Pear Honey Cake – Medovik Recipe
Autumn is a great season, although not my favorite. I am a summer girl, that’s for sure. However, I do appreciate the abundance of autumn. All these colors are gorgeous and the pears, the apples, the pumpkins are delicious with their flavor, smoothness, crispness even. But from all the fruits, pears are my favorite. There’s nothing like a juicy fragrant pear! And I love them even more so in desserts. I find that their flavor is better and the texture is heavenly. And this pear honey cake makes the most of pears for sure!
The honey cake layers are packed with flavor and they work so well with the pear cinnamon insert. The cream however includes one ingredient that you may not find in desserts to often – goat cheese. Why you may ask? Well because I love its tanginess and the great flavor it brings to fruity dessert. I have combined goat cheese with raspberries before in this Red Velvet Cake and loved it! And I gotta say it works just as well in this pear honey cake. Or Medovik. Call it as you wish, it’s spectacular either way!
I love Medovik cakes not only for their taste however, but also for their layering. I find it to be one of the most satisfying things to bake, but also a good option if you want to stack a cake as they are quite sturdy although creamy and rich. In fact, I use a similar layering in other of my cakes, even though they may not be honey cakes. Thin layers of sponge cake with cream and insert in between is always a great idea! One more important aspect of Medovik or honey cakes is that you do not need to be an expert or professional to bake one. A rolling pin is all you need to bake beautiful layers of this pear honey cake!
Pear Honey Cake – Medovik Recipe
Ingredients
Honey Dough
- 180 g whole eggs
- 200 g granulated white sugar
- 120 g butter (cubed)
- 100 g honey
- 8 g baking soda
- 500 g all-purpose white flour (sifted)
- 3 g salt
- 2 g ground cinnamon
Pear Filling
- 300 g ripe pears (cut into small cubes)
- 15 g butter
- 5 g lemon juice
- 20 g granulated white sugar
- 1 cinnamon stick
- 15 g light brown sugar
- 3 g pectin NH
- 0.5 g ground cinnamon
Sour Cream Filling
- 530 g sour cream (35-40% fat, cold)
- 170 g mascarpone (cold)
- 200 g whipping cream (cold)
- 115 g goat cream cheese (cold)
- 95 g powdered sugar (sifted)
- 10 g vanilla extract
Pears in Syrup (for decoration)
- 3 small pears (peeled)
- 400 g water
- 170 g granulated white sugar
- 1 cinnamon stick
- 10 g lemon juice
Cream for Decoration
- 80 g mascarpone
- 100 g whipping cream
- 25 g powdered sugar (sifted)
- 5 g vanilla extract
Instructions
Honey dough
- In a heatproof bowl, combine the eggs with sugar and lightly whisk until a frothy mixture forms. A light foam is enough.
- Add the butter, honey, and baking soda, then place the bowl over a double boiler, stirring constantly.
- Keep on the double boiler until the mixture is hot and becomes frothy (this activates the baking soda).
- Remove from heat and add the flour, salt, and cinnamon, all at once.
- The dough will be quite soft. Do not add any extra flour!
- Wrap the dough in plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 6 hours.
- Divide the dough into 80g balls and roll out thin sheets with an 18cm diameter. Before baking, pierce the rolled dough with a fork to prevent it from over-rising and losing its shape. For the cake assembly, you’ll need 11 Medovik layers. With the remaining dough, roll out one more sheet that you will later grind into a fine powder.
- Bake the layers at 170°C (340°F) for 8-10 minutes or until golden. Keep a close eye on them as they caramelize quickly.
Pear Filling
- Combine the pears, butter, lemon juice, cinnamon stick, and white sugar in a saucepan.
- Cook over low heat until the pears are soft and the syrup has slightly reduced.
- Mix the NH pectin with the brown sugar and gradually add it to the pears.
- Boil for another 2 minutes, then remove from heat and add ground cinnamon. Adding more cinnamon is optional, depending on the intensity of the cinnamon stick.
- Set aside and cool, covered with plastic wrap to touch.
Pears in Syrup
- In a small saucepan, combine water, sugar, lemon juice, and the cinnamon stick.
- Bring to a boil.
- Once boiling, add the peeled pears and reduce the heat to low.
- Cover and simmer for 20-25 minutes, or until a knife easily pierces the pears.
- Set aside and let the pears cool in the syrup.
Sour Cream Filling
- Combine all the ingredients in a large bowl.
- Mix with a hand mixer until you get a firm, light and airy cream, but it should hold its shape.
- Divide the cream into 10 equal portions.
- Medovik Cake Assembly with Pears
- Prepare an 18cm cake ring lined with acetate film. Place the ring on a cake board.
- Add a teaspoon of cream at the base, then place the first honey cake layer.
- Spread one portion of sour cream filling evenly and add a few teaspoons of pear filling.
- Place another cake layer on top and press gently.
- Continue layering with cream – pear filling – cake – cream – pear filling – cake, etc.
- Refrigerate the cake for at least 8 hours to set and allow the layers to absorb moisture from the cream.
Cream for Coating
- Whip all 4 ingredients together until you achieve a firm cream.
- Medovik Cake with Pears Finishing
- Cover the cake with the mascarpone cream, smoothing the top and sides.
- Finish with the powder made from the baked dough scraps.
- Decorate with well-drained pears in syrup.
- Enjoy!
Equipment
- Kitchen scale
- Fridge
- Oven
- Baking trays
- Baking paper
- Rolling Pin
- Plastic wrap
- Spoons
- Spatulas
- Bowls
- Heatproof bowl
- Knife
- Fork
