Honey cakes are something I fell in love with when my sister brought one back from her student exchange in Europe. They are cakes made from these thin, honey cookie-like layers sandwiching a tangy cream-type of filling. For those who have never had a honey cake before, they are very similar to an icebox cake, with the cake layers being soaked by a creamy filling to achieve this tender crumb that just gives when you put a fork or spoon to it. The contrast between the tangy cream and the sweet, honey-flavored dough is very pleasant and well balanced. I really love making honey cakes, because there is something therapeutic in spreading the cream layers on top of each cake layer. That and I love that the sides of the cake are covered in crumbs from the leftover dough, which minimizes any wasted dough that you might have after rolling and shaping each layer. Since I just purchased these hexagonal cookie cutters, I figured that was the perfect time to try making another batch of honey cakes, but with a sort of honeycomb-motif! I was originally going to garnish the top of these cakes with honeycomb candy, but I found myself running low on honey(using a majority of it to make the honey cake dough itself), so I found that diluting it with water and making a gelee was the best way to still have a sort of cute, honey-themed garnish. That, and since I had these hexagonal silicone ice cube molds, I just used those and the tops of the cake kind of looked like a honeycomb! It was an accidental win-win situation! I also used some bee pollen on top of the cake, just for more of that honey-forward fragrance.

For the components, we have a honey cake dough, a creme fraiche-cream cheese filling, brown butter snow, and honey gelee. From a technical standpoint, the two components that do require some precision are the cake dough and the gelee. The cake dough requires a lot of patience. You have to make a sugar syrup, you have to brown some butter, and whisk that all together with eggs and flour to form a cookie-like dough. That dough then needs to be rolled thinly, sliced, then baked. And you need 4 layers of the dough for each individual cake. It is a labor-intensive process, but it is so fun to peel apart the layers of each cake once it is assembled and just kind of eating each one like an individual frosted cookie. The filling, so long as you do not overwhip it, it comes together really quickly. Just keep an eye on it and the moment there are no lumps, you are good to go there. The snow is made with tapioca maltodextrin, which is a fun technique, but not one that requires a lot of monitoring. The gelee, on the other hand, it is about getting the right consistency on the gelee base. If you reduce the liquid too much or too little, it will not set properly. I find that bringing it to a boil works best, but you may need two or three attempts at this to get it right(fortunately, if you under or over reduce it, you can either put it back on heat(under-reduced) or add more water to it and re-boil the mixture). All in all, my favorite parts of this recipe are assembling it, and eating it, layer by layer.

Makes 2 4-inch honey cakes:
For the honey cake dough:
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 egg
1 stick unsalted butter; browned
1/4 cup honey
1/4 cup granulated sugar
1/4 cup water
a pinch of salt
1 tablespoon bee pollen
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
a pinch of salt

Simmer the honey, water, and sugar together with bee pollen. Combine egg with brown butter and whip. Once the honey mixture is reduced down to a thick syrup, pour into the eggs and continue whipping. Combine salt, baking powder, and flour together and sift. Add in the flour, 1/4 cup flour at a time, continually mixing until it forms a dough. Split the dough into 8 equal parts. Roll out as thin as possible, using flour, and cut out 8 4-inch hexagons. Bake at 350 degrees F for 8 minutes. With the scraps, bake those off separately, as 350 degrees F for 15 minutes. Blitz until they form a fine crumb, sieving to separate the rougher crumbs from the finer ones. Reserve both crumbs, as you will be using them for different parts of the cake.

For the filling:
113g creme fraiche
4oz cream cheese
3 tbsp confectioner’s sugar
a pinch of salt
1 tsp vanilla bean paste

In a bowl, whip everything together everything until smooth and spreadable. Keep the filling refrigerated until time to assemble.

For initial assembly:
Spread the filling onto 6 of the 8 hexagons. Stack the hexagons so that there are two, each compromised of the 3 frosted hexagons and the unfrosted on top. Smother the exteriors of the cakes in the remaining filling and cover them with a layer of the fine dough crumbs. Refrigerate the cakes for at least 30 minutes.

For the brown butter snow:
1 tbsp brown butter
1/4 cup tapioca maltodextrin
a pinch of salt

Mix everything together until a fine powder forms. Store in an airtight container until time to use.

For the honey gelee:
1/2 cup water
1/4 cup honey
a pinch of salt
1 tsp agar agar

In a pot, bring everything to a simmer until the honey and agar are fully dissolved into the liquid. One the mixture reaches a boil, take it off heat. Pour the gelee mixture into silicone 1/4-inch hexagon molds and refrigerate until set.

For garnish:
Bee pollen

Garnish the tops of the cakes with the brown butter snow, the gelee, and bee pollen to finish.