No Easter, Christmas, Christening or Wedding goes without this delectable layer cake in Lithuania! Made with ten everyday ingredients and no special equipment (not even a cake tin), this Layered Honey Torte is a simple, yet impressive looking cake that even beginners can make! I am sharing my mother’s recipe for the most delicious Lithuanian Honey Cake with Fourteen Layers!
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Honey cake is probably the most popular cake in all of Eastern Europe. Medaus Tortas in Lithuania, Medovník in the Czech Republic, Meekook in Estonia and Medovik in Russia, each country has its own version of Honey Cake with minor differences, but essentially it is a cake made with biscuits soaked in tea, layered with sweet lemon sour cream filling (or lemon creme fraiche).
Whilst this Honey Cake looks rather impressive when you cut into it, with all the thin layers of cake and cream, it is actually very easy to make. You don’t even need a cake tin! The dough for this cake resembles biscuit dough, which is then rolled out, cut into large circles, baked and then soaked in tea to soften before assembling.
Biscuit layers certainly make this cake very special. Because the dough is firm, you can pack in a lot of flavours into it without worrying that your cake won’t rise in the oven. Since you’re essentially making biscuits, you can put in lots of spices and honey. Don’t worry that when you see your baked disks, they will feel hard and biscuity. Once you’ve soaked them in tea and leave them assembled with the lemon filling overnight, they will be soft and infused with all the lovely flavours of the tea.
There are three steps to making this delicious Lithuanian Honey Cake:
- Make and bake the biscuits
- Make the lemony creme fraiche filling
- Assemble and decorate
You can certainly make the whole cake in one day, but I personally like to bake the biscuits on Day 1, then make the cream and assemble it on Day 2. IMPORTANT: you MUST leave this cake in the fridge for at least 12 hours after it’s been assembled. The layers need time to amalgamate and the biscuit layers to soak up the moisture from the cream. So on Day 3 (and Day 4, and sometimes Day 5), we eat it! Out of all the Lithuanian cakes, this is my all-time favourite!
Step-by-Step Recipe for the Best Lithuanian Honey Cake:
Make the Honey Biscuits:
Place butter and honey in a large bowl and set it over the pot of simmering water. Make sure the bottom of the bowl doesn’t touch the water though. Stirring continuously, heat until the butter melts. Take the mixture off of the heat, stir in the sugar and leave to cool down.
In a separate bowl, whisk the egg and creme fraiche. Add this mixture to the cooled butter/honey mixture.
Sift the flour and the baking powder into the liquid mixture and using your hands bring it into a dough. Knead just enough to bring it together to a cohesive dough, cut it in 3, flatten and wrap in cling film (we recommend Kirkland Signature cling film). Place the dough in the fridge for 1 hour.
Roll each piece of dough into a thin layer. Take a round plate/bowl – we used one 17cm in diameter (try and roll it into a shape that allows you to cut 3 disks).
Bake each disk for about 8-10 min at 170°C Fan. You may need to do it in 2-4 batches depending on how much oven space you have and how large your disks are. Let them cool completely before assembling the cake. Bake any rolled dough offcuts (you will crush them and use them to decorate). Once cooled, you can wrap them in clingfilm and store them for up to 3 days until you’re ready to assemble. Alternatively, you can use them as soon as they are cooled to room temperature.
Make the Lemon Filling:
Place the full-fat creme fraiche and sugar in a large bowl. Using a hand-held mixer (we use Kenwood), whisk the cream to soft peaks. If you don’t have one, you can whisk the creme fraiche by hand, but it will take longer. Then add the zest and juice of a large lemon and whisk for another couple of minutes. The filling for Honey Cake is not meant to be very stiff or pipeable. It is thin(ish) in consistency, just like slightly under whipped cream.
Assemble the Honey Cake:
Prepare a cup of strong black tea and let it cool completely (we used Earl Grey, but you can use any other black tea you like – Chai adds a lovely aromatic spice twist to the cake).
Start by placing a biscuit disk on a plate. Deliberately brush it with cooled tea (use about 2-3 tablespoon of tea per disk). Spread about 2 tablespoon of the cream on top. Place the next disk on top and press down slightly (but take care not to squirt the cream underneath out of the sides). Drizzle with tea again, then spread the cream. Repeat until you’ve used up seven biscuit discs (you will use the rest to decorate). You should be left with quite a bit of the cream. Spread the cream all around the sides of the cake to create a smooth (ish) edge.
Crush the rest of the biscuits with your hands into crumbs. Or simply place pieces in a food processor/ smoothie maker/ liquidiser to create crumbs. Scatter spoonfuls of the crumbs all over the top and the sides of the cake, pressing with your hands for them to stick. You may choose to decorate it with some piped dark chocolate or fresh berries.
Refrigerate the layered cake for at least 12 hours before cutting it. Enjoy!
Frequently Asked Questions:
It depends… Sour Cream is different in many countries around the world. What you need to ensure is that your sour cream has no less than 30% fat content. In many countries, this sour cream is referred to as Creme Fraiche. And that is what is going to make the best filling! Any less fat and your cream will be too runny.
