Medovik

Method

1. 1.Set up a bain-marie: a heatproof bowl over a pan of barely simmering water, not touching. Combine the butter, honey and sugar in the bowl and stir until the butter has melted and the sugar has dissolved.
2. 2.Beat the eggs briefly in a small bowl, then pour them into the honey mixture in a slow stream while whisking, so they don't scramble. Add the bicarbonate of soda and stir — the mixture will foam up dramatically, pale and airy. Keep stirring over the heat for another couple of minutes until it darkens slightly to the colour of milky caramel.
3. 3.Take the bowl off the heat and sift in the flour in two batches, folding it through until you have a soft, warm dough. Turn it out onto a sheet of baking paper, cover with another sheet and press it into a flat disc. Chill for at least half an hour; it firms up and becomes much easier to handle.
4. 4.Divide the dough into eight equal pieces. Working with one at a time (keep the rest in the fridge), roll each piece out between two sheets of baking paper until it's very thin — around 2 mm. Trim around a dinner plate or cake tin base to get a neat circle, saving the offcuts.
5. 5.Bake the circles one or two at a time at 180°C for about five minutes each, until they're an even light golden brown. They'll crisp up as they cool. Bake the offcuts too — you'll crumble them for the top.
6. 6.While the layers cool, make the cream. Whip the double cream to soft peaks, then fold in the sour cream, icing sugar and vanilla. Don't overwhip or it'll turn grainy.
7. 7.Assemble on a flat plate: layer a disc of honey cake, a generous smear of cream, another disc, more cream, and so on until all eight layers are stacked. Cover the top and sides with the remaining cream. Crush the baked offcuts into fine crumbs and press them over the top and sides.
8. 8.This is the important bit — cover loosely and leave the cake in the fridge for at least eight hours, preferably overnight. The layers drink up the cream and go from crisp biscuit to something soft and melting. A medovik eaten on the same day you make it is a disappointing medovik.

Notes