2011 Cooking Club Week 27: Czech Honey Cake

Magic Monkey

Also known as "Medovnik," the origins of this layered cake may be Russian or Armenian. But, seeing as I got the recipe from a Czech website/video (don't worry, the recipe works), in this case it's Czech.

No step-by-step pics like the 2010 entry, but it's fairly easy. There are three main elements. First, the cake layers. The mixing method is slightly unusual, but it works. Because there's six layers, you just need time/patience/organisation to bake them all off. Secondly, the filling between each layer; basically a caramel buttercream. And finally, the decoration, which is a blend of walnuts and gingerbread.

If you don't want to make gingerbread to make crumbs (I did), then just buy some and blitz or bash it to a powder, or use gingersnaps, or whatever you favourite spiced biscuit is.

Ingredients

Cake

• 100g Icing sugar
• 30g Butter or Margarine
• 1 Egg
• 2 Tbsp. Honey or Golden syrup
• 1 tsp Baking soda
• 250g Plain flour, sifted

Filling

• 1 tin Carnation Caramel
• 250g Unsalted butter, soft

Decoration

• 1 cup Filter coffee, cold
• 1 Tbsp Rum
• 100g Walnuts, ground
• 100g Gingerbread crumbs

Directions:

1. Warm icing sugar, butter, eggs and honey in a double boiler, stirring until smooth and just warm, not hot. You don't want to cook the eggs.
2. Add baking soda, mixing in. Add flour into wet ingredients to form a dough.
3. Turn out onto work surface. Knead until smooth. Divide into 6 even pieces. If you like, you can weigh the total dough and divide that number by six, then scale the pieces by weight.
4. Roll out 6 circles. Roll each one onto a square of baking paper. Place a 22cm/8.5" circular cake board or springform base over the dough, and then trim the edges. If you have a lot of trimmings after the 6th piece, make another layer. It won't hurt.
5. Bake each circle @ 180c for 4-5 mins, upper-third of the oven. The cake layer should be lightly browned, and offer resistance when poked.

6. For the filling: Cream the unsalted butter, and gradually add the caramel until smooth.

7. To assemble: Combine coffee with rum. Combine ground walnuts with the gingerbread crumbs.
8. Brush first layer with the syrup. Spread on a layer of filling, then a sprinkling of walnut and gingerbread. Repeat, finishing with a layer of filling on the top layer, and coating the entire cake with the walnut and gingerbread mixture.
9. Refrigerate for 24 hours before consumption.

Any questions, post 'em here.

Edit: Here's the link to the original recipe/video; it should help to see the technique.

Dotcomdolly

Oh I have tried this - they sell it in Mondo's in Sundrive. Delicous - I can only imagine how tasty the homemade version would be.

BaZmO*

My OH is Lithuanian and I've had this cake a few time at family parties. I think it may be of Russian origin, but either way it's lovely, quite sweet though but still really nice

Loopy

It looks divine. I'm gonna defo give it a bash..

John Mason

a double boiler

whats a double boiler

Magic Monkey

irishbird wrote: »

a double boiler

whats a double boiler

Put a heatproof bowl over a pot of very gently simmering water, ensuring the base of the bowl doesn't directly touch the water. The steam is a very gentle way to heat the mixture in the bowl.

neuro-praxis

AKA bain-marie, Irishbird.

Mmm, this looks really different and lovely. Will wait for a special occasion to make it! Thanks OP.

Dotcomdolly

neuro-praxis wrote: »

AKA bain-marie, Irishbird.

Mmm, this looks really different and lovely. Will wait for a special occasion to make it! Thanks OP.

No a bain-marie is different - it's a water bath (how you would do creme-caramel in the oven for example) a double-boiler is the way you'd usually melt chocolate as described above with the pyrex dish in a saucepan over simmering water.

neuro-praxis

Dotcomdolly wrote: »

No a bain-marie is different - it's a water bath (how you would do creme-caramel in the oven for example) a double-boiler is the way you'd usually melt chocolate as described above with the pyrex dish in a saucepan over simmering water.

I never knew. I've been calling a double-boiler a bain-marie for years.

Little Alex

Magic Monkey wrote: »

Also known as "Medovnik," the origins of this layered cake may be Russian or Armenian. But, seeing as I got the recipe from a Czech website/video (don't worry, the recipe works), in this case it's Czech.

There are a lot of fancy German and Hungarian cakes similar to this one, too.

Anyway, I made this last night and it was ready for serving this afternoon!



I'm bringing it into work so I'm sure it'll go down well!

BTW, Magic Monkey, do you speak an array of Central European languages?

Magic Monkey

If there's one person I knew would make this, it's you Little Alex That looks amazing! Mine looks haggard in comparison You have some very lucky co-workers.

The central europeans do like their layered cakes. The closest Hungarian cake would be dobos torta or "drum cake," similar to the medovnik, but with a chocolate buttercream and topped with a caramel glaze. LA, I have a smattering of a few, more Hungarian than anything else though!

Little Alex

Thanks, MM. Yours looks great too!

And yes, it went down well at work!

tatumkelly

Sorry to drag up an old thread, but I'm just wondering if the gingerbread crumbs are just crumbled up ginger cake?

Magic Monkey

More like gingersnaps, but you could use cake if you blitzed it finely in a food processor and dried it out in a 100c oven for an hour or two.

tatumkelly

Thanks for the recipe...everyone loved it