Russian Mocha Honey Cake (Белочка)
 
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A Russian classic cake gets cocoa added for decadent chocolate layers and is generously smothered with a rich mascarpone-espresso whipped cream for the ultimate celebration cake. Adding sour cream to the cream gives it just the right amount of tang to balance the sweetness and also beautifully softens the layers to a pillowy perfection.
Author:
Recipe type: Dessert
Cuisine: Russian
Serves: 8 round 9" cake layers
Ingredients
  • 3 Eggs
  • 1 Cup Sugar
  • 4 Tablespoons honey
  • 10 Tablespoons Butter
  • 2 teaspoons Baking soda
  • ½ teaspoon Salt
  • 4 Cups Flour (See notes for whole-grain and gluten-free version)
  • 4 Tablespoons Cocoa Powder
Instructions
  1. Combine the flour, cocoa powder, and salt in a mixing bowl. Add butter and cream for 1-2 minutes.
  2. In a separate bowl combine eggs, sugar honey and baking soda. Add to the flour mixture. Mix until combined.
  3. Place the dough onto a plastic wrap lined plate or tray. Dough will be very sticky. Chill 1-2 hours or overnight.
  4. Preheat the oven to 350. Divide the chilled dough into 8 equal parts. Chill the remaining dough as you roll out each layer one by one. Using multiple baking sheets really speeds up the process. Roll out the dough to about ¼" thickness and bake on a parchment lined baking sheet. A helpful trick is to roll out the dough into a small disc, then transfer to a baking sheet and use a hand-held rolling pin to keep rolling to size.
  5. Bake for 8-10 minutes. Once the layers are baked and cooled, they can be stored, wrapped airtight up to a week at room temperature and up to a month in the freezer.
  6. This cake is best made the day before serving to let the layers absorb the cream and soften up.
  7. Make the mascarpone-espresso whipped cream and generously spread the cream on each layer, about ½-3/4 cup per layer. Once the cake is assembled, it is best to let it chill for at least 30 minutes to make it easier to finish.
  8. Trim off the uneven edges and mask with cream.
  9. The edges can be covered with chopped nuts or reserve one of the cake layers and bake it for an additional 8 minutes, then grind up in a food processor to make crumbs and use to coat the sides of the cake.
  10. Serve the cake chilled.
Notes
For a delicious whole grain version I used: 3 oz Teff, 2 oz rice flour, 8 oz Soft white wheat.
For Gluten-free I used: 4 oz teff, 6 oz rice flour, 2 oz oat flour, 2 oz tapioca flour, and 1 teaspoon guar gum.
Recipe by Welcome 2 Our Table at https://www.welcome2ourtable.com/russian-mocha-honey-cake-%d0%b1%d0%b5%d0%bb%d0%be%d1%87%d0%ba%d0%b0/