MEDOVIK

Today's post is dedicated to medovik, a cake that used to be very popular in the countries of the former USSR. The name is derived from the Russian word for honey. The root 'med' is common in all slavic languages as is the honey-based dessert that was supposedly invented by a young chef who hoped to impresss the beautiful German wife of Tsar Alexander I. According to tradition, Elizabeth disliked honey but when she tried medovik, she enjoyed it very much because the combination of ingredients resulted in something good. (Perhaps the incident with the honey-based cake, if true, dates from the early 1800s. Alexander & Elizabeth were crowned Tsar and Tsarina on 1801, eight years after their wedding. He was 23 and she 22.)

 

Elizaveta Alexeevna, portrayed by Vigée Le Brun in 1802

 

The recipe was not included in any of the 19th century books we know; the first reference dates from the 1950s. Browsing at the instructions for medovik in this Ukrainian source, I can't help noting that honey rules and even if the variety used by the Tsar's chef was very light indeed, its presence should hardly go unnoticed. The ingredients: 500g flour, 1kg honey, 50g butter, 200g sugar, 5 eggs, 25g baking soda, 10g each of cloves and cinammon. The method: Boil the honey and butter in a pan, gradually stirring in the flour. Set aside to cool, add the remaining ingredients, mix well, and leave to stand in a cool place for two days. Roll out the dough on a greased baking sheet about 1cm thick and bake. This recipe from Ukrayin'ski stravi, a collective work published in 1960, falls into the category of gingerbread. The honey-based dessert that became popular with housewives of the ex-Soviet countries is more elaborate: layers of cake are filled with sour cream or a custard made of condensed milk or buttercream.

I don't have a recipe for this delicious filling but I know how it's made, using condensed sweet milk. You place a firmly closed tin of milk in a pan of boiling water and leave until the content thickens. The milk will have turned light brown, as if you'd cooked butter and sugar in a pan. Its taste and flavor will remind you of caramel. My friend who makes this filling does not use honey in her layered gâteau but she does use crushed cookies for topping, as housewives do with medovik.

 

 

 

MEDOVIK

The following recipe is based on information about contemporary versions of the layered cake 'medovik'. There is some honey in both the cake and filling but not as much as in the recipe from Ukrayin'ski stravi.

 

I n g r e d i e n t s

for the cake: 

100g ground almonds

150g plain flour

50g butter

50g honey

1tsp vanilla sugar 

1/2tsp cardamom powder

150g unrefined sugar

6 eggs + 2 whites 

for the filling:

400g heavy cream

500g full milk

70g cornflour

120g butter

120g demerara sugar

50g honey

1tsp vanilla extract 

for decoration:

25g ground almonds

a gingerbread, crushed 

 

M e t h o d

1. Prepare the cake: Mix the almonds with the flour in a bowl. Warm the honey, add the butter and set aside to cool. Beat the egg yolks with the sugar, vanilla and cardamom until very light. Whisk the egg whites until very stiff. 2. Gently combine the above four mixtures, using a spoon. Meanwhile, set the oven to 180oC. 3. Pour the batter into a 26cm springform pan with greased bottom. Bake in the middle of the oven for 45 minutes or longer. 4. Upturn onto a wire rack and leave to cool slightly. 5. Divide the cake horizontally, into three layers. If you want, moisten each layer with a mixture of vodka and water in equal parts. (I used 150ml of each.) 6. Prepare the filling: Mix the cornflour and sugar in a pan. Gradually add the cold milk and stir very well until the cornflour is dissolved. Warm the mixture gently, stirring in the remaining ingredients. 7. Remove from the heat when it thickens, pass through a sieve and leave aside to cool. 8. Assemble the gâteau: Place a layer of cake on your serving dish, with a cake ring adjusted. Spread 1/3 of the filling on top and repeat with the other two layers of cake and the remaining filling. 9. Decorate with the almonds & cookie and refrigerate for several hours.

 

N o t e s

1) I strongly recommend the condensed milk filling. 2) Another option is to multiply the dose of honey in both the cake and filling, suiting your own taste. 3) Ground almonds yield a refined dessert, in my opinion, that should be good enough to impress a lady; but walnuts are the optimal match for honey. 4) Cardamom is my favorite spice, that's why I used it in this recipe, but cloves and cinnamon will definitely taste much more authentic.

 

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