This honey cake takes the familiar comfort of medovik and reimagines it as a refined honey entremet — or, more precisely, a Honey Bûche de Noël — while preserving every bit of the classic’s nostalgic depth. The sour-cream filling is strengthened with white chocolate, giving it a silkier mouthfeel and a stable, clean cut without losing that characteristic tang. The surrounding honey mousse is deliberately light, balanced, and distinctly aromatic, carrying the flavour without overwhelming the palate.
You can build it as a traditional medovik with eight thin, fragrant layers, or assemble it as a contemporary mousse cake with the honey mousse acting as the outer structure. If you prefer something simpler, bake it as a straightforward cake and use the mousse as an elegant topping. Whatever format you choose, the result is a focused, indulgent honey experience — familiar, elevated, and unmistakably delicious.
Before You Start the Video Tutorial
If you’re a visual learner, the step-by-step video below will give you a clear, streamlined walkthrough of the entire assembly process. It shows the textures, consistencies, and sequencing in real time, making it easier to follow each stage with confidence. Use it as a practical guide alongside the written instructions to ensure every layer comes together cleanly and with precision.
Honey Buche de Noel
Ingredients
Honey Sponge (~ 900 g)
- 160 g honey
- 13 g baking soda
- 80 g salted butter 82%
- 100 g whole eggs ~2 large eggs
- 100 g sugar
- 470 g all-purpose flour
- 1.5 g sea salt omit if using salted butter
Sour Cream Filling (~1000 g)
- 800 g sour cream 35% divided
- 60 g sugar
- 100 g white chocolate
- 8 g gelatine powder
- 40 g cold water
Honey Mousse (~ 650 g)
- 220 g milk
- 85 g honey strong
- 64 g egg yolks 4 egg yolks
- 10 g gelatine powder
- 50 g cold water
- 260 g whipping cream 35%
Instructions
Honey Sponge
- Bring the honey to a boil in a tall, wide saucepan.
- Add the baking soda, whisking continuously as the honey foams.
- Remove from heat. Add the cold butter and stir until fully melted and incorporated.
- Ensure the mixture is 50–60°C (122–140°F). If it is hotter, let it cool briefly before proceeding.
- In the stand mixer bowl, combine eggs, sugar, and sea salt. Using the paddle attachment, mix on low speed for 1 minute.
- With the mixer running on medium speed, slowly stream the honey mixture into the egg mixture.
- Add the flour gradually and mix on low–medium until a smooth, soft, non-sticky dough forms.
- Wrap the dough tightly in cling film and rest at room temperature for 1 hour.
- Divide the dough into 4 portions of ~225 g each.
- Roll each portion between two sheets of parchment into a 30 × 20 cm rectangle.
- Transfer each rolled sheet to a baking tray and refrigerate. Repeat with all pieces.
- Move each chilled sheet onto a perforated mat.
- Bake at 170°C (356°F), fan-forced, for 6–8 minutes.
- Remove baked sponges from the oven and cut it in half while still warm. Final cake size would be around 15 x 20 cm, 8 layers.
- Let all layers cool at room temperature for ~40 minutes before removing from silicone mat.
Sour Cream Filling
- Bloom gelatine in cold water.
- In small saucepan bring to simmer 20% of sour cream (160 g) and the sugar, add gelatine, mix to dissolve.
- Pour over chopped chocolate. Blitz with a stick blender.
- Add rest of sour cream and emulsify with a stick blender again.
- Let it set for 5 hour in the fridge. Then spread thin layer on each sponge. You can also use a piping bag with a nozzle 5 mm.
Honey Mousse
- Bloom the gelatine in cold water.
- Semi‑whip the cream, then keep it chilled in the fridge.
- Add honey to the egg yolks and mix briefly.
- Bring the milk to a simmer. Temper the egg yolk mixture, then cook to 82°C (180°F).
- Strain the mixture into a larger mixing bowl. Cool it down in the fridge, or over an ice bath, to 25°C (77°F).
- Incorporate the semi‑whipped cream in three additions.
- Fill the mould one‑third full. Place the insert, then pour in the rest of the mousse.
Video
Choosing the Right Honey for Your Honey Cake and Honey Mousse
For a honey cake or any honey entremet variation, the honey you choose dictates the depth and character of the final flavour. Traditionally, bakers would reach for buckwheat honey thanks to its bold, dark, almost malty profile — perfect for classic medovik and equally effective in a Honey Cake Bûche de Noël.
If you can’t source buckwheat honey — common if you’re in Australia — use a dark, robust option such as mountain honey, Jarrah honey, or Leatherwood honey. These deliver the same earthy richness and give the mousse a clear, confident honey identity. If you prefer a gentler sweetness, any light floral honey will create a more delicate, approachable result. Avoid premium medical-grade honeys like Manuka; once heated, they lose their beneficial properties, making them an unnecessary expense with no performance advantage.
Efficient Baking for Consistent Honey Cake Sponge Layers
When making a honey cake, the time commitment usually comes from baking the many thin sponge layers—traditionally eight to twelve in a classic medovik-style build. To keep the process efficient, I bake larger sheets and cut them in half, which means only four trays are needed to produce eight layers. You can bake two trays at once, and the sponges bake quickly, so the workflow stays practical and controlled. For an entremet-style assembly, you’ll typically need fewer layers—around five to six—depending on the height of your mould and the balance you want between mousse and sponge. Roll the dough very thin, about 2 mm; it will rise to roughly 4–5 mm after baking.
