Honey cake

Honey cake is one of the most popular traditional desserts in Croatia. It consists of thin layers of biscuit made with honey and vanilla flavored cream filling. This version contains both vanilla and cocoa which gives it just the right amount of sweetness. It makes a great accompaniment with tea or coffee.

For the biscuit layers

Ingredients

3 cups + 2 tbsp (400 grams) all-purpose flour
1 tbsp baking soda
3 tbsp milk
2 tbsp honey
3 tbsp vegetable oil
2/3 cup (150 grams) fine sugar
1 egg, lightly beaten

Directions

Mix together flour and baking soda and set aside. In a saucepan heat milk, honey, oil and sugar on medium heat until sugar dissolves. Remove from heat, add flour mixture and egg. Mix with a wooden spoon until it combines together and then knead with your hands into a dough. Cover with a clean kitchen cloth and let it rest for 15 minutes.

Preheat the oven to 350°F (180°C).

Divide the dough into four equal pieces. Take one piece of the dough and roll it out on a piece of parchment paper into a rectangle about 2 mm thick. Transfer the flattened dough together with parchment paper on a baking tray and bake for 5 minutes or until just golden but not brown. Make sure you don’t over-bake as it tends to burn easily since it is very thin. Remove from the oven and let it cool completely. Once cooled, the cake layers should become hard and stiff. Handle them with care as they are fragile and tend to break easily. Repeat the process with the rest of the dough.

For the cream filling

Ingredients

2 cups (500 ml) milk
2/3 cup (150 grams) fine sugar
1 tbsp vanilla sugar
6 tbsp semolina
2 sticks (200 grams) unsalted butter, at room temperature
2 tbsp cocoa powder
2 tsp dark rum

Directions

In a medium saucepan heat milk, sugar and vanilla sugar. Bring to a boil and remove from heat. Stir in semolina and cook until it thickens. Remove from heat and let it cool completely. Meanwhile, beat the butter until light and creamy and mix it into the filling. Mix cocoa powder and rum into 1/3 of the filling.

Assembly

Sprinkle one cake layer with some rum, spread half of the white filling over it and cover with another layer. Press gently with your hands so it sticks to the filling. Again sprinkle the cake with rum and now spread the dark filling over it. Cover with the third layer, press gently and sprinkle with rum. Spread the remaining white filling over it, cover with the last layer and sprinkle with some rum. Don’t worry if your layers aren’t perfectly shaped. Cover tight with a plastic wrap and leave in the fridge overnight (two days would be ideal). You will probably notice that the cake layers are quite hard when you’re assembling the cake, but don’t worry. They will soften up considerably overnight under plastic wrap and the cake will literally melt in your mouth. You can cut away the non-perfect parts the next day and shape or cut the cake as you like.

Related posts:

1. Hungarian Christmas honey cookies
2. Plum cake
3. Hungarian poppy seed & walnut rolls
4. Rigó Jancsi: Chocolate mousse cake
5. Poppy seed filling

Tags: cake, croatia, desserts, honey, layers, traditional

Category: Recipes