This honey cake is so soft and fantastic. The honey baked into the cake layers pairs perfectly with the simple sour cream frosting.
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For my own safety, I’ve been delivering quarters of this goodness to various family members and I’ve received rave reviews across the board. It stays amazing in the fridge for a several days (the longest we’ve tested was 4 days), so this is also a great make-ahead cake. Woot!
It’s definitely a special occasion cake and will WOW your crowd, but it’s easier to make than typical Russian honey cakes that require a double boiler. This one’s not that sensitive, making it more attainable for everyone. Woot! Woot!
Honey Cake Layers Ingredients:
4 Tbsp (1/4 cup) honey
3/4 cup granulated sugar
2 Tbsp unsalted butter
3 large eggs, room temperature, beaten with a fork
1 tsp baking soda
3 cups all-purpose flour (I used unbleached, organic) *measured correctly
Sour Cream Frosting Ingredients:
32 oz sour cream
2 cups powdered sugar
1 cup heavy whipping cream
For the topping:
1/2 lb Fresh Berries, optional
How to Make a Honey Cake:
1. Add 3/4 cup sugar, 1/4 cup honey and 2 Tbsp unsalted butter to a medium sauce pan and melt them together over medium/low heat, whisking occasionally until sugar is melted (5-7 mins). Don’t put them over high heat or they may scorch to the bottom.
2. As soon as the sugar is dissolved, remove from heat and while it’s still hot, add in your beaten eggs in a slow steady stream while whisking vigorously until all of your eggs are incorporated (whisk constantly so you don’t end up with scrambled eggs).
3. Whisk in the baking soda until no lumps remain, then fold in your 3 cups flour 1/2 cup at a time with a spatula until the dough reaches a clay consistency and doesn’t stick to your hands. Mine took exactly 3 cups flour (measured precisely, scraping off the top of the cup). Watch our easy video tutorial on how to measure correctly!
4. Cut the dough into 8 equal pieces and move on to the next step right away (these roll out best when the dough is still warm)
5. On a well-floured surface, roll each piece out into a thin 9″ circle (about 1/8″ thick). You can sprinkle the top with a little flour too to keep dough from sticking to your rolling pin.
Place a 9″ plate or base from a springform mold over your rolled dough and trace around it with a pizza cutter to get a perfect circle. Keep the scraps for later.
Transfer the dough to a large sheet of parchment paper and bake 2 at a time at 350˚F for 4-5 minutes or until golden. Transfer to a wire rack and let cool completely before stacking. Repeat with remaining layers
6. Finally bake the scraps separated evenly on a re-used sheet of parchment.Once the scraps are baked, cooled and firm, you can crush them with a rolling pin or pulse them in a food processor until you have fine crumbs.
Tips for Success:
Roll out the next layers while the first ones are in the oven and total combined baking time shouldn’t take more than 25-ish minutes. Some of mine bubbled up a little on top which is fine since after it’s frosted, it won’t make a difference. I deflated any real whopping bubbles after they came out of the oven. Oh and I re-used my parchment paper (because I’m frugal that way).
If you don’t have a baking sheet large enough to place the parchment paper on, just bake directly on the rack (that’s what I did!)
How to make the frosting:
1. Beat 1 cup heavy cream until fluffy and stiff peaks form (1-2 min on high speed).
2. In a separate bowl, whisk together 32 oz sour cream with 2 cups powdered sugar. Fold the whipped cream into the sour cream and you have your frosting. Refrigerate until ready to use.
Assembling your Cake:
1. Spread about 1/3 cup frosting on each cake layer (the frosting will be loose, but don’t skimp on it since the cake needs to absorb some of the cream to become ultra soft. Press the cake layers down gently as you go to keep the layers from having air gaps. Frost the top and sides with the remaining frosting
2. Dust the top and sides with your breadcrumbs, then cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate overnight. This cake needs time to absorb some of the cream and soften, so be patient. It’s worth the wait!
