Honeycomb Cake

I remember, the first time I saw this combination in a cake was on a jazzedcook.com forum, when one of the girls on the forum replaced the frosting in a traditional “Monestary Hut” Russian cake, with sweetened condensed milk frosting. She claimed that while it sounded weird, it was very good. So I made it and loved it as well! I don’t think she had a name for her version of the cake, so I decided to call it ‘Honey Comb’ Cake, since it looks like the honey comb. Usually this cake is made rectangle, in either a glass dish, or stacked into a pyramid, because that’s the easiest way to assemble it, given that it’s made with puff pastry ‘tubes’ filled with sour cherries.

Ingredients

• Cake
• 2 12 x12 inches puff pastry sheets, thawed
• 2 cups canned tart cherries drained
• Frosting
• 3 sticks butter room temperature
• 1.5 cans sweetened condensed milk cooked (dulce de leche)
• Ganache
• 150 grams dark chocolate finely chopped
• 150 ml heavy cream
• 3 tablespoons corn syrup
• Decoration
• 1/2 cup chocolate sprinkles only half will be actually used

Instructions

1. Cook cans of condensed milk in a pot, covered with water by 2 inches, for 1.5 hours, on low heat. Allow to cool completely.
2. Cut each puff pastry sheet in 3 strips. Roll them with a rolling pin, to double it in size (length & width). Place cherries about 1/2 inch apart along the long side of the dough. Roll it into a tube and pinch the ends. Do the same with 1 more strip of puff pastry. Combine rolled pieces together. Coil them into a spiral circle, leaving about 1/2 inch between each coil (see illustration at the end of the post).
3. Bake at 400, for 15 minutes or until slightly golden.
4. Follow the above steps and make 2 more cake layers.

Make the cream

1. Whip room temperature butter, for about 3-4 minutes until white and fluffy. Scrape the bottom of the bowl a couple of times throughout.
2. Add room temperature condensed milk, in 3 additions, making sure it’s combined before adding more.

Make Chocolate Ganache

1. Chop the chocolate and place it into a bowl.
2. Heat the cream, to a simmer.
3. Pour over the chocolate. Let sit for 2-3 minutes.
4. Add the corn syrup. Stir, until well combined and smooth.

Assembly

1. Reserve 1 cup of frosting for covering the cake.
2. Place a small dab of frosting on a plate, to adhere it to the plate and ensure that it does not move. Put the first cake layer. Place 4 strips of foil, 1 inch under the cake, overlapping and covering the serving platter (will make for easy cleanup). Layer the cake with frosting, making sure the amounts of frosting between layers are the same.
3. Cover the cake with the reserved frosting.
4. Refrigerate the cake for 20 minutes.
5. Pour the chocolate ganache on top of the cake, right in the middle. Go with a spatula in a circle, allowing the chocolate to drip down the sides and cover them.
6. To get the spiral design, place the cake on a cake turntable, place the tip of your spatula in the middle, start turning the cake turntable, at the same time moving the spatula so that it creates a spiral all over the cake. Slowly, run a knife or a spatula, underneath the cake freeing the 4 strips of foil. Remove the foil. Clean up the edges of the serving plate if needed.
7. While the ganache is still wet, decorate the cake with chocolate sprinkles. Place a baking pan or a large dish, in front of yourself. Take the cake into your left hand. Take some sprinkles into the palm of your hand, cupping the hand slightly. Press against the bottom of the cake, going around the cake.
8. Cake is best served at room temperature, but is easier to cut while it’s still cold.

Recipe Notes

Please read comments for helpful suggestions.

More Deliciouse Recipe Honey Comb Cake @ letthebakingbeginblog.com