So, here is the recipe. Please, feel free to ask questions, if any. 3 large eggs 10 oz. sugar ( I love using Mexican Zulka cane sugar, it is more close to the sugar in Eastern Europe) 1/4 c. raw honey (my favorite is linden honey, can also use Eastern European buckwheat honey, it is much lighter and milder than American buckwheat honey) 4 oz. butter 1.5 tsp. baking soda 1 tsp. white vinegar 1/4 cup water 0.5 tsp. salt (I use fine sea salt) 10 oz. + more unbleached AP flour as needed. Directions: 1. Combine sugar, honey, and water in a medium size saucepan. Cook stirring over low to medium low heat until it almost begins to boil. Add baking soda and keep stirring. The mixture will foam up significantly, it will start getting darker in color. As soon as you see a bright, amber color, take the mixture of the heat and stir in diced cold butter, stir well until the butter is melted. 2. Whisk well the eggs, salt, and vinegar. 3. Combine the egg mixture and the honey mixture and place the bowl over the water bath. Water should not touch the bottom of the bowl. 4. Cook over stirring until the mixture starts increasing in volume noticeably. I always eyeball this moment, but it is not less than 20 minutes. 4. With the bowl still over the water bath, sift 10 oz. of flour and stir well. Keep stirring the mixture for about 5 more minutes. 5. Take the owl off the water bath, wipe the bottom, cover pretty tightly with aluminum foil and let sit on the counter until completely cold. I usually let it sit overnight. Don't worry, it won't go bad. 6. When the batter is cold, I sift 6 oz. of flour on the countertop and scrap the batter from the bowl onto the flour. This is a critical moment. You don't want to over work this, just barely mix in the flour. 7. Divide the dough (it will be pretty sticky) into 8 parts. 8. I usually take 8 pieces of aluminum foil, each piece of foil should be large enough to fit a 10-inch cake layer. 9. Sprinkle rather generously the aluminum foil with flour, flatten the dough into a rough circle with your hands, take some flour in your hands both sides of the dough, don't just sprinkle with flour. 10. Roll each piece into a round slightly larger than10 inch. Pierce with a fork over the entire surface. 11. I have a professional half-sheet pan, so I bake two layers at a time at 350 F. I cannot tell you the time, I have never measured it really. Take the layers out once you see a deep golden color. The layers will puff up significantly and will be very soft to the touch. 12. I bake all the layers and let them sit on the foil until cold, then carefully peel off the foil. 13. Once cold, I trim the layers by putting on top of each one of them the bottom of my cheesecake pan (Fat Daddio). 14. The pieces that I cut off, then go to the ungreased baking sheet. I put them in the warm oven to dry them out. I later grind them to sprinkle the sides of the cake. I will write about the filling/frosting in another post.
