Bake of the Week: Medutis (Christmas Honey Cake)

WE’RE really gearing up for Christmas now and this week’s bake is something different – a honey cake, or Medutis.

It’s traditional at this time of year in Lithuania.

Store in a box or tin in the fridge for a day or two before you eat it for best results.

Thanks to Dean’s Shortbread and Snieguole Bertasiute, who was born in Lithuania, but now works at Dean’s. She developed the recipe.

You’ll need:

100g butter

200g caster sugar

3 tbsp runny honey

3 eggs, beaten

3 tsp baking soda

400g plain flour (approx)

For the filling:

1.2 litres whipping cream

5 tbsp caster sugar (approx)

3-4 tbsp lemon juice

Zest of 2 lemons

Christmas sprinkles

Method

Pre-heat the oven to 250C/230C fan/gas mark 9/480F.

Place the butter, caster sugar and honey in a heatproof bowl and place over a pan of simmering water. Melt together, then mix in the eggs.

Remove the bowl from the heat. Mix the baking soda into the flour before adding to the batter a little at a time. Mix well until you have a dough that doesn’t stick to your hands – you may need extra flour.

Divide the dough into 8 equal-sized pieces then, on a floured surface, roll out one piece into a large sheet of about 1inch (2-3mm) thickness.

Place the dough sheet carefully on a large baking tray lined with baking paper, and bake for around 5 minutes or until golden brown.

While still warm cut a 10-inch (250mm) round from the baked sheet and place on a wire rack to cool. Keep the trimmings for decorating the cake later. You can use a 10-inch (250mm) flan ring as a cutter, or cut around a dinner plate. Repeat the rolling, baking and cutting process with the other 7 pieces of dough.

Leave to cool completely before assembling the cake.

Whisk the filling ingredients together. To assemble the cake sandwich the 8 layers together on a large serving plate with a generous layer of the cream filling between each round. Take the baked trimmings you kept from each layer and crush into crumbs – use these to cover the sides and top of the cake.

Decorate with icing stars or other Christmas cake decorations.