Orange medovik
Creamy tender medovik refined with the fruity aromatic orange curd – this cake is a unique variation of the popular Russian honey cake. The soft honey dough and sweet sour cream are perfectly complemented with the light citrus flavor and aroma, and together they create the delicious orange medovik. According to this recipe you can make the orange honey cake yourself.
Servings 12
Ingredients
for the dough
- 150 g honey
- 100 g butter
- 2 eggs
- 80 g sugar
- approx. 450 g flour
- 8 g baking soda (sodium bicarbonate)
- zest of 1 organic orange
- 1 pinch of salt
for the orange curd
- 75 ml freshly squeezed orange juice
- 60 g butter
- 1 egg
- 50 g sugar
- 5 g cornstarch
- zest of 1 organic orange
for the cream
- 1 kg sour cream
- 150 g powdered sugar
Instructions
Making the orange curd
- Mix egg and sugar in a small saucepan with a thick bottom.
- Add cornstarch and mix until homogeneous without lumps.
- Add orange juice and orange zest, stir, bring to a boil, then continue to boil, stirring constantly, until thickened, about 1 minute.
- Remove the orange mixture from the heat, immediately add butter and stir until the butter has melted and the orange curd has a homogeneous consistency. Let it cool down and refrigerate it for 1 - 2 hours.
Making the dough
- Put the eggs, butter, honey, sugar, orange zest and salt in a heat-resistant mixing bowl and heat the mixture in a bain-marie, stirring constantly until the butter has melted.
- Add baking soda, stir thoroughly, and continue to heat (not boil) the mixture in the water bath, stirring occasionally, until it has about doubled in volume, about 15 minutes.
- Take the honey mixture from the water bath and add flour in batches, mixing first with a spoon while the mixture is still hot, then knead with your hands to form a soft dough.
- Divide the dough into 7 equal pieces and cover them to prevent them from drying out. First roll out one piece of dough very thinly on a sheet of baking paper, cut out a Ø 24 cm circle from it, pierce it several times with a fork and bake it in a preheated oven at 180 °C top and bottom heat for about 4 minutes until golden brown. Repeat the same with the remaining pieces of dough. Let all the cake layers cool down.
- Roll out the leftover dough thinly, bake it in the same way as the cake layers, let it cool and crumble it finely.
Making the cream
- Mix sour cream and powdered sugar.
Making the cake
- Fill the orange curd into the piping bag with the round hole nozzle or star nozzle. Spread the sour cream on all the cake layers, then pipe the orange curd on top of the cream on the 2nd, 4th, and 6th cake layers in the form of strokes and stack all the cake layers on top of each other in the corresponding order. Brush the edges of the cake with the remaining sour cream as well.
- Sprinkle the top and edges of the orange medovik with the crumbs and refrigerate for about 8 hours or overnight. Instead of sprinkling the cake completely with the crumbs, you can decorate it, as I did, with the Italian meringue according to this recipe. (See detailed notes at the top of the post.)
Notes
- This honey cake has a slight orange flavor. For more orange flavor, it is best to cook a double portion of the orange curd and spread it on each cake layer.
- The amount of flour listed may vary. Add flour in batches to the honey mixture until the dough reaches the right consistency. It should be soft, not too firm, but not sticky either.
- You can adjust the amount of powdered sugar and sugar for the sour cream or orange curd to taste.
- Note the detailed tips and tricks for making the orange medovik yourself at the top of the post.