Medovnik – Honey Cake

Medovnik is the Czech word for a wonderful honey cake.  It is time consuming to make, and quite complicated to assemble.  But it is well worth it, as it tastes wonderful.  I have eaten it many times in Prague, you can buy a slice in any Cukrana, or indeed whole cakes.

As with all my early bakes I failed to take a photo of the inside of the cake.  So, although I have a photo of the cake, covered in the crumbed coating with chopped walnuts, I dont have a view of the inside.  I will try to rectify that at some time.  But I will say that this cake should have many layers.  Mine had eight layers of cake with the filling in between each layer and then all over the top and sides as well.

I warn you that this is a very addictive cake, and really rather sweet too.

• 450 grams Flour
• 180 grams Icing Sugar
• 180 grams Unsalted Butter
• 1 Egg
• 1 ½ teaspoon Baking Soda
• 6 tablespoons Honey
• 4 tablespoons Cream
• 1 teaspoon Cocoa Powder

• 1 Can Sweetened Condensed Milk
• 200 grams of Unsalted Butter
• 70 grams roughly chopped walnuts

1. The first thing to do is to make a start on the caramel filling. Take a can of condensed milk. Put it in a saucepan of water, making sure that the can is completely covered.
2. Bring the water to the boil and then simmer for about 2.5 hours, longer is fine too, it will make the caramel darker.
3. Remove the can from the water, and leave to completely cool. You can do this the day before making the cake.
4. In a bain marie add the butter, sugar, egg, honey and cream for about 5 minutes, using a hand mixer is best.
5. In a separate bowl mix the flour, baking soda and cocoa powder.
6. Then mix the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients and let sit for about 10 minutes covered with plastic film.
7. Take some parchment paper and draw 8 inch circles on it. Repeat this with 7 more pieces of paper.
8. The batter you made should now be of a cookie dough consistency, so that it is easy to roll, without sticking. If it is sticky let it sit a little longer, or use some flour on the rolling pin to prevent sticking.
9. Roll out, on the parchment paper approx 160 grams of the dough. Repeat for all 8 sheets of paper.
10. Bake each one for 6 to 7 minutes
11. On parchment paper draw an 8 inch circle and roll out approximately 160 grams of dough into a circle onto the paper to bake. Roll out 8 same sized circles and bake each one for 6 to 7 minutes at Gas Mark 4/350 degrees F/180 degrees C
12. Also bake any left over mixture, you will need it later, for crumbing.
13. When baked let it all cool
14. Cut each cake layer to precisely, or as close as possible, 8 inch circles. Retain the off-cuts
15. To assemble the cake take a flat plate, slightly larger than the 8 inch layers.
16. Lay one layer on the plate and cover with caramel
17. Sprinkle with a few chopped walnuts
18. Lay the next layer on top and again cover with caramel and walnuts.
19. Repeat the process until you have used all the cake layers.
20. Now cover the entire cake with the remaining caramel, top and sides.
21. With the off-cuts and any additional dough that was cooked chop it to breadcrumb size, along with the chopped walnuts. Using a food processor and pulsing will do this very quickly.
22. Cover the cake with the crumb mixture.
23. Put the whole thing in the refrigerator to allow it to firm up, before slicing.