Russian Burnt Honey Cake

If you’ve been reading this blog for a while, you know that making my own birthday cake has become an unbreakable tradition. In particular I like to use it as an excuse to try something indulgent and a bit more complicated than my usual…and BOY does this Russian burnt honey cake qualify!

This year we’re going QUITE belated, since my birthday was in late September and I’m just now getting this posted (and even later now have posted these caramelized white chocolate and coffee tarts, birthday dessert part 2).

This is one of those intriguing foods that I see and think…wouldn’t that be cool?? But then I kind of avoid and delay tackling it because it seems so complex. But the important thing to know on this Russian honey cake (also called medovik) is that it’s complicated but not difficult.

It takes time and focus and a lot of steps, but none of them are hard. It’s a very cool thing to try for a special occasion, and would be great with an extra set of hands as well.

This post is really long because I’ve tried to be super detailed on the techniques, and I’ve also put a list of kitchen tools at the bottom of the post by the recipe that will make this much easier.

I looked at like 6 different recipes for Russian honey cake and narrowed it down to one main one that has a couple small changes and uses burnt honey for depth of flavor.

But then also decided to use sour cream in my filling (like this one), and then also took a couple things from Nadiya’s (specifically adding in some chopped toasted hazelnuts and a bit of salt to the outer crumb covering).

The result is both traditional and a little unique, and 100% delicious. Mine was also incredibly tilty, not the most beautiful thing, but that’s life.

As a first step, we’ll make the burnt honey. Place 3/4 cup of honey in a 2-quart saucepan, and set over high heat. Bring to a simmer, then reduce the heat to medium.

Cook the honey, stirring occasionally with a heat-proof spatula, until it the color darkens and turns from pale yellow to dark amber, about 3 minutes. I was using a wildflower honey that’s naturally darker so the color didn’t change as much and I went by time and smell.

Turn off the heat and carefully add 1/4 cup water. Allow the honey to sputter until it stops bubbling, then whisk to combine. Transfer the mixture to a heatproof measuring cup with a spout, and set aside to cool.

Before making the batter, prepare your pans and mats first. I used baking sheets with silicone mats (this has circles already traced), with parchment paper under the silicone to trace a circle.

Precise circle making is important here, and I managed to fit two on each sheet (to make the baking go faster).

You can see how I approached it in the photos below. I took the bottom of my 8-inch loose-bottom pan and traced around it. I also prepped a lot of ingredients so they were “at hand” when I needed.

To make the cake batter, fill a medium saucepan with 2 inches of water, and bring to a simmer. In a large heat-proof bowl, combine 1/4 cup of the “burnt honey”, 3/4 cup of regular honey, and the sugar and butter. Place the bowl over the simmering pot of water, making sure the water is not touching the bottom of the bowl.

Crack eggs into a small bowl, stir briefly, and set aside. In a separate small bowl, stir together baking soda, salt and cinnamon.

Gently stir the honey and butter mixture over the hot water until the butter has melted, then whisk well to combine. Use your finger to test the temperature of the mixture. When it’s warm (but not too hot!), add the eggs while whisking continuously.

When the mixture returns to its original warm temperature, add the cinnamon mixture and continue whisking for another 30 seconds.

The batter will begin to foam and emit a curious odor. Remove the bowl from the heat, and allow it to cool until it’s just warm again.

Next, sift the flour over the batter in three batches, whisking to incorporate the flour completely with each addition until completely smooth.

Now you’re ready to go, but the batter will spread more easily when it’s warm so I recommend placing the bowl back on top of the pan of warm water (without the burner on) or in another warm spot like on top of your preheating oven.

Preheat the oven to 180C/375F and put the oven rack in the middle.

Spoon a 1/3 cup of batter over the prepared silicone mat over the traced circle and use the offset spatula to evenly spread the batter to the edges of the traced circle. Try to make it as even as possible and not have the edges be too thin. Sometimes you’ll need to add a tiny bit more batter to get it right.

