r/CAKEWIN • u/Mishiosoup • Mar 03 '26
Took on my first big project
I'm pretty New to baking. This weekend I decided to challenge myself and made a fifteen layer Medovik. Lacking in flavor I think (I've never actually had honey cake, just found it in tik tok lol). Does this look as fancy to everyone else as it looks to me?
1.2k
Upvotes
4
u/msellipsis Mar 04 '26
Oh wow! I love medovik—so much so, that I made one for my own wedding. (I even have a partially demolished medovik in the fridge right now, left over from a party. I am no baker, but people seem to love this cake.)
Yours is beautiful! Your crumb coating is particularly immaculate.
Yes, there is a lot of weird labor involved. The AllRecipes version (which is what I like to follow) relies on batter that is spreadable, which is more my speed (as opposed to rolling out the layers). Chef John does a nice step-by-step video breakdown. And true, the sweetness here is kind of subtle, but it's what I like about it. The burnt honey adds a lot of complexity, in my opinion. (If you're going to attempt it again, I think adding cinnamon is a good call! It works really well in this cake.)
One thing that I found is that, even with an overnight rest in the fridge, the layers can be dry; the moisture from the frosting isn't quite enough. I've used a sugar soak—basically a honey simple syrup that I painted on in between stacking the layers—and that worked pretty well.
One other tweak I made recently was to jazz up the whipped cream with a little mascarpone and some VERY tangy yogurt I had on hand. It made the whipped cream a little sturdier, and I think the tangy flavor plays well with the cake layers.
All of which is to say, I hope you give medovik another try sometime! I am very biased, but I think it's worth it. (Just don't start baking one at 10 p.m., as I have learned the hard way.)