Russian Honey Cake

Our department secretary retired this week, and we had a retirement lunch for her on Friday. It took me ages to decide what kind of cake to make for the occasion, because I've noticed that not everyone in the department loves chocolate cake, and someone else had said they'd bring a coffee and walnut cake just in case a lot of people showed up. So, rather than go with perhaps the more traditional option of a Victoria Sponge (which would have been great, but a bit predictable, in my opinion), I found this on 'Time To Cook', a food blog from one of the bakers from 'The Great British Bake-Off' (such a great show!). I was intrigued by the idea of baking a really dry sponge and having it soak up the moisture from the cream filling, and Mary Anne said that a slight caramel flavour comes through as the cake slurps up the creme-fraiche. I was not disappointed! Not only was the cake relatively easy to make, it looked fantastic and everyone loved it! It's definitely more light and delicate than rich and dense, so it's a good option to bring along when not everyone is all for the Death By Chocolate-type recipes. This recipe is a combination of Mary Anne's and some others I found online during my hunting, so I'll just give you mine. Enjoy! Ooh - and google pictures of Russian Honey Cakes! Some people can make them with 15 super thin layers! I don't know how they do it, since I had enough with 6, but it would be worth trying.

Russian Honey Cake

3 large eggs

225 g caster sugar

100 g unsalted butter

3 Tbsp honey (either stiff or runny honey is fine)

1 tsp baking soda

500 g plain flour

1 L creme fraiche

4 Tbsp icing sugar

splash vanilla extract

1. Melt honey and butter in a bowl over a pan of simmering water. Add caster sugar and eggs, whisking constantly until mixture is smooth and sugar has dissolved. 

2. Add baking soda and whisk for another minute until thoroughly combined.

3. Remove bowl from heat and add flour in batches, stirring well between additions. The dough will become somewhat stiff, either like a putty or a soft rolling dough. Divide dough into 3 to 4 equal portions (you want the dough to be spread thinly in the tin, but the number of portions will depend on the size of your pan and on how many layers you want, so you'll end up figuring this bit out for yourself).

4. Preheat your oven to 180C/350F. Grease and line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Spoon in one dough portion and spread it to the edges of the pan. You may find that frequently wetting a silicone spatula and pressing the dough into the pan works best.

5. Bake in the preheated oven for 4 to 5 minutes, or until the sponge is evenly golden brown and stiff to the touch. Let cool for a minute or two (until it's not too hot to touch).

6. Turn the parchment and sponge onto a cooling rack and peel the paper from the cake. Replace the parchment in the pan and spoon in the second batch of dough, pressing to the corners. Repeat steps 4 through 6 until all dough has been baked.

7. Stack the sheets of sponge and cut to desired size. I cut mine in half lengthwise and made 6 layers. Trim all the edges so every sheet is equal; reserve the trimmings.

8. Mix the creme fraiche with the icing sugar and a splash of vanilla until smooth. You want the creme fraiche to be sweet but still to have that tangy bite to it.

9. Lay one sheet on the serving dish and fit 4 strips of foil around the edges to catch any dripping cream. Spread a thick layer of cream over the first layer (be generous - the cake is going to absorb a lot of it!), then lay another layer of sponge over the cream. Continue alternating between sponge and generous cream layers, and finish off by covering the top, sides and ends. 

10. Crush the sponge trimmings in a food processor or by hand. And this next bit is up to you - the other recipe I was using sieved the sponge crumbs over the top of the cake, and it looked very pretty. But I didn't love the sides of mine, mostly because I hadn't kept enough cream back to cover the sides and ends evenly, so I went with Mary Anne's suggestion and pressed the crumbs onto the sides and left the top clear.

11. Once you've finished adding the crumbs, carefully pull the foil strips away from the base, removing all the left over crumbs and dripped cream.
 

12. Et voila! Now cover and leave the cake in a cool place to set and absorb all the creamy goodness for at least 12 hours. I made mine the day before, so it sat for 24 hours, but it was fine - not too soggy or anything. All together, I think the cake took about 1 1/2 hours to make, so it's definitely doable in an evening.