange zest
Instructions
Honey dough – biscuits
- Combine the sugar, honey and butter in a bowl and place over a hot water bath until melted and hot to the touch.
- Gradually add the whole eggs and keep on low heat until the mixture begins to thicken.
- Remove from heat and stir in the baking soda right away. The mixture will foam up and change texture.
- Mix the flour with the salt and cardamom powder then gradually mix it with the warm honey mixture using a spatula.
- The final dough will be quite soft and sticky, but don’t add more flour to it! I know it is tempting, but due to the butter and honey content, it will firm up in the fridge.
- Wrap the dough in plastic wrap and refrigerate at least 6 hours before using.
- For the next step, make sure your working surface is well floured. I also recommend working on individual pieces of baking paper as the dough is much easier to handle this way.
- Take pieces of dough (80-100g at a time) and roll it into a very thin sheet – 1mm thickness. Cut out discs of 18cm diameter. You can also bake them as they are and cut them afterwards, as they are still hot. However, I find it easier to bake them already cut to size.
- Keep rolling the dough and cutting discs until you run out of dough and you have at least 16 layers of biscuit. I managed to bake 18 discs of dough, using the dough scraps as well by kneading them together once again.
- Bake the discs of dough at 180C for 8-10 minutes or until golden brown and dry.
- Keep in a dry place until needed. You can wrap them in plastic wrap and freeze them for later use if you need to.
Whipped sour cream
- Combine the sour cream and whipping cream in a bowl.
- Whip on medium speed until stiff and creamy. Stay close to the mixer as it can curdle easily.
- Stir in the vanilla and orange zest with a spatula.
To assemble the cake
- Place a 18cm diameter cake ring on a cake board and line it with acetate sheet.
- Begin layering the honey biscuits with the sour cream: 1 biscuit, 80g of whipped sour cream for each layer, biscuit again and so on.
- The final cake will have 15 layers of biscuit while the rest of the biscuits (3 pieces) will be used to decorate the cake later. I usually choose the ones that aren’t that pretty for this particular task.
- Once the cake is built, cover it with plastic wrap and refrigerate it overnight to allow the biscuits to soften due to the moisture in the cream and the flavors combine together well.
To finish the cake
- Mix 120g of sour cream with 30g powdered sugar and use this cream to ice the cake evenly on all sides.
- Decorate the cake with the remaining honey biscuits that have been crushed into a fine powder.
- Enjoy!
Equipment
- Mixer
- Kitchen scale
- Oven
- Baking paper
- 1 18cm cake ring
- Acetate sheet
- Spatulas
- Bowls
- Cooking pot
- Heatproof bowl or double boiler
- Fridge
- Rolling Pin
Notes
In terms of flavors, I chose orange and cardamom, but feel free to experiment.
