Russian Honey Cake

I almost didn't make anything for this round of Formula 1 Foods as I have made Russian recipes before partly as I went through a period of really liking Russian dolls. I spent two days this week making a wedding cake and was at the wedding on Saturday and today have been a bit tired (and possibly hung over...) but mid-afternoon decided I couldn't miss my own challenge and that I would make something after all.

I found this recipe for Russian honey cake online. It involves several thin layers of cake, which is made from a dough rather than a traditional cake batter, and layered with icing in between. I didn't have any sour cream so used Greek yogurt that was flavoured with honey so it's a twist on a Russian honey cake rather than the real thing. Also, mine looks a lot less neat than the one in the picture! At least, from the outside -when it's sliced I think it looks quite good.

I followed this recipe on Beets and Bones.com so I won't reproduce it in full here. It tasted more like a dough or even pastry than cake and was slightly chewy but in a good way and the honey flavour definitely comes through.

The ingredients for the honey dough:

Bringing the dough together
 

Baking each piece in a roughly circular shape

Stacking the trimmed layer

With the frosting in between and around the sides, it looks quite messy at this stage!

Sprinkling the crumbs over the top

A layer showing the much neater inside!

I'm sharing this with Formula 1 Foods in honour of today's Grand Prix which took place in Russia. Who actually won? I've been too busy catching up on things I needed to do around the house as I was away last weekend and for half of this weekend so haven't been near a TV!

I'm also sharing this with Love Cake, where the bake must be made in less than an hour. Each layer of this only takes a few minutes in the oven and it's a cinch to decorate.