Here’s the Print-friendly for your recipe books:
8-Layer Honey Cake Recipe (Medovik)
Ingredients
Cake Layers Ingredients:
- 4 Tbsp honey, (1/4 cup)
- 3/4 cup granulated sugar
- 2 Tbsp unsalted butter
- 3 large eggs, room temperature, beaten with a fork
- 1 tsp baking soda
- 3 cups all-purpose flour, I used unbleached, organic
Sour Cream Frosting Ingredients:
- 32 oz sour cream
- 2 cups powdered sugar
- 1 cup heavy whipping cream
For the topping:
- 1/2 lb strawberries, optional
Instructions
How to Make The Cake Layers:
- Add 3/4 cup sugar, 1/4 cup honey and 2 Tbsp unsalted butter to a medium sauce pan and melt them together over medium/low heat, whisking occasionally until sugar is melted (5-7 mins). Don't put them over high heat or they may scorch to the bottom.
- As soon as the sugar is dissolved, remove from heat and while it's still hot, add in your beaten eggs in a slow steady stream while whisking vigorously until all of your eggs are incorporated (whisk constantly so you don't end up with scrambled eggs).
- Whisk in the baking soda until no lumps remain, then fold in your 3 cups flour 1/2 cup at a time with a spatula until the dough reaches a clay consistency and doesn't stick to your hands. Mine took exactly 3 cups flour (measured precisely, scraping off the top of the cup).
- Cut the dough into 8 equal pieces and move on to the next step right away (these roll out best when the dough is still warm)
- On a well-floured surface, roll each piece out into a thin 9" circle (about 1/8" thick). You can sprinkle the top with a little flour too to keep dough from sticking to your rolling pin. Place a 9" plate or base from a springform mold over your rolled dough and trace around it with a pizza cutter to get a perfect circle. Keep the scraps for later. Transfer the dough to a large sheet of parchment paper and bake 2 at a time at 350˚F for 4-5 minutes or until golden. Transfer to a wire rack and let cool completely before stacking. Repeat with remaining layers.
- Finally bake the scraps separated evenly on a re-used sheet of parchment. Once the scraps are baked, cooled and firm, you can crush them with a rolling pin or pulse them in a food processor until you have fine crumbs.
How to make the frosting:
- Beat 1 cup heavy cream until fluffy and stiff peaks form (1-2 min on high speed).
- In a separate bowl, whisk together 32 oz sour cream with 2 cups powdered sugar. Fold the whipped cream into the sour cream and you have your frosting. Refrigerate until ready to use.
Assembling your Cake:
- Spread about 1/3 cup frosting on each cake layer (the frosting will be loose, but don't skimp on it since the cake needs to absorb some of the cream to become ultra soft. Press the cake layers down gently as you go to keep the layers from having air gaps. Frost the top and sides with the remaining frosting.
- Dust the top and sides with your breadcrumbs, then cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate overnight. This cake needs time to absorb some of the cream and soften, so be patient. It's worth the wait!
Notes
If you don't have a baking sheet large enough to place the parchment paper on, just bake directly on the rack (that's what I did!)
Nutrition Per Serving
(And the Pinterest friendly). Thanks so much for sharing this recipe with your friends and family. Good things are meant to be shared 😉
Hi, just wondering if you could tell me what baking soda is? I am from Australia and we don’t have that…..is it the same as baking powder ? thank so much.
Baking soda is about 3 to 4 times stronger than baking powder. Maybe you call it something else, but I have no idea what the equivalent is in Australia. Maybe someone else knows?
I believe here in Australia, Bicarb of Soda is the equivalent of Baking Soda.
Hi natasha! thanks alot for you recipe.it’s very nice.made for a big gathering by my place.all enjoyed it.had to make 4 cakes😀.thanks once again.
Fatima, you are very welcome and thank you for such a nice review! 😬
I am so sad right now! I saw this cake and was like I have to make this, so i did and I put it in the fridge, and when I went to take it out, the whole top slid off and onto the floor. I though that the cake gets firm? What happened? But luckely I found your biskvit and made that and but peaches and frosting on it.
