Traditional Honey Cake: Healthy Ukrainian Medivnyk

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Ukrainian Medivnyk is a multi-layer cake made with honey, and a creamy frosting made with sour cream or cream cheese. This honey cake recipe is a healthy sourdough version made with all natural sweeteners and heritage grains!

What is Honey Cake?

Multi-layered honey cakes are a tradition of Slavic countries such as Ukraine and Russia. Family traditions over the years have created numerous versions of this recipe, so there is no one traditional recipe. Ukrainian honey cake is called Medivnyk, while Russian honey cake is called Medovik. A classic honey cake has many thin layers, with a sour cream or cream cheese based frosting that soaks into the cake like a dulce de leche, creating a deliciously moist cake. The honey cake layers are best served after resting for a while, so that the moisture can be better absorbed into the cake. An authentic Ukrainian cake is made using real honey, giving it a unique and delightful flavor. 

How This Recipe is Different

This Recipe is Healthy

This particular recipe is a healthier than many other honey cake recipes. I like to feel good even when I eat dessert, which means I choose to use healthier ingredients:

• Instead of all purpose flour, I use whole grain einkorn flour. Einkorn is a heritage wheat that is easier for many to digest, as it is not a modern hybridized grain. See this post to learn more about einkorn wheat. 

• Instead of unfermented dough, this recipe is sourdough. Sourdough recipes are healthier because they improve digestibility, breaking down a lot of the anti-nutrients in grains.  

• Instead of using processed brown sugar or white sugar, I use coconut sugar. This is a very minimally processed sugar that is delicious. I generally feel better when using coconut sugar rather than regular canr sugar.

This Recipe is Easy

Less Layers: most honey cake recipes have eight or more layers of cake. While that may the more traditional way, it’s also more difficult and time consuming. I find four thicker layers to be much easier and just as delicious! 

Less Equipment: you don’t need special equipment for this recipe. I am not a fancy baker – I care more about healthy ingredients and a delicious taste than a cake looking extra pretty. No special cake pans are needed – I made this cake using 2 small cast iron pans!

Unskilled Baker Friendly: one thing I love about Medivnyk cakes is that they are traditionally sprinkled with cake crumbs after frosting. This covers up many of the imperfections, which is great for a very imperfect baker like me! 

What Type of Honey to Use

You can use any type of honey that has a delicious flavor, keeping in mind that the flavor of the honey has a big impact on the flavor of the cake itself. I prefer lighter types like wildflower honey or clover honey over something like a dark buckwheat honey (I’m not a fan of the flavor of the latter). Even though the honey in the batter will be cooked, I always prefer an organic raw honey. See my favorite honey linked below. 

Cream Cheese vs Sour Cream Frosting 

Both options are delicious, but the tastes vary slightly.  From what I have read, it seems like sour cream is the more traditional route. I chose a cream cheese frosting because I wanted to avoid using powdered sugar. I thought a sour cream based frosting might be to watery. Feel free to use the cream cheese frosting recipe in this post, or a sour cream frosting recipe found elsewhere!

Healthier Sweetened Condensed Milk

The frosting in this recipe calls for sweetened condensed milk, but I don’t recommend a store-bought version. I don’t usually buy products in cans. There are unhealthy chemicals in the lining of canned goods, and they often don’t have the best ingredients. I make my own sweetened condensed milk and always keep some on hand in the freezer! It’s actually very simple to make. Instead of processed sugar, I use more natural sweeteners like coconut sugar or sucanat sugar. I recommend doing the same instead of buying canned sweetened condensed milk.

Why Sourdough?

All of my baked goods are made with a sourdough method. This is because it is easier to digest: the beneficial yeasts and bacteria begin to break down the harmful anti-nutrients in the flour. Grains can be hard on our health because of these anti-nutrients, such as phytic acid. Eating grains that are not fermented can, over time, wreak havoc on our health. 

Why Einkorn Wheat?

Modern wheat has been hybridized and can be harmful for our health. Particularly since the creation of round-up ready crops, modern wheat has been causing health problems for many. Fortunately, the original wheat called einkorn wheat is still available to purchase in its original form! This is the same wild wheat that was enjoyed by our ancestors many years ago, and differs from modern wheat in many ways. It has different chromosomes, a different type of gluten, and even a different ratio of protein to carbohydrates! See this post to learn more about einkorn wheat. 

When to Serve Honey Cake

Honey cake can be enjoyed any time of year. From what I  have read, it seems like it is traditionally served at Christmas, Jewish New Year, and other special occasions. I personally like serving this cake during spring events, as honey just seems fitting in spring to me!

Baking Timeline

This cake has to have time to ferment, freeze, and rest in the fridge to soak in the frosting. Make sure to start your cake 2-3 days prior to when you are planning to serve it.  

How to Make Honey Cake (Ukrainian Medivnyk)

1. In a large bowl, combine flour, baking soda, and cream of tartar, and salt. 
2. In a small bowl, combine eggs, coconut sugar, sourdough discard, and vanilla. 
3. In a small saucepan, heat butter on low heat. Once butter is melted, add honey and stir until fully dissolved. 
4. Pour melted butter and honey mixture into small bowl with other wet ingredients and combine thoroughly. 
5. Add wet ingredients to large bowl with dry ingredients, and combine on low speed with a hand mixer. 
6. Cover, and allow to ferment at room temperature for 4- 5 hours. 
7. After 4-5 hours, cover 2 small (8-9 inch) round pans with parchment paper. Put one fourth of the cake batter in each pan. 
8. Bake for about 15-20 minutes at 350 degrees, or until a toothpick comes out clean. 
9. Repeat baking step with the rest of the batter. 
10. Allow to cool to room temperature, then place cake rounds in freezer. They can be stacked on top of one another between parchment paper. Allow to freeze for at least 4 hours, or until you are ready to frost the cake. 

11. Once frozen, remove cake rounds from freezer and place all layers on top of each other as evenly as possible on a large plate (without parchment paper). 

12.With a knife, cut off all imperfections around the cake until it appears round and even. 

13. Remove cake cuttings and place in a high speed blender or food processor. 

14.Blend cake cuttings into fine crumbs and set aside. 

15. On your chosen cake plate, place first layer, upside down, in the center of the pan. Place 1/4 cup frosting and spread an even layer. 

16. Repeat this step with remaining cake rounds.

17. Ensure cake rounds are evenly stacked, then frost the outside of the cake evenly.

18. Once frosting is spread as evenly as possible over the cake, sprinkle the cake crumbs over sides and/or top of the cake.

19. Cover with a large bowl or cake container and place in the refrigerator for 12 or more hours, so that the moisture from the frosting soaks into the cake layers.  

20. Remove cake from refrigerator a couple of hours before serving. 

How to Make Honey Cream Cheese Frosting

1. Blend all ingredients in a medium bowl with a hand mixer until smooth. (Make sure butter and cream cheese are at room temperature or your frosting will not be smooth).

2. Add heavy cream as needed if it is too thick. It should be easily spreadable and somewhat wet, so that the moisture will soak into the layers.

3. Keep at room temperature until ready to use on cake.

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My favorite organic raw honey

Whole grain einkorn flour

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