Honey Cake with Custard Creme – Торт “Медовик”

Published on February 6, 2015 | In Russian/Ukrainian | By tatyanaseverydayfood |

- Prep Time
- 90 Minutes
- Difficulty Level

The famous “Medovik” cake: 8 wafer-thin honey cake layers filled with a creamy custard creme! This delicious cake is often enjoyed with tea after dinner in homes across Ukraine and Russia! The custard creme recipe I’m sharing with you was passed down to me from my mother, who has been making this cake and creme for years and years. Medovik torte is best after 24 hours. Just let it set in the refrigerator to perfection!

My simplified video recipe will help guide you through all the steps so you can make this cake at home!

Enjoyed this recipe? Please share and save it to Pinterest!

Want to try more Ukrainian or Russian cake recipes? Get them here: http://tatyanaseverydayfood.com/recipe-type/cakes-cheesecakes/

Ingredients

For honey cake layers:
1/2 cup (118ml) honey
1/2 cup (100g) sugar
4 large eggs
3/4 cup (170g) butter, melted
1 teaspoon (8g) baking soda
1 tablespoon (14ml) white vinegar
2 1/2 cups (312g) all-purpose flour
For custard creme:
4 egg yolks
3/4 cup (150g) granulated sugar
1 teaspoon (5ml) vanilla extract
3 cups (710ml) milk
1/2 cup (62g) all-purpose flour
1 cup (226g) butter
biscoff coffee cookies, or similar, for garnish

Instructions

Begin by preparing custard creme first. Whisk together egg yolks, sugar and vanilla in large bowl and set aside. In a large sauce pan, combine milk and flour; whisk until no clumps remain. Cook milk and flour over medium heat, stirring constantly until milk thickens; do not boil. This will take about 5 minutes.
Whisk hot milk into egg yolk mixture very gradually until well combined; this process is called tempering. Return the saucepan to the stove and cook cream over low-medium heat, stirring constantly until custard forms, about 7-8 minutes; do not boil. Remove custard from heat and add butter. Whisk until butter is completely melted. Cover creme and refrigerate until completely cooled and thickened. Creme can be made ahead of time.
While creme is cooling, begin making cake layers. Whisk together in large saucepan honey, sugar, eggs and butter. In small bowl, combine baking soda and white vinegar, allowing the soda to react. Pour mixture into honey batter. Cook mixture over low/medium heat, stirring constantly, for 7-8 minutes. The mixture will foam, double in size and turn a darker amber color.
Remove honey mixture from heat and gradually whisk in 2 1/2 cups of flour. Add additional flour only if dough is too sticky! Dough needs to be very soft. Once dough forms, knead by hand until dough is uniform and smooth. Divide dough in to 8 equal parts.
Preheat oven to 400F. Line 2, 8-inch cake pans with parchment paper. Using your hands, press 1 piece of dough at at time into a prepared pan to form a thin sheet. Try to make the dough as uniform as possible.
Bake 2 layers at a time for 5-6 minutes until edges turn golden brown. Remove layers from pan onto cooling rack and continue with remaining dough. Layers are fragile at this point so take extra care.
Place biscoff cookies into food processor and crush cookies until you have fine crumbs. Once layers and creme are cooled, assemble the cake. Spread a generous amount of creme between each layer. Spread a thin layer of creme on the top and sides. Place cake into the refrigerator for 15-20 minutes to let the creme set on the outside.
Remove cake and spread another layer of creme over the top and sides. Garnish cake with cookie crumbs. Can use any remaining creme to garnish the top (see photo for reference). Can also use melted chocolate and drizzle over top for garnish. Place cake into refrigerator and let stand overnight, allowing the cake layers to softened.
Note: Place strips of parchment paper around edges for easy clean up! Then remove them when you're done decorating the cake.
To decorate cake as pictured: place 8 small spoonfuls of custard around the edge of the cake and top with fresh berries and caramel wafers (pictured from Trader Joe's)

Servings : 12
Course : Dessert
Recipe Type : Cakes, Video

27 Responses to Honey Cake with Custard Creme – Торт “Медовик”

Angelina February 6, 2015 at 9:05 pm #

I never know how to decorate Medovik….thank you for beautiful idea!!!! You sure have a talent….thank you for the recipe will have to try that custard cream…

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- tkorchemnaya February 7, 2015 at 5:56 pm #
  
  Thank you for watching! 🙂
  
  Reply
Nadia February 6, 2015 at 11:59 pm #

Hi Tatyana, I’m making this cake right now and I was wondering how long you wait for the honey mixture to cool down before putting in the flour? It’s gone down in size but the foam is still there. Do I need to skim the foam off? The video is awesome! Thanks a bunch

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- tkorchemnaya February 7, 2015 at 5:56 pm #
  
  Hi Nadia! Sorry for the late reply! Hope the cake turned out well for you! I usually just stir the mixture and the foam settles down. Thanks for watching! 🙂
  
  Reply
galina May 7, 2015 at 12:04 am #

Just made it. Easy and delicious. Thank you!

