Honey cake “Winnie-the-Pooh”: popular homemade Soviet cake

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The honey cake “Winnie-the-Pooh” dates back to the Soviet era and was one of the most popular homemade cakes at that time. It consists of a fluffy honey dough and a delicate sour cream. Walnuts also add a special flavor to the cake.

You can easily make the honey cake, named after the famous Soviet cartoon, yourself from ordinary ingredients. You can find a detailed recipe for the honey cake “Winnie-the-Pooh” with exact quantities and step-by-step instructions here at the very bottom.

What does the cake name mean?

“Winnie-the-Pooh” is a Soviet cartoon created by retelling the books by English writer Alan Alexander Milne. In the USSR it was one of the classics of animated films. Among Soviet children the bear Winnie-the-Pooh from the cartoon was very popular.

Unfortunately, the story of the honey cake “Winnie-the-Pooh” was lost. Nobody knows who invented the cake. Even why it was named so is unknown. But because the main character – the bear Winnie-the-Pooh – from the Soviet animated film loved to eat honey so much, we can probably guess why the honey cake is called so.

Popular homemade Soviet cake

The honey cake “Winnie-the-Pooh” was one of the most popular Soviet cakes, but they were not offered in pastry shops and canteens, but were prepared at home. Every housewife at that time had her own recipe for the cake “Winnie-the-Pooh”, which she carefully kept in her handwritten recipe book. These recipes differed mainly only in minor details.

Since it is a honey cake, it consists of a honey dough. For the cream, one prepares either a classic sour cream, a sour cream-cream, a sour cream-butter cream or a sour cream-quark cream. Sometimes the cake is refined with nuts.

Round instead of rectangular

I made my honey cake “Winnie-the-Pooh” rectangular. This variant is somewhat faster in the preparation, than if one makes the cake round. This is because I rolled out and baked two cake layers at once, so to speak. In total, I made four large cake layers and then cut them each into two parts.

By the way, I did the same with the cake layers for the Armenian cake “Ptichka”. Only I baked three instead of four large cake layers.

Of course, you can roll out the cake layers in a round shape. In this case, divide the dough into about 7 – 8 pieces, depending on how big in diameter and how high you want the cