Honey Cake

This cake brings back so many memories of a happy childhood, the times when I could fly, I was a princess, and I could talk to animals!

I spent my summers in the beautiful piece of heaven on earth, my father’s birthplace, and I have always felt special just for being able to grow up there. I spent so much time in the outdoors which was studded with green fields scented with chamomile flowers, waterfalls, creeks, woods, and woodland creatures; that in a sense I felt like the nature raised me. My uncle had a lot of bees, thus a lot of honey, and my aunt would make this cake often, it was so delicious….had to go back, so here it is!

Honey cake - Medena pita

Cake layers:

150 g / 5 1/3 oz of vegetable shortening
150 g/ 5 1/3 oz of sugar
1 egg
1 Tbsp of baking cocoa (optional)
3 Tbsp of honey
1 Tsp of baking soda
Mix all of the above and then add:
400 g/ 14 oz + 1 Tbsp of flour

You should get rather hard dough, mix it really well, and then divide into 2 or 3 balls, depending on the size of the pan. If you do 9x13”, then 3. Preheat oven to 355 F.
Roll out each layer into the size of a pan, and bake on the back of a large cookie sheet or a jelly roll pan (greased slightly with shortening), for about 10 minutes, it should still be sort of soft, and hard to deal with, so worth it though : )

Let it cool a bit, then transfer onto a kitchen towel (kind of slide it off), and repeat with other 2. When they cool completely they should be very hard, like cookies. That is how it’s supposed to be, the cream will make it soft overnight, and it will all get incorporated into soft, delicious bites.

For the cream:
500 ml/ about 17 fl oz of milk
2 Tbsp AP flour
2 Tbsp corn starch
2 tsp vanilla sugar or 1 tsp vanilla extract
250 g / 8 ¾ oz of butter or margarine, unsalted
200 g / about 7 oz powdered sugar (add or substract to please your sweet tooth)
1 Tbsp of spiced rum

Take some milk out of those 500 ml (like half a cup), and mix it with flour and corn starch until you have no lumps. Set the remainder of milk to boil with vanilla. When it boils, mix in the flour mixture and stir for a minute. Transfer to a mixing bowl, and cool, and then chill in the fridge until completely cooled.

Then mix in butter or margarine with powdered sugar, and add it to the cream, and mix until all well incorporated. You can also add a few tbsp of spiced rum, if you like.
Spread cream over first and second cake layer, evenly, and put the third on the top. Do this on a cookie sheet, or jelly roll pan. Then wrap it with foil or something, and put some weight on top, like baking pans, and let it sit overnight.

Next day, when it’s nice and soft, spread the chocolate ganache on top( you can do any ganache if you have one you already like), and cut into cubes when cooled.

For the ganache:
100 g / 3 1/3 oz baking chocolate and 100 ml / 3.4 fl oz of whipping cream. Heat whipping cream until it starts boiling, then add chopped up chocolate, and mix until smooth.