Medovynk or Russian Honey Cake

My dear friend Vitaly, the Gorby to my Ronnie, is celebrating his birthday tomorrow. For all the crap I give him about the bears on unicycles passing out vodka in Red Square, I thought I owed him an extra special cake.

Internet searching turned up very little about Russian cakes - other than the "fact" that Russians love honey and sour cream (hmm.....) - that and several very different recipes for a traditional Christmas Honey Cake. Reading between the lines, combining recipes and calling on my own creativity - this version of Medovnyk was born. We'll see if it passes the authentication test better than more poor crepes (Paul had better come back for the new and improved version!).

Modvnyk or Russian Honey Cake
1/2 cup butter
1 cup sugar (I used my homemade vanilla sugar - thanks Martha)
1 cup honey (I chose a cinnamon infused honey for this and omitted the 1t cinnamon later)
2 cups sour cream
4 eggs, separated
3 cups sifted cake flour
2 t baking soda
2 t baking powder
1/2 t kosher salt

Preheat the oven to 325F.

Cream the butter and sugar, add the honey (warm it a bit in the microwave) and sour cream. Beat in the egg yolks one at a time.

Sift togther the dry ingredients and stir into the batter, making sure everything is well mixed.

In another bowl, whip the egg whites until stiff, then fold them gently into the batter.

Pour into well buttered 9" round pans (my batch took 3 of them) and bake for 35 minutes.

Sour Cream and Honey Spread
2 cups sour cream
1/2 cup honey
1/2 cup powdered sugar
1/2 cup butter

Cream ingredients together and spread between layers and on top of cooled cake. Top with chopped walnuts.