Carefully slide the parchment paper out from under the silicone mat and put the pan in the oven.

Bake each layer for 6-7 minutes, until the cake turns a deep caramel color and springs back at your touch. Be careful not to overbake! If you’re reusing the baking sheets while still hot, you may need to reduce the baking time by a minute.

Put your parchment paper under another silicone mat on a different sheet and repeat the spooning and smoothing process with the remaining batter, cycling through baking sheets and silicone mats as they come out of the oven. Ultimately, you should end up with 11 layers (but if there’s less it’s not the end of the world).

When each layer is done, slide the silicone mat off the baking sheet to prevent overbaking. Place on a cooling rack, and as soon as they’ve set enough carefully release them from the mat and put the cakes on the cooking rack (or parchment paper on your counter) directly.

When the cake layers are cool enough to handle, examine them and trim any that have spread outside the traced circles (kitchen shears or a sharp knife work best). Don’t get rid of your trimmings! Let the cake layers cool completely.

Once all the layers are baked, reduce the oven temperature to 120C/250F and choose the ugliest layer , and return the least attractive layer (and trimmings) to a baking sheet along with the hazelnuts. Toast in the oven until a deep reddish brown and dry, anywhere from 15 to 30 minutes (it took longer for me).

Allow it to cool, then use a food processor to grind into fine crumbs along with some large crystal sea salt. Cover and set aside.

Now while the layers are cooling, let’s make the filling and get it chilled.

Place 1/2 cup of the burned honey, all of the dulce de leche, and the salt into a medium bowl. Whisk by hand until combined, then add all of the sour cream and mix until homogeneous.

Chill the mixture until completely cooled, about 30 minutes.

Pour the cream into the bowl of your stand mixer with the whisk attachment. Whip at medium speed to soft peaks, about 6 minutes.

Then add the honey mixture from the fridge and whip to medium stiff peaks. Remove the bowl from the mixer.

Now it’s time to assemble our Russian honey cake!

First a very important PSA…make sure your have room in your refrigerator for whatever you assemble the cake on, AND that the shelf is high enough for an extremely tall cake to fit.

Assemble the cake on flat serving plate, spinning cake stand, or something similar. Place your first cake layer in the center of the cardboard, then spoon a heap of frosting onto the center.

Use a small offset spatula to spread the frosting evenly, leaving a 1/4-inch ring around the edge.

Continue alternating layers of cake and frosting, ending the last layer with frosting.

Use your leftover frosting to smooth out the sides of the cake, but don’t worry if the edges of some cake layers poke through the frosting; they’re gonna be covered up anyway.

You should use up all the frosting although…I actually had a bit leftover. It was so delicious and I randomly spooned it onto other desserts throughout the week.

Place the frosted cake on a rimmed baking sheet and use your hands to press the sides with the reserved toasted cake crumbs.

I’ll be honest, there is NO good way to do this, it was incredibly awkward and didn’t work well. Just do your best. I put it on the top as well, making a little heart shape with parchment paper.

Chill the cake in the fridge overnight to give the frosting time to meld into the cake layers and soften them. This is important!

You do want to cover it, and that’s tricky because almost no cake carrier/stand lid would be tall enough. I had to kind of MacGyver a protective cage of aluminum foil and plastic wrap, without it touching the frosting.

Slice into thin wedges and serve cold or at cool room temperature. You can refrigerate the leftovers for up to 3 days.

Whew! Like I said, while it’s not difficult to make, Russian honey cake is a multi-step, highly involved cake that requires planning ahead. The finished cake, needs to chill overnight in the fridge before serving. The cake can be made up to two days in advance as well, if that’s convenient.

Other delicious birthday cakes you’ll love:

I strongly recommend reading through the instructions and the notes in the bottom of the recipe before starting. Also, here’s the thing…this is a 10-layer cake and is quite spectacular. But it’s also prone to becoming the Leaning Tower of Pisa. Proportionally you could do just like 7 layers and it would be great.

