Polish Honey Cake with Semolina Buttercream

Frosted "naked cake" on a brown serving plate.

Polish Honey Cake with Semolina Buttercream

Lovely layers of honey cake filled with semolina buttercream make up this Polish honey cake known as grysikowiec or miodownik.

Course Dessert

Cuisine Jewish, Polish

Keyword honey cake, jewish wedding cake, polish, semolina buttercream, semolina cake

Prep Time 1

Cook Time 40

Chilling time 4

Total Time 5 40

Servings people

Calories 542kcal

Author Eva | Electric Blue Food

Equipment

24-cm (9-in) baking tin
Food processor
Mixing bowls
Electric mixer
Pot
Spatula and spoons
Cooling rack
Hand whisk
Cake collar

Ingredients

For the honey cake layers

500 g flour
2 eggs
1 teaspoon baking soda
100 g honey
50 g butter cold
100 g sugar
100 g sour cream

For the semolina buttercream

1 l milk
2 tablespoon vanilla extract
140 g semolina
350 g butter room temperature
400 g sugar
4 egg yolks

Instructions

1. Semolina Buttecream

Combine the milk and vanilla extract in a pot and bring to a boil, then slowly add the semolina stirring continuously. Simmer for 4-5 minutes until the mixture thickens. Lower the heat if you feel that it sticks to the bottom of the pan. Let it cool completely, to room temperature.
Add the egg yolks and sugar to a bowl and mix with an electric mixer at medium speed for 2-3 minutes. Slowly add the room temperature butter, little by little, always mixing at medium speed. You may need to scrape the sides of the bowl from time to time to ensure everything gets mixed homogeneously.
When the butter has been incorporated, add the cooled semolina little by little, again scraping the sides of the bowl if necessary. Stop the mixer as soon as all the semolina has been added. Transfer the cream to a piping bag fitted with a round attachment (or just a round hole, really).

2. Honey Pastry

Combine flour, eggs, baking soda, cold butter, honey, sugar and sour cream in a food processor and blitz until combined. Stop the blades from time to time and scrape the sides of the bowl.
Divide the dough into 4 equal parts. Roll out each portion on a floured surface and cut out according to desired size (use a baking ring or cutter of the same size as reference).
Bake each layer individually at 200°C (390°F) for 10 minutes. Remove from the oven and transfer to cooling rack. The pastry will slightly harden as it cools.

3. Assembling the Cake

Line the inside sides of a baking tin with a cake collar or with strips of baking paper. Place one disc at the bottom of the form. Pipe enough cream to cover the whole disc all the way to the outer edges, going in a spiral.
Place next pastry disc and gently press it to distribute the cream under it. Pipe the next layer of cream. Proceed this way until you have used all 4 discs. I had divided my cream between 2 pastry bags and used half for each layer.
Flatten the cream on the top layer, if you prefer a smoother finish. Place the cake in the fridge to cool and set for a minimum of 4 hours. For best results, leave it overnight, so the pastry discs have enough time to moisten and soften.

Notes

This cake needs to be stored in the fridge, but tastes best at room temperature. It is recommended to take it out of the fridge an hour or so before serving, for best results.

The nutritional information shared here is obtained using an online calculator and therefore only to be used as a guideline.

Nutrition