5-23-17 - Russian Honey Cake

[nverland]

Russian Honey Cake
Servings: 8 in huge slices, 12 in normal ones Time: About 2 hours on the first day + an overnight rest + about 30 minutes on the second

This cake is eight paper-thin cake layers with a creamy, slightly tangy filling and coating. It mostly tastes like dreamy frosted graham crackers. The honey, if you’re nervous, is barely notable if you use a mild one but will be more present with a strong one. The filling is just a little sweet and has no sourness to it; after absorbing into the cake layers, it tastes so much like a mild cream cheese frosting, good luck convincing people it is anything else.

Planning ahead: You must start this cake a day early because you’re going to want the better part of the day for the filling to soften the cookies into glorious thin cake layers, just like an icebox cake. You can start even earlier than that, too. Our cake looked amazing in the fridge for 5 whole days before, um, it was “gone” so you can assemble this a few days before you need it. Or, you can make the cookie layers a week or longer in advance and store them in a container at room temperature, as you would other cookies. Just make sure you get them filled and frosted a day before you want to slice in.

*Cookie Layers
1/2 cup (170 grams) honey
1/2 cup (100 grams) sugar
1/2 cup (115 grams) unsalted butter
1 teaspoon baking soda
3 large eggs
1/4 teaspoon fine sea or table salt
1 teaspoon (5 ml) vanilla extract
3 1/2 cups (455 grams) all-purpose flour, divided
*Frosting and Filling
32 ounces (just shy of 4 cups or 900 grams) sour cream
1 14-ounce can (400 grams) sweetened condensed milk

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