Polish honey cake with semolina buttercream

Detail of sliced Polish honey cake with semolina cream.

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 20 minutes

Cook Time 40 minutes

Servings people

Calories 722kcal

Author Eva | Electric Blue Food

Equipment

18*20 cm (7*8 in) baking tin
Mixing bowls
Electric mixer
Pot
Spatula and spoons
Cooling rack

Ingredients

For the honey cake layers

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

For the semolina buttercream

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

Instructions

Start by making the cream, as it needs to be completely cooled to be used. Combine the milk, and vanilla extract in a saucepan and bring to a boil. Add the semolina stirring continuously. Simmer for 4-5 minutes, until the mixture has nicely thickened. Lower the heat if it sticks to the bottom of the pan.
Place the bowl in a cold water bath to lower its temperature. When it has cooled some, you can place it in the freezer and stir it every few minutes to speed up the cooling process.
To make the honey cake layers, combine all the ingredients in a food processor and blitz until incorporated. Stop the blades from time to time to scrape the sides of the bowl, and if necessary give the dough a quick knead to make a homogeneous ball.
Crumble some dough over a piece of parchment paper, cover with a second paper and roll the dough with a rolling pin until about 2-3 mm thick. Cut the dough the size of the baking tin, using the bottom of the actual dish as template. Set aside and repeat until you have used your dough to make 4 pastry layers.
Bake each layer individually at 200°C (390°F) for 10 minutes, and let set on a cooling rack. The pastry will slightly harden as it cools.
When the semolina has cooled, it's time to make the buttercream. In a bowl, combine the sugar and egg yolks and whisk for a couple of minutes at medium speed. Always whisking, add the butter in chunks, little by little, until all of it has been incorporated.
Take the semolina out of the fridge and fold it into the buttercream with a spatula.
Have a cake layer on a working surface and spoon some semolina cream over it. Spread it evenly with an angled spatula. Place the next layer over the cream and repeat. Remember to reserve some cream for the top layer, too. Before spreading cream on the top layer, slide the spatula along the sides of the cake to give the sides an even finish and remove any excess cream that may have been pushed out.

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.

This is the kind of cake that needs some resting time to really shine, as the honey cake layers soften after some resting time. While there's nothing wrong in terms of flavour and the cake can be enjoyed on day one, the texture is alwas better from the second day. I strongly recommend making this cake ahead, even 2 days in advance, and store it in the fridge in an airtight container.

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