Honey Cake (Miodownik)

Lately I lost my voice (metaphorically speaking). I don't know if I want to talk about Christmas, or about how full we still are or maybe how the kittens are growing and getting bolder.

So instead of trying to make up something I will present you with a monster cake aka honey cake (miodownik).  

The cake is huge, it has 3 layers of cake and 2 layers of cream. It was baked in a pan 25x35cm. So this is a great cake for a party or sharing. We made one Italian guy very happy as he saved himself three  slices for the Christmas breakfast.
The cake tastes the best after 2-3 days in the fridge. The all flavours nicely come together. Myself and Tomek still argue what is the best part of the cake I think that is the walnut top layer, he says it was the cream. I wonder what will be your choice. 

Honey Cake  (Miodownik)

The recipe is mix of these two recipes from Kuchnia nad Atlantykiem and Moje wypieki.
For 25x35cm pan.

Cake:

• 600 g plain flour
• 2 tsp baking soda
• 3/4 cup caster sugar
• 2 eggs, lightly beaten
• 2 egg yolks 
• 200 g butter, cold 
• 3 Tbsp milk 
• 3 Tbsp honey
• 1 Tbsp vanilla sugar

Walnut layer:

• 2 Tbsp unsalted butter 
• 4 Tbsp honey 
• 3 Tbsp sugar 
• 200g walnuts

Cream:

• 10 Tbsp/115g semolina (Polish: kasza manna)  
• 500 ml full fat milk
• 250 ml evaporated milk (unsweetened)
• 2/3 cup sugar 
• 2 egg yolks
• 1 Tbsp vanilla sugar
• 1 tsp vanilla extract 
• 250 g butter 
• 2 Tbsp vanilla liqueur or other alcohol

Cake:
Preheat the oven to 180ºC/160ºC fan.
Sift the flour and baking soda. Add cold butter.
With your hands, rub together the flour mixture with the butter cubes until the mixture forms small breadcrumbs. Alternatively, you can use a food processor for 10-12 second.
Add the remaining ingredients and quickly knead the dough.
Divide it into 3 pieces.
Line 25x35cm pans with parchment paper. If you have three pans than you are lucky, you can bake them in one batch, otherwise you need to bake each layer separately.
Roll out the dough on a lightly floured work surface until it covers the pan base.
Transfer it gently into the pan. Press the dough evenly into the bottom and sides of the pan. Prick the dough with a fork.

Walnut layer:
Melt the butter in the pan. Add honey and sugar. When everything is melted add walnuts and let them fry for a few minutes.
Arrange the walnuts at the top of the one dough layer (this will be your top layer).

Cake:
Bake each cake layer around 10 minutes or until golden.

Remove from the oven and leave it to cool.

Cream:

Mix evaporated milk with semolina. 

Heat slightly full fat milk, sugar and vanilla sugar. Add evaporated milk with semolina.

Stir the mixture constantly over medium heat with a heatproof spatula, scraping the bottom as you stir, until the mixture boils and thickens.

Take the mixture from the heat and add 2 egg yolks. Stir well. 

Add vanilla extract and let it cool. 

Beat the butter until light and fluffy. Add the cold semolina mixture spoon by spoon mixing all the time. 

At the end add the liqueur and mix.

To assemble the cake:

Place the first cake layer. Cover it with the half of the cream. Place the second cake layer. Cover it with remaining cream. Place the cake layer with walnuts at the top.

Leave in fridge for at least 24 hours (preferably for 48 hours). The moisture from the cream needs to transfer to the cake and soften it.