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Honey Cake with Sour Cream Frosting

Honey Cake with Sour Cream Frosting: nice, fluffy texture, moist with a hint of nutty flavor. The honey gives the cake sweetness; a delicious combination with sour cream frosting. This cake just hits ‘the spot’.

Honey Cake: nice, fluffy texture, moist with a hint of nutty flavor. The honey gives the cake sweetness; a delicious combination with sour cream frosting. This cake just hits ‘the spot’. | olgainthekitchen.com

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This cake recipe comes a long way. It’s a staple at our home. Before I got married, I used to bake it almost every Sunday for our church youth gathering. We always had youth at our house, whether those were my friends, my brothers’ friends or just simply 60-70 youth members :). This recipe never gets old and it’s never enough. Over the past decade, I made this cake around 200 times if not more; I could probably bake it in my sleep 🙂 . You can also add strawberries and kiwi between the layers – a delicious addition!

You can decorate the cake with any honey cake crumbs you got on hand from previous, recent baking, but I feel like the nutty-almond decoration gives that extra flavor and just blends in nicely with honey.

Choosing the Right Honey for Sponge Cake

When it comes to honey: As much as I love organic foods, organic honey doesn’t always work in baking when it comes to sponge cakes. Some honey brands come a bit on the watery side. A while back, when I ran out of honey that I always use in this cake, I tried substituting with Simple Truth brand and the cake layers turned out heavy and weren’t fluffy. They looked watery, as if you soaked the cake layers in bowl of water. At first I wasn’t sure what was happening to my cake and then it hit me: ‘honey’.

I have a little secret when it comes to finding out if certain honey will work for this cake. If you flip the bottle upside down and the honey comes out quickly out of the bottle, it will not work. Honey that comes out “lazy” from the bottle, like it’s barely coming out and you REALLY have to squeeze the bottle, that’s your winner. That is your friend!

Honey Cake Ingredients:

  • 8 eggs – room temp
  • 1 cup granulated sugar
  • 4 tablespoons honey
  • 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
  • 1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour

Sour Cream Frosting Ingredients and Decorating:

  • 16 oz sour cream – cold
  • 8 oz extra creamy cool whip – frozen
  • 1/2 cup granulated sugar
  • 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • 1 cup blanched almonds – toasted

How to Make Honey Cake:

1. Preheat the oven to a 350°F. Prepare a nonstick 9″ springform pan; oil or spray with a cooking spray and wipe all over with a paper towel (make sure to get the edges nicely). In a small bowl, microwave 4 tablespoons honey for 40-60 seconds until it starts bubbling and rising. As soon as you take out the honey from the microwave, sprinkle it with 1/4 tsp of baking soda and stir with a spoon until fluffy (it will rise). Set aside to cool while you prepare the next step.

2. In a large bowl, using a mixer, beat 8 eggs and 1 cup sugar on high for 8-10 mins until eggs are light in color, thick and fluffy. Beat in honey/baking soda mixture on low for 30 seconds. Sift 1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour in thirds into the batter, whisking gently by hand using a whisk or fork until flour is incorporated and no streaks of flour remain, scraping the bottom of the bowl to ensure you don’t have lumps of flour hiding at the bottom. Do not over-mix or you will deflate the batter and the cake will turn out hard in texture. Divide batter equally into 3: 1 straight into springform pan and the remaining 2 portions in separate bowls. Bake 1 layer at a time for 13-15 minutes until toothpick inserted comes out clean.

3. Once cake is baked, use a thin spatula to loosen cake from the rim of the springform pan, then remove the rim, flip cake, remove springform base, flip cake layer back and set aside to cool. Pam spray the pan again and pour the second batch. Repeat the same with 3rd. Let the cake cool before frosting. Do not stack the layers while they are still warm or they will lose their fluff. Cool completely before stacking and frosting.

How to Toast Almonds:

4. Single layer 1 cup blanched almonds onto a baking sheet. Bake in an oven at 350° F for 8-10 mins on center rack. Cool. In a food processor, crash almonds for 20-30 seconds until they turn into ground almonds. Use to decorate cake. Save remaining ground almonds in a Ziploc bag for future use.

