15 Layer Russian Honey Cake (Honey Torte)

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I recently tried a Russian Honey Cake, which was one of the yummiest cakes I have ever tasted. It was so nice I decided to find the recipe and learn to make it myself. It took me about 6 months searching the net (on websites mostly in Russian, which I definitely don't read or speak) translating from Russian using AltaVista's Babelfish translator, and trying different recipes before I found this recipe, which has produced a result at least as nice as the one I tried. I owe huge thanks to solarlion from the Ruscuisine website for the clear and accurate translation of the recipe I eventually found.

2 eggs 3/4 cup sugar 1 teaspoon baking soda 1 tablespoon honey 100g margarine or butter 2 cups flour

Cream Filling & Coating 750g sour cream 1/2 cup sugar (more or less depending on your own taste) 1 tablespoon honey (optional; tastes fine without) 1/2 – 1 packet (approx.) crushed biscuit crumbs for coating Ground walnuts for coating (may be omitted if you want - I don't like them much so I usually leave them out)

Preheat oven to 180°C. 1. Beat eggs well with sugar; add baking soda and liquid honey (warm). 2. Melt the margarine/butter in a casserole or pot; add the mixture (margarine should not be too hot). 3. Put the casserole on a low heat, add the flour while mixing and mix until the mass is without lumps (the mixture will be very thick and very hard to stir). Remove from heat and cool. 4. Dip the dough in flour, divide, roll each layer very thin (1 – 2mm), cut circles as round as possible (approx. 18cm diameter), and bake at 180°C for 2 – 4 minutes or until golden brown in colour. Repeat with remaining dough. Allow to cool before assembling.      I used the plastic clip-on top of my food processor to cut the circles (just the right size, ~18cm      diameter). I baked 2 pieces at a time on baking paper on an oven tray. Each batch took just      long  enough to cook, that I had two more ready to swap when the first ones were done. The cream filling is made from sour cream and sugar. The sour cream is simply whipped with the sugar until it becomes thicker.      The original recipe said to add sugar ‘by intuition’; I  use just the 1/2 cup and beat it until the       sugar dissolves – the mixture is still fairly liquid. The tablespoon of honey here can be omitted. 5. Coat each layer with a generous layer of cream; assemble the cake, coat the sides with cream and sprinkle with crumbs and ground walnuts. Allow to set at least 6 hours before eating.