Equipment that will be helpful:

I use a kitchen scale for weighing everything, I think you’ll get much better results due to the accuracy. They’re cheap and a must-have tool for baking in my opinion.
Loose-bottom tin helps for tracing but is not necessary
Parchment paper
Silicone mat
Small offset spatula

FOR THE BURNT HONEY:

3/4 cup (9oz/255g) of honey (*see note below)
1/4 cup (2oz/57g) of water

FOR THE CAKE LAYERS:

1/4 cup of the burnt honey
3/4 cup (9oz/255g) of regular honey
1 cup + 2 tablespoons (8oz/227g) of granulated sugar
14 Tablespoons (7oz/199g) of unsalted butter, cut into 1/2-inch pieces
6 large eggs (300g without the shells)
2 1/2 teaspoons of baking soda
3/4 teaspoons of fine salt
1 teaspoon of ground cinnamon
3 3/4 cups (16oz/454g) of all-purpose flour
Separate, for crumb coating…1/4 cup of hazelnuts

FOR THE FROSTING:

1 (16-ounce) container of full-fat sour cream
1 (13.4-ounce) can of dulce de leche, such as Nestlé La Lechera
1/2 cup of the burnt honey
1 teaspoon of kosher salt (Diamond Crystal; use less if using another brand)
4 cups of cold heavy cream/whipping cream

First make the burnt honey:

Place 3/4 cup of honey in a 2-quart saucepan, and set over high heat. Bring to a simmer, then reduce the heat to medium.
Cook the honey, stirring occasionally with a heat-proof spatula, until it the color darkens and turns from pale yellow to dark amber, about 3 minutes. See notes, I was using a wildflower honey that’s naturally darker so the color didn’t change as much.
Turn off the heat and carefully add 1/4 cup water. Allow the honey to sputter until it stops bubbling, then whisk to combine. Transfer the mixture to a heatproof measuring cup with a spout, and set aside to cool.

Next make the cake batter:

Prepare your pans and mats first. I used baking sheets with silicone mats, but parchment paper under the silicone to trace a circle. Precise circle making is important here, and I managed to fit two on each sheet (to make the baking go faster). You can see how I approached it in the photos above. I took the bottom of my 8-inch loose-bottom pan and traced around it.
Fill a medium saucepan with 2 inches of water, and bring to a simmer. In a large heat-proof bowl, combine 1/4 cup of the “burnt honey”, 3/4 cup of regular honey, and the sugar and butter. Place the bowl over the simmering pot of water, making sure the water is not touching the bottom of the bowl.
Crack eggs into a small bowl, stir briefly, and set aside. In a separate small bowl, stir together baking soda, salt and cinnamon.
Gently stir the honey and butter mixture over the hot water until the butter has melted, then whisk well to combine. Use your finger to test the temperature of the mixture. When it’s warm (but not too hot!), add the eggs while whisking continuously.
When the mixture returns to its original warm temperature, add the cinnamon mixture and continue whisking for another 30 seconds. The batter will begin to foam and emit a curious odor. Remove the bowl from the heat, and allow it to cool until it’s just warm again.
Next, sift the flour over the batter in three batches, whisking to incorporate the flour completely with each addition until completely smooth.
Now you’re ready to go, but the batter will spread more easily when it’s warm so I recommend placing the bowl back on top of the pan of warm water (without the burner on) or in another warm spot like on top of your preheating oven.

