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’.
This post may contain affiliate links. Read my disclosure policy.
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
Ingredients
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
FROSTING & DECORATION INGREDIENTS:
- 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
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.
Sign Up for My Email List
Something sweet for your inbox! Join others and subscribe to my free email list. You’ll get every new recipe and post as they’re published, plus an email with my most popular tips and recipes.
Felicia says:
Have you tried making the frosting with homemade whipped cream instead of cool whip? If so, how much heavy cream did you use? Thank you
Olga in the Kitchen says:
If you mean using heavy cream in place of cool whip, then yes, you can use same proportion. Keep in mind, that with heavy cream the frosting will be slightly thinner. You will likely need to beat heavy cream separately and fold it manually into sour cream with sugar. Hope this helps.
Lesley says:
I made this recipe for the first time last weekend and it worked perfectly! A new family favorite! And leaving it in the fridge overnight will magically transform your creation into a wonderful treat next day! Thanks for this great recipe.
Olga in the Kitchen says:
That’s wonderful! This is a hit in our household as well. So glad you enjoyed this recipe, Lesley!
Robin says:
I am the dessert maker for our group holiday dinners and made this for Easter too. Everyone commented that this was the “best cake ever”.
Olga in the Kitchen says:
That’s just awesome! Thank you for sharing your wonderful review, Robin!
Samantha says:
I’ve always been too intimidated to try making homemade cake, but this recipe was easier than I imagined. And it turned out AMAZING! I took it to a dinner and they thought I ordered it from a bakery! So delicious 🙂
Olga in the Kitchen says:
Thank you for the great review, Samantha! So glad you enjoyed this recipe.
Judy A says:
The cake was absolutely delicious! It was not too sweet as most American cakes are. I made it for a church group and everyone loved it. I put it in the fridge overnight and served the next afternoon. Absolutely delicious!
Olga in the Kitchen says:
I’m so glad you loved the recipe, Judy! Thank you for an awesome feedback.