That sounds wild! I’ve never had anything like that happen before. How long was the cake in the fridge? After sitting in the fridge overnight, the layers are supposed to absorb the cream which softened the layers, but the top definitely should not slide off at any point. Is there anything you changed in the recipe? Did your cake look different from what I showed in the photos?
This hands down is the greatest cake recipe ever! This is one of my favorite cakes at the Russain store and now I can make it at home, best part is that it’s better than the store!!!😍😍😍😍
Kristina, thank you for another great review! Your comment is music to my ears 😄.
This cake is one of the best I have ever made or tasted, and everyone I have made it for agrees.
Also, the recipe is well written and easy to follow. Thank you!
Gabriele, I’m so happy to hear that 😁. Thank you for such a nice review!
Hi Natasha,
Thanks very much for sharing such a wonderful recipe! Got rave reviews for this.
Also Steph’s post dt 10-Oct-16 was very useful.
Thanks again!
Is did a 1kg or half kg recipe
I don’t measure my cakes this way so I’m not sure what you mean.
Hi Natasha,
Its a bit difficult to find sour cream here. is there anything that I can substitute for sour cream?
You might be able to use a plain Greek yogurt but I’m not sure how it will affect the texture and flavor of the frosting without testing it myself.
This was my first time making a Honey cake and this was DELICIOUS. I was so scared to start making it because I was afraid that it was not going to turn good but even with my limited skills in baking, this cake turned out to be so GOOD!!!! Thank you!!!!!
You are very welcome Tatiana, I’m so happy to hear that 😀. Great job!
This cake is 2 things, what I like to call a show stopper (I received applause when i uncovered it and oooh’s and aww’s when the first slice was cut!) And a knock it out of the park hit! Everyone had dessert already then everyone had a slice of cake and loved it! Now I read plenty of the comments before making this cake and was worried it would go wrong, nope. I followed the instructions to the letter including checking the photos to make sure things looked right. I have a few tips 1. I poured the butter sugar mix into my stand mixer, with the whisk on, out of the hot pot and into a cool bowl, to help not cook the eggs and turned it on high.
2. Beat your eggs in a glass measuring cup ,since it has a spout to pour a nice steady slow stream.
3. Changed to the paddle on the mixer to add in the flour. I Needed to add a bit more flour to get the right consistency.
4. Rolled out a log to chop into 8 fairly even pieces.
5. When rolling out the 8 layers they have to be pretty paper thin. And this is very forgiving in my opinion if you make a hole patch it with the extra From the edges no one will ever see it anyway. My circles were not as perfect and uniform as Natasha’s but that’s fine too frosting hides many flaws!
6. I found I was getting better at rolling them out after the third one, so keeping them warm wasn’t a requirement for me,
Try what works warm or cool… and use lots of flour so it doesn’t stick.
7. I added a tablespoon of honey in the frosting as someone suggested and this was great
And of course sit overnight…. a step that can not be messed with!
It was absolutely delicious! Thank you, thank you, thank you. It’s not hard to make, it just takes time and a little know how. Sorry for the long review!
Thank you so much for sharing your wonderful review!! 🙂
Awesome recipe! Do you have any recommendations for how to bake it in one day? I don’t have time to let it sit overnight. Thanks in advance 🙂
Hi Anita, this cake really does need to soften overnight, otherwise you won’t be able to cut through it. The cake layers absorb some of the cream and become soft and wonderful. Unfortunately, there are no shortcuts with this one. You can make the cake layers a day ahead and leave them at room temp and then assemble the following day but it still needs time to sit and rest once it’s frosted/assembled.
Recipe didn’t work for me. Not enough dough to roll out the pieces. Wish I didn’t waste all that honey.
Hi Landry, how thick did you roll out the dough? The layers should be rolled very thin as shown in the photos. Did you have trouble rolling it out? Also, did you divide the dough up before rolling? This has always helped me to get enough even layers.
great cake…. thanks for the recipe… i added just a table spoon of honey into the frosting to keep up with the honey theme and it was magical….