Create & bake the cake layers:

Preheat the oven to 180C/375F and put the oven rack in the middle.
Spoon a 1/3 cup of batter over the prepared silicone mat over the traced circle and use the offset spatula to evenly spread the batter to the edges of the traced circle. Try to make it as even as possible and not have the edges be too thin. Sometimes you’ll need to add a tiny bit more batter to get it right.
Carefully slide the parchment paper out from under the silicone mat and put the pan in the oven. Bake each layer for 6-7 minutes, until the cake turns a deep caramel color and springs back at your touch. Be careful not to overbake! If you’re reusing the baking sheets while still hot, you may need to reduce the baking time by a minute.
Put your parchment paper under another silicone mat on a different sheet and repeat the spooning and smoothing process with the remaining batter, cycling through baking sheets and silicone mats as they come out of the oven. Ultimately, you should end up with 11 layers (but if there’s less it’s not the end of the world).
When each layer is done, slide the silicone mat off the baking sheet to prevent overbaking. Place on a cooling rack, and as soon as they’ve set enough carefully release them from the mat and put the cakes on the cooking rack (or parchment paper on your counter) directly.
When the cake layers are cool enough to handle, examine them and trim any that have spread outside the traced circles (kitchen shears or a sharp knife work best). Don’t get rid of your trimmings! Let the cake layers cool completely.
Once all the layers are baked, reduce the oven temperature to 120C/250F and choose the ugliest layer , and return the least attractive layer (and trimmings) to a baking sheet along with the hazelnuts. Toast in the oven until a deep reddish brown and dry, anywhere from 15 to 30 minutes (it took longer for me).
Allow it to cool, then use a food processor to grind into fine crumbs along with some large crystal sea salt. Cover and set aside.

Make the filling/frosting:

Place 1/2 cup of the burned honey, all of the dulce de leche, and the salt into a medium bowl. Whisk by hand until combined, then add all of the sour cream and mix until homogeneous.
Chill the mixture until completely cooled, about 30 minutes.
Pour the cream into the bowl of your stand mixer with the whisk attachment. Whip at medium speed to soft peaks, about 6 minutes.
Then add the honey mixture from the fridge and whip to medium stiff peaks. Remove the bowl from the mixer.

Assemble your Russian honey cake:

First…make sure your have room in your refrigerator for whatever you assemble the cake on, AND that the shelf is high enough for an extremely tall cake to fit.
Assemble the cake on flat serving plate, spinning cake stand, or something similar. Place your first cake layer in the center of the cardboard, then spoon a heap of frosting onto the center. Use a small offset spatula to spread the frosting evenly, leaving a 1/4-inch ring around the edge.
Continue alternating layers of cake and frosting, ending the last layer with frosting. Use your leftover frosting to smooth out the sides of the cake, but don’t worry if the edges of some cake layers poke through the frosting; they’re gonna be covered up anyway. You should use up all the frosting.
Place the frosted cake on a rimmed baking sheet and use your hands to press the sides with the reserved toasted cake crumbs. I’ll be honest, there is NO good way to do this, it was incredibly awkward and didn’t work well. Just do your best. I put it on the top as well, making a little heart shape with parchment paper.
Chill the cake in the fridge overnight to give the frosting time to meld into the cake layers and soften them. You do want to cover it, and that’s tricky because almost no cake carrier/stand lid would be tall enough. I had to kind of MacGyver a protective cage of aluminum foil and plastic wrap, without it touching the frosting.
Slice into thin wedges and serve cold or at cool room temperature. Refrigerate leftovers for up to 3 days.

Notes:

If you use a darker honey like wildflower honey, it won’t change colors as much when it’s “burning”, so go by time and smell.
The frosting calls for a can of Dulce De Leche, which is readily sold in some countries. If it’s not available where you live, you can make your own with sweetened condensed milk. Just know that it takes 4 hours to cook, so plan ahead and you make it as far as a month in advance.
Make sure your have room in your refrigerator for whatever you assemble the cake on, AND that the shelf is high enough for an extremely tall cake to fit. The cake will need to chill in the fridge overnight.

I merged elements from a few different recipes for this, but heavily used this one from Cleo Buttera

Pin for later!

Happy Birthday to Me + Russian Burnt Honey Cake