Honey cake with sour cream frosting: very impressive yet easy to make

September 6, 2010 in Recipes · 5 comments

I baked this cake for last month’s Cake vs. Pie contest. To tell the truth, I am not much of a baker – my baking repertoire is largely limited to a small handful of tried-and-true recipes, all of them very simple. A berry crumb cake in the summer, oatmeal muffins in the winter, an apple sponge cake when we have guests for dinner on short notice, brownies when I am craving a chocolate experience that is more indulgent than my standard daily dose of three squares of dark chocolate, and two or three kinds of layer cakes for special occasions. So, I entered the contest without any hope of winning – I just wanted to meet some fellow food enthusiasts and sample as many of their dessert creations as I could.

Imagine my surprise when the honey cake won second place in the cake category! Personally, I think it’s a very good-tasting cake (not because I am such a pro, but because the recipe that I got from my mom, who in turn had gotten it from a former co-worker, is a great one), and I must admit that it looks pretty imposing thanks to its height. However, I’ve always thought of it as a very homey kind of cake, just one of our family recipes, and I didn’t think it stood a chance against the elaborately decorated and complex-tasting cakes that were entered in the contest. But, apparently, both the judges and the participants were impressed, so here is the recipe for you to try at home and, in turn, impress your family members and friends.

P.S. This cake would be a good choice for a Rosh Hashanah dessert because honey is a traditional symbolic food during this holiday, signifying the hope for a sweet New Year.

Honey cake with sour cream frosting

(adapted from my mom’s recipe, which is in turn adapted from a recipe provided by Albina Zykova, my mom’s former co-worker in Moscow)

Ingredients

For the batter:

4 eggs

1 cup sugar (I like to use Wholesome Sweeteners crystallized cane sugar rather than the regular granulated refined sugar, but either kind will do)

2/3 to 3/4 cup honey (original recipe calls for 200 g)

4 cups flour

2 teaspoons baking soda + a bit of vinegar

For the frosting:

2 lbs sour cream (preferably the kind that’s just cultured cream, without any additives)

Powdered sugar to taste

To decorate:

Chopped walnuts or grated chocolate

Preparation

To make the cake:

Whisk together eggs, sugar, and honey. Pour a little vinegar over the baking soda to make it bubble and mix into the batter. Add flour one cup at a time and mix very well – batter will be quite stiff. Refrigerate ideally for 12 hours, although you can get away with as little as 6 hours. Preheat oven to 390 degrees F (original recipe says 200 degrees C, which is close to 390) and grease the bottom and sides of a 9-inch round pan (you could also use an 8-inch; a 10-inch probably won’t work as batter will be stretched too thin and may dry out and burn). Wet your hands, put 1/3 of the batter in the pan and spread it with your hands until it covers the entire bottom of the pan and is as smooth as possible on top. Bake 10-15 minutes, until top is golden brown and toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Start checking after 10 minutes – it is crucial not to overbake because this cake burns and acquires a bitter taste very quickly! When cake layer is ready, remove from pan and let cool on a wire rack. Repeat with the remaining 2/3 of the batter, making two more layers. When the cake layers are no longer hot but still warm, carefully slice each one in half with a large bread knife, separating the top from the bottom. You should now have six cake layers. Let them cool completely before frosting.

To make the frosting:

I’ve never measured the quantity of powdered sugar that I use for the frosting; I just do it by taste. I suggest starting by whisking about 1.5 cups of powdered sugar into the sour cream and then adding more as needed to suit your taste. Personally, I like this frosting to be a little tangy.

To assemble cake:

Pick out the best-looking top layer and save it to be the top of the cake. Start by putting a bottom layer on a cake platter, spread frosting on top, top with an upside-down top layer, spread frosting, and repeat, alternating the bottom layers and the upside-down top layers. However, do NOT turn your last top layer upside-down! Place it right side up on top of the cake, frost, and sprinkle with chopped walnuts or grated chocolate. Some people also like to add chopped walnuts between the layers. Do not frost the side of the cake as the frosting is too runny and it will be a mess.

Refrigerate the finished cake for at least 12 hours before serving, otherwise it will be dry – the frosting needs time to soak through the cake layers. In fact, this cake is even better on the second or even third day. It also freezes quite well, at least once it’s been sliced (I’ve never frozen the whole cake).

Serves 10-20

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