“Medovik” – the Russian honey cake (vegan, gluten-free)

There are some things that bring every Russian back to their roots like the taste of borscht, famous “Oivier” salad and this cake, which I wanted to share with you today.

This honey cake is very Russian, very tasty and looks extremely yummy. People make it for birthdays or other important celebrations.

Everything is great with this cake except… it’s super heavy, rich and fatty if you make it according to the original recipe.

I must admit not every Russian girl after growing up to be an adult would risk her figure for the slice of this heaven.

In the childhood that was super easy, now – hell, no! So I decided to recreate classic honey cake aka “Medovik” and make it clean, healthy and accessible to every “skinny” girl who is worried about her diet.

This cake has no eggs, butter, no gluten, etc. to be honest, by looking at my recipe and the result it produces, I even don’t know why they add all those unnecessary things to the original recipe. You can make it with much less stress, components and make it suitable for vegans, smart eaters and other clean food lovers.

Ok, ready?

So… Let’s make our life a bit sweeter!

Let’s go cooking!

We will need:

For the dough

1 cup (250 ml) of gluten free oats

1 cup chickpea flour (you can substitute with rice flour)

1/3 cup of brown sugar

1/4 of honey

1 tea spoon of baking powder

4 table spoons of unsweetened apple sauce

3 table spoons of coconut oil

For the cream

2/3 cup of cashews (soaked in water for 2 hours)

1/2 cup of coconut milk

4 table spoons of any syrup you have (or you can use 2 table spoons of powder sugar)

1 table spoon of lemon juice

Preheat you oven to 300F/150C.

Make oat flour by grinding your oats in blender. Mix it with chickpea flour. I would not recommend to substitute it with any flours, because it gives the desert this unique and special taste that will blow your mind, but if there is no way you can find it or use it, you can take the rice flour and just add some ginger into it.

Add sugar. Mix well. In other bowl, combine apple pure, oil.

Heat up your honey and the moment it starts boiling, add baking powder. If will create foam-like substance. Mix it with the puree, and add to the dry ingredients. Mix well.

Form the ball, cover with the plastic and put it in the fridge for 20-30 minutes. This step will help you to work with this ball later.

Take the dough our and roll it. Put the plastic on top and roll to the stage when it’s very thin and has a rectangular shape.

Bake for 10 minutes or till it’s golden and its sides are dry.

Dough may crack – no worries. It’s just the top, not the whole thing.
Cool it down, cut the sides or and save them for the crumble.

Make 4 rectangles.

Combine everything for the cream.

Should be a pretty thick cream. It’s just enough for 4 pieces but if you want to cover the whole cake, double the amount. I would not recommend it, because it’s more than enough, but if you wish to go other way – no problem!

Pour the cream over every layer.

Make the crumbles.

Then dust them on top of the cake.

Delicious! Cool it down in your fridge for 2 hours and then it’s ready to be served!

Wow! It’s my Russian childhood calling.

Enjoy this cake, it’s worth trying immediately!

Have a great summer!