How to Make Sour Cream Frosting:

5. Using an electric mixer, beat 16 oz sour cream, 8 oz cool whip, 1/2 cup sugar and 1/2 tsp vanilla extract for 10 mins on high until frosting is thick and firm. Refrigerate until ready to use, but not for prolonged time or the cream might become slightly runny. Cut out a cake diameter carton circle. Wrap foil around carton.

Spread a teaspoon of frosting onto foil before you place a first cake layer – this will keep the cake from sliding off the carton. Place about 4 tablespoonful frosting between each cake layer and spread evenly (make sure to get edges). Frost sides as well so you don’t really see cake layers peeking through sour cream frosting. Decorate with toasted ground almonds or any other way you prefer. Refrigerate cake for several hours before cutting – it needs time to absorb the frosting and become moist to make the cutting easier. Enjoy with a cup of coffee or tea!!

This cake is good in fridge for 3-4 days.

More Ukrainian Cake Recipes to Explore:

Honey Cake with Sour Cream Frosting

5 from 21 votes
Prep Time: 50 minutes
Cook Time: 40 minutes
Total Time: 1 hour 30 minutes
Servings: 10 people
Honey Cake with Sour Cream Frosting: nice, fluffy texture, moist with a hint of nutty flavor. The honey gives the cake sweetness; a delicious combination with sour cream frosting. This cake just hits ‘the spot’.

Ingredients 

CAKE INGREDIENTS:

FROSTING & DECORATION INGREDIENTS:

Instructions

How to Make Honey Cake:

  • Preheat the oven to a 350°F. Prepare a nonstick 9" springform pan; oil or spray with a cooking spray and wipe all over with a paper towel (make sure to get the edges nicely). In a small bowl, microwave 4 tablespoons honey for 40-60 seconds until it starts bubbling and rising. As soon as you take out the honey from the microwave, sprinkle it with 1/4 tsp of baking soda and stir with a spoon until fluffy (it will rise). Set aside to cool while you prepare the next step.
  • In a large bowl, using a mixer, beat 8 eggs and 1 cup sugar on high for 8-10 mins until eggs are light in color, thick and fluffy. Beat in honey/baking soda mixture on low for 30 seconds. Sift 1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour in thirds into the batter, whisking gently by hand using a whisk or fork until flour is incorporated and no streaks of flour remain, scraping the bottom of the bowl to ensure you don’t have lumps of flour hiding at the bottom. Do not over-mix or you will deflate the batter and the cake will turn out hard in texture. Divide batter equally into 3: 1 straight into springform pan and the remaining 2 portions in separate bowls. Bake 1 layer at a time for 13-15 minutes until toothpick inserted comes out clean.
  • Once cake is baked, use a thin spatula to loosen cake from the rim of the springform pan, then remove the rim, flip cake, remove springform base, flip cake layer back and set aside to cool. Pam spray the pan again and pour the second batch. Repeat the same with 3rd. Let the cake cool before frosting. Do not stack the layers while they are still warm or they will lose their fluff. Cool completely before stacking and frosting.
  • TOAST ALMONDS: Single layer 1 cup blanched almonds onto a baking sheet. Bake in an oven at 350° F for 8-10 mins on center rack. Cool. In a food processor, crash almonds for 20-30 seconds until they turn into ground almonds. Use to decorate cake. Save remaining ground almonds in a Ziploc bag for future use.
  • MAKE THE FROSTING: Using an electric mixer, beat 16 oz sour cream, 8 oz cool whip, 1/2 cup sugar and 1/2 tsp vanilla extract for 10 mins on high until frosting is thick and firm. Refrigerate until ready to use, but not for prolonged time or the cream might become slightly runny. Cut out a cake diameter carton circle. Wrap foil around carton. Spread a teaspoon of frosting onto foil before you place a first cake layer – this will keep the cake from sliding off the carton. Place about 4 tablespoonful frosting between each cake layer and spread evenly (make sure to get edges). Frost sides as well so you don’t really see cake layers peeking through sour cream frosting. Decorate with toasted ground almonds or any other way you prefer. Refrigerate cake for several hours before cutting – it needs time to absorb the frosting and become moist to make the cutting easier. This cake is good in fridge for 3-4 days.