Double cream (48%) and heavy cream (36-40%) are both suitable to use for the lemon filling. One thing I would suggest is adding a little bit more lemon juice to make the filling as tart as the creme fraiche one would produce.
The filling for Honey Cake is not meant to be very stiff or pipeable. It is thin(ish) in consistency, just like slightly under whipped cream. Since you only need thin layers in between biscuits and around the outside of the cake, it only needs to be thick enough not to run off. But if your cream is thinner than that, it may be because the sour cream or creme fraiche that you used is not high enough in fat content or too much lemon juice was added.
Because this Lithuanian Cake is full of creme fraiche, it must be stored in the fridge and consumed within 3 days after assembling. We don’t recommend freezing it.
NOTE: you can make the honey biscuits in advance and store them wrapped in a clean tea towel and placed in a plastic bag for 10 days.
For other celebratory baking ideas, we have put together the list below of our favourite very special festive bakes:
- Brandy Snaps with Earl Grey Infused Cream
- White Chocolate and Cranberry Macarons
- Lime & Passionfruit Charlotte Royale
- Napoleon Cake
Lithuanian Honey Cake With Fourteen Layers
Equipment
- Hand-Held Mixer (optional)
- Food Processor/ Blender (optional)
Ingredients
For Biscuit Disks:
- 110 g unsalted butter
- 125 g runny honey
- 50 g light brown sugar
- 50 g caster sugar
- 1 egg medium
- 30 g creme fraiche
- 400 g plain white flour
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 180 ml strong black tea (we used Earl Grey) cooled
For the Cream Layers:
- 1 lemon large
- 500 ml full-fat creme fraiche
- 75 g caster sugar
For Decorating:
- 50 g dark chocolate optional
Instructions
Make the Biscuit Disks:
- Place butter and honey in a large bowl and set it over the pot of simmering water. Make sure the bottom of the bowl doesn't touch the water though. Stirring continuously, heat until the butter melts. Take the mixture off of the heat, stir in the sugar and leave to cool down.
- In a separate bowl, whisk the egg and creme fraiche. Add this mixture to the cooled butter-honey mixture.
- Sift the flour and the baking powder into the liquid mixture and using your hands bring it into a dough. Knead just enough to bring it together to a cohesive dough, cut it in 3, flatten and wrap in cling film. Place the dough in the fridge for 1 hour.
- Roll each piece of dough into a thin layer. Take a round plate/bowl – we used one 17cm in diameter (try and roll it into a shape that allows you cut 3 disks).
- Bake each disk for about 8-10 min at 170°C Fan. You may need to do it in 2-4 batches depending on how much oven space you have and how large your disks are. Let them cool completely before assembling the cake. Bake any rolled dough offcuts (you will crush them and use them to decorate).Once cooled, you can wrap them in clingfilm and store for up to 3 days until you're ready to assemble. Alternatively, you can use them as soon as they are room temperature.
Make the Cream:
- Zest and juice the lemon. Place the full-fat creme fraiche and sugar in a large bowl. Using a hand-held mixer (or by hand), whisk the cream to soft peaks. Then add the zest and juice of a large lemon and whisk for another couple of minutes.
Assemble the Honey Cake:
- Prepare a cup of strong black tea and let it cool completely.
- Start by placing a biscuit disk on a plate. Deliberately brush it with cooled tea (use about 2-3 tablespoon of tea per disk). Spread 2 tablespoon of the cream on top. Place the next disk on top and press down slightly (but take care not to squirt the cream underneath out of the sides). Drizzle the top with tea, then spread the cream. Repeat until you used seven biscuit discs. You should be left with quite a bit of the cream. Spread the cream on top and all around the sides of the cake.
- Crush the rest of the biscuits with your hands into a crumbs. Or you can simply place pieces in a food processor/ smoothie maker/ liquidiser. Scatter spoonfuls of the crumbs all over the top and the sides of the cake, pressing with your hands for them to stick. You may choose to decorate it with some piped dark chocolate or fresh berries.
- Refrigerate for at least 12 hours before cutting into the cake. Enjoy!
Nutrition
Toni
This cake is really impressive! Everyone at my house loved it!
Ieva
So glad, Toni! Thanks for giving our recipe a go! 🙂
kushigalu
WOW. I have never tried something like this before. So delicious. Thanks for sharing.
Dionne
This is exactly what I have been looking for this week – I’ve got to make a cake over this weekend, so this is perfect!
Ieva
Fantastic! It’s a wonderful weekend project!
Kathryn
I’m so excited to try this cake! I love everything about it so I know it will be a hit… plus its 14 layers! So beautiful!
Amanda Wren-Grimwood
I love to hear about different celebration cakes around the world and this one is a show stopper. I use creme fraiche a lot, so I’m looking forward to trying this.
Tara
Such a beautiful cake! I love all those layers and the flavors sound absolutely fantastic.