STAMPEDE – Medovik cake with saffron pouring/ Medovik Cake with Saffron Pouring

Ingredients for 1 servings:

• 80 g honey
• 175 g sugar
• 20 g butter
• 3 eggs
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 400 g flour
• 1 cup whipped cream
• 800 g sour cream
• 250 g powdered sugar
• e.g. chocolate, white
• n. B. Saffron powder

Instructions

Working time approx. 2 hours; Rest period approx. 1 day; Cooking/baking time approx. 40 minutes; Total time approx. 1 day 2 hours 40 minutes

Melt the sugar, honey, and butter in a small saucepan over medium heat. Stir occasionally, making sure the mixture isn’t too hot so that it burns on the bottom, but hot enough for the sugar to dissolve completely. This will take up to ten minutes. Then preheat the oven to 175°C (350°F). Remove the sugar and honey mixture from the heat and pour it into a mixing bowl. Whisk the eggs in a separate bowl. Whisk continuously with a mixer, then beat the egg in a thin stream into the sugar mixture. Do not add the egg all at once and then stir it in. Since the sugar mixture will still be hot, this would only result in scrambled eggs with sugar and honey. Once the egg is well incorporated, add the baking powder while continuing to stir. Then gradually add the flour. Depending on the type of sugar and honey you use, the dough will absorb more or less flour before it stops sticking. In the end, I had to add 450g of flour. I kneaded the last 150g into the dough by hand. Divide the finished dough into eighths and shape each eighth into eight dough balls. Sprinkle some flour on a piece of baking paper and roll out one ball of dough thinly until it’s larger than a cake plate. The dough is easier to roll out when it’s still warm. And the flatbreads will be very thin indeed. Place a cake plate upside down on the rolled-out flatbread and trim the edges with a knife. Collect the scraps on a separate baking sheet lined with baking paper. Bake the flatbread in the oven until golden brown. This takes about 5-10 minutes. Then remove from the oven and let it cool completely on a wire rack. Repeat with the remaining seven dough pieces, baking the leftovers on the baking sheet in the same way at the end. For the cream, whip the cream until stiff peaks form. In a separate bowl, combine the sour cream with the powdered sugar, then fold into the cream. Gently mix everything until you have a smooth batter. Refrigerate until ready to assemble the cake. Arrange four strips of baking paper on a cake plate to form a square, leaving a small gap in the middle. Place the first cake layer on top and add 3-4 tablespoons of cream to the center. Carefully spread it over the layer. Place the second layer on top and repeat until all eight layers are stacked on top of each other. Cover the cake with the remaining cream. The cream will still be quite runny. It will only thicken overnight once the cake layers have absorbed the moisture. Refrigerate the cake at least overnight and let it set. The next morning, crush the leftover baked dough into crumbs with a rolling pin or food processor. Remove the Medovik from the refrigerator, spread any excess cream from the bottom of the plate over the cake, and cover everything with crumbs. Keep the cake in the refrigerator until ready to serve. Before cutting, remove the strips of baking paper from under the Medovik and enjoy the clean cake plate. For decoration, I made a glaze of white chocolate and saffron. It goes very well and looks beautiful. The cake yields about 15 slices. Medovik is a Slavic cake popular in countries of the former Soviet Union. The standout ingredients are honey and condensed milk. It is a dessert known for its long preparation time. The cake was created in the 19th century in the Russian Empire by a young chef who wanted to impress Empress Elizabeth Alexeyevna, the wife of Alexander I. Empress Elizabeth disliked honey, and any dish made with it drove her crazy. One day, however, a young new pastry chef in the imperial kitchen, unaware of the empress’s dislike, baked a new cake with honey and sour cream. Surprisingly, Empress Elizabeth immediately fell in love with the honey cake without even realizing it. The Medovik cake gained particular popularity during the Soviet era.