In the tutorial video, I compare three baking surfaces: silicone mat, baking paper, and a perforated silicone mat. The perforated mat gives the most even, clean result thanks to better airflow and moisture evaporation, preventing bubbles and ensuring consistent texture. If you don’t have one, piercing the dough with a fork will help achieve a similarly smooth, uniform finish.
Refined Sour Cream Filling for a Stable Honey Cake and Honey Entremet
For this honey cake, I’ve reworked the traditional sour-cream filling into a more refined, structurally stable version—reliable whether you’re building a classic layered honey cake (medovik) or a modern honey entremet. This upgraded filling freezes and defrosts flawlessly, allowing you to prepare the dessert well in advance and reduce the Christmas workload.
Aim to pipe or spread it to a thickness of about 4–5 mm; it may look generous at first, but the dry sponge layers will gradually absorb part of the cream, softening beautifully and leaving the filling looking thinner, exactly as shown in the cross-section. This saturation step requires patience, so don’t skip the overnight rest in the fridge. If you plan to freeze the cake, follow the same procedure: let it mature in the fridge overnight first, then freeze for up to one month. Defrost slowly in the refrigerator—overnight for next-day serving, or in the morning if you’re serving it at dinner.
Adding a Base for a More Refined Honey Entremet Structure
While a classic honey cake doesn’t rely on any crunchy or structural base, assembling it as a mousse-style dessert—especially when aiming for a polished honey entremet or a streamlined honey Bûche de Noël—benefits greatly from adding one. A base ensures clean slicing, easier transfer of individual portions, and prevents the honey mousse from sitting directly on the serving plate, which can otherwise cause smearing and deformation.
For this version, I selected a streusel base because, when in direct contact with a mousse, it absorbs moisture and softens—much like honey sponges—but delivers a richer, more buttery flavour. I used this recipe: https://andbonbons.com/streusel-entremet-crunch-base-recipes/
If you prefer something firmer or more traditional, you can build the cake on a shortcrust pastry: https://andbonbons.com/shortcrust-pastry-recipe/
Each option adds texture, stability, and a professional finish to your assembly.
Assembling the Honey Entremet in the Beehive Mould
For the honey entremet version, I built the cake in the Silikomart Beehive 1100 mould. I cut my sponge inserts to 3.5 cm wide, 4.5 cm tall, and 19 cm long — a size that has consistently given me the cleanest unmoulding results. In my experience, having a generous buffer of honey mousse surrounding the insert is essential. With these insert dimensions, the mousse quantity fills roughly 95% of the mould, leaving just enough space if you want to add a thin crunch layer on top for a more stable base after freezing.
For the finishing, I use a velvet spray. You can follow my detailed tutorial here: https://andbonbons.com/velvet-spray-mousse-cakes/
For this Bûche, the mixture is white-chocolate–based with a yellow oil-soluble colour, giving it a smooth, even, honey-toned finish.
Finishing Touches: Honey Accents and Chocolate Bees
To complete the honey entremet, I like adding a few simple elements that reinforce the theme without overwhelming the design. The small indents on the Beehive mould are ideal for holding real honey, but make sure you pour the honey only right before serving — the refrigerator will cause it to crystallise or dull if added earlier. For the chocolate bees, melt white chocolate and tint it with a touch of yellow oil-soluble colouring. Spread the mixture into a silicone bee mould, chill it in the fridge for about an hour, and unmould once firm. These details are quick to prepare, visually striking, and bring the entire honey concept together with a clean, professional finish.
What Honey Cake Means to Me
Honey cake has always been tied to the festive season in my life. Growing up in Ukraine, it was a non-negotiable presence on the Christmas table — usually a sheet-style cake with a thicker, rustic sponge, often enriched with walnuts, prunes, or raisins. Other variations appeared at weddings, typically as a three-layer sponge with a simple sour-cream filling, understated but deeply nostalgic. Because of those traditions, any honey-based cake immediately signals celebration to me; its aroma alone feels like stepping back into those winter holidays.
EXPLORE MORE BÛCHE DE NOËL RECIPES
If you love creating entremets, you might enjoy exploring some of my other Bûche de Noël recipes. Each one offers a unique flavour profile and assembly technique, perfect for expanding your pastry skills:
Raspberry Bûche de Noël – https://andbonbons.com/raspberry-buche-de-noel-yule-log-recipe-01/
Orange Bûche de Noël – https://andbonbons.com/orange-buche-de-noel-orange-entremet-02/
Coffee Bûche de Noël – https://andbonbons.com/coffee-buche-de-noel-03/
Dark Berry Bûche de Noël – https://andbonbons.com/dark-berry-buche-de-noel-buche-entremet/
Blackberry Bûche de Noël – https://andbonbons.com/blackberry-buche-de-noel-yule-log-entremet-06/
Chocolate Bûche de Noël – https://andbonbons.com/chocolate-buche-de-noel-07/
These recipes are perfect for discovering new flavour combinations, practising advanced techniques, and enjoying the elegance of layered entremets at home.
MOULDS USED IN THIS RECIPE
Silikomart Beehive 1100 mould – Silicone 3D yule log mould featuring detailed hexagonal honeycomb cavities for highly realistic entremets: https://www.silikomart.com/en/beehive-1100
Craving more behind-the-scenes moments, step-by-step videos, and sneak peeks of upcoming recipes? Join me on Instagram @andbonbons for a closer look at the process, pastry tips, and plenty of chocolate inspiration.