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- tkorchemnaya May 8, 2015 at 3:13 pm #
  
  Awesome! 🙂 I’m glad you liked it! 🙂
  
  Reply
Noura August 29, 2015 at 12:33 pm #

I made it , it’s so delicious and awesome TvT … I’ll prepare this recipe again ^^
Thank you () .

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YL October 12, 2015 at 5:12 am #

Tried this recipe and it was a total flop. My eggs were totally scrambled.. Any advice? Thank You

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- tkorchemnaya October 12, 2015 at 8:50 am #
  
  Oh, no! 🙁 Sorry that your recipe didn’t turn out! It’s VERY important to add the hot cream into the eggs slowly and to cook the mixture at a low heat. It takes a little while for the custard to form but it’s worth the wait! 🙂
  
  Reply
Maryana November 1, 2015 at 1:44 pm #

what do you think about substituting sugar with honey, meaning that the cake would be all honey….. 1 cup honey instead of 1/2 sugar and 1/2 honey… Any reason you would advise against it? Thank you!

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- tkorchemnaya November 3, 2015 at 3:50 am #
  
  I think that might work, too 🙂 I haven’t tried it that way but no reason why it shouldn’t work!
  
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nessa November 28, 2015 at 12:04 pm #

hey tatyana , really love all ur recipes thank you so much ,and could u please tell me if I use honey instead of sugar or if I could decrease the quantity of sugar how would u suggest I do that as my family doesn’t like very sweet , but we all are big fan of medovik cake !
wait ing….

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- tkorchemnaya November 29, 2015 at 10:06 am #
  
  I recommend sticking with the quantity of sugar in the recipe because the recipe will turn out differently if you change the amount. The cake is actually not too sweet. I hope you enjoy my recipe! 🙂
  
  Reply
Nastia March 8, 2016 at 7:23 pm #

Hello, I used your recipe but changed the cow milk for almond milk and the butter for coconut oil because I’m allergic to dairy and baked this cake some weeks ago, it still turned out really good, but somehow there was not enough cake mix in comparison to the cream even though I used the exact same quantity from the recipe. I was wondering if it would affect the ending result of the cake in a bad way if I add a bit more of the ingredients?
Thank you.

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- tkorchemnaya March 9, 2016 at 10:12 am #
  
  Hmm, I’m not sure how the substitutions would affect the recipe. Did you have extra cream? Maybe cut the recipe in half for next time… 🙂
  
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Luke April 9, 2016 at 2:05 am #

Hello Tatyana! Thanks for sharing this recipe! I’m wondering when I should stop heating the honey mixture? Do I take it off the heat when it foams to its maximum? Or do I wait for the foam to settle down and the honey mixture turns amber before removing it from the heat?

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- tkorchemnaya April 9, 2016 at 3:20 pm #
  
  Hi! 🙂 You want to cook it until it reaches an amber color, about 8 to 10 minutes on a medium heat
  
  Reply
Nida August 25, 2016 at 4:18 am #

I just made this, it’s chilling in the fridge. the custard is pretty liquid. I hope it will hold. Also will the edges get soft? I’ve picked up the parchment paper and gathered the edges around the cake so that they remain covered with creme.
Also all the other recipes have sour cream frosting with honey cake. Have you ever used that?which is the authentic frosting?

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- tatyanaseverydayfood August 26, 2016 at 7:08 am #
  
  Hope the cake turned out well for you! The custard will set more once it’s in the refrigerator. The sour cream frosting would work here, too but I don’t like the ‘sour’ taste of it with this cake. Custards are more bakery-style
  
  Reply
Samira February 11, 2017 at 2:36 pm #

Hello, i would like to try this recipe and i was wondering if i can use custard mix instead of making the custard. If yes, how much custard would i need?

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- tatyanaseverydayfood February 12, 2017 at 10:30 am #
  
  Hi! Yes, I think that would work. I used about 3 cups of custard
  
  Reply
  - Samira February 12, 2017 at 11:41 am #
    
    Thank you so much Tatyana. Can’t wait to try it.
    
    Reply
Tanu March 21, 2017 at 7:06 am #

i made this cake .it was wonderful.thank u.bt the cake layers kind slipped.i had to fix with toothpic before surving…u hav any idea y it happend?

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- tatyanaseverydayfood March 23, 2017 at 1:20 pm #
  
  Next time, try assembling the cake in a spring form pan if it slips too much. The form will help keep it in place while it sets 🙂
  
  Reply
  - Tanu March 31, 2017 at 3:57 am #
    
    Thank you so much…i will definitly try it next time.
    
    Reply