Friday 28 August 2020

Estonian Honey Cake Recipe (Meekook)

It's my father's birthday soon and when I spoke to my sister today I was surprised when she told me she plans to make him a 'Meekook' - Estonian honey cake.  I must admit I've never heard of this cake before but now that I have discovered it I plan to make one myself. Looks interesting!

Meekook is a five layrered honey cake that is filled with sour cream.

My first meekook. Not bad for a first attempt!

Ingredients:

Cake base:
3 Tbsp honey
200g caster sugar
3 large eggs
2 tsp bicarbonate of soda
360g plain flour 

Filling (between the layers)
1 kg sour cream
85g caster sugar

Method:
Whisk eggs until pale and thick. Heat honey and sugar in a large saucepan. When it's about to boil, remove from the heat and add the whisked eggs, combine well. Add baking soda and stir again. Add flour gradually, mix thoroughly. Put aside to cool.

Divide the dough into six equal parts. Take six sheets of baking paper and dust slightly with flour. On each baking paper, place a portion of the dough, roll into a ball then roll flat into a 24 cm circle. Bake each dough circle one at a time for 5 minutes at 225 C. It should be dark golden in appearance. Remove from the oven and allow to cool on the baking paper.

On a cake stand, start layering the five baked circles and place some of the sour cream mix in between each layrer. Take the sixth and final cake circle and crumble in a food processor and sprinkle on the top layer of the sour cream mix. Place in the fridge for 6 hours or overnight to set.

Suggestions:
Instead of using sour cream you might prefer to use creme fraiche. Lemon juice can also be added to the filling for extra flavour.