I’m so you liked it, thank you for sharing with us 😄
Made this for a dinner party, was a total hit. The dough was a little hard to handle initially but then I kept it warm in double boiler and rolling out the subsequent layers was easier. I made nine 7.5 inch layers out of it. Do you think increasing the amount of butter in the recipe would make it easier to roll?
Also in the frosting I used 500 ml heavy cream and reduced sour cream to 16 oz and found it to be according to my taste.
I wasn’t successful in coating the sides with crumbs properly.
The layers and softness was perfect.
Thank you so much.
Hi Nida, I’m so happy you liked it! It might be worthwhile experimenting with a little more butter. I haven’t had trouble with rolling this cake out personally, I wonder if maybe you are using a little too much flour? Also, are you using American All-purpose flour?
Hi Natasha,
Thank you for sharing this recipe, I made a double batch ( honey cake is one of those things… never enough, you know;))
It is for the first time while making the dough I did not have any trouble- wonderful consistency not too sticky and the circles when rolling did not retract.
My 3 y.o. son helped me to mix the ingredients and then with frosting (licking the spoon is quite important task) So I enjoyed both : making and having it with a cup of tea for a cosy family dinner.
Thank you!
Julia, thank you for such a nice feedback and you are welcome 😀. Now I’m really craving this cake!
Hi Natasha, this is my first time making a honey cake this version but i think it should turn out better. Ur cake looks so crispy and mine looked like it’s wet or like packed with flour. Not sure why. It takes delicious just looks different.
Hi Olga, I’m not exactly sure what you mean by wet or packed with flour but I am happy to help troubleshoot. What did your cake layers look like before you put the frosting on? Did you wait until the next day to cut into it allowing the layers to become softened? How did you measure the flower for this cake? When I measure flour, I spoon it into a measuring cup and scrape off the top for a more accurate measure. If you dip the measuring cup right into the flower container and scoop it out, you can get up to 1 1/2 times as much as you need for the recipe. Was there anything that you may have changed in the recipe or at what point did your cake look different from what I have in the photos in the post?
Hi Natasha,
I just wanted to say that I followed your instructions carefully and this cake came out perfectly the first time 😀
I would advise that if you are going to attempt to make this cake please do read the comments and Natasha’s replies and advice, there are also some great tips from readers which really helped me out. What an amazing cake!!
Dipak, I’m so happy to hear that you like the cake! Thank you for sharing your great review!
Those of you that are having problems with frosting.
This the kind I use for this cake
8oz cream cheese beaten with one cup sugar then add 16oz sour cream beat scraping sides then add 8oz thawed cool whip and beat till nice and fluffy.
Thanks for sharing! 🙂
Hi,
This is my all time favorite cake. I do it a little different tho, I use the double boiler method. And to keep the dough from getting hard I use the pot with the hot water remove it from heat and place the bowl with dough back on it and cover it with towel and it keeps the dough warm the entire time, never had a problem with hard to roll dough. Also I oil my hands and rolling pin to keep the dough from sticking and last I draw two 9″ or 10″ circles on parchment paper and roll it out there and then slide it right in the oven. Just a few of my tips to make it easier. I used to get so frustrated making this cake, I always had problems with dough being too hard or sticky. Thanks!
Thank you so much for sharing! We use this method for our spartak cakes as well and it works really. This dough doesn’t require that method and is quicker to make. Thanks for sharing your awesome tips!
I can’t begin to tell you how ingenious it was to add whipping cream to the sour cream. So simple, but fixed the long term problem I have been having trying to follow my grandmother’s Medovik recipe. American sour cream is just not as fatty and frosting always came out runny. Would get completely absorbed into the layers. I made a birthday cake for my daughter yesterday and it came out PERFECT!!! 9 layers with perfect white between them. Soft and delicious. It was a huge success and I only got to try a little slice, since it disappeared so fast. Thank you for the perfect recipe!!!
Nelya, thank you for such a nice review and you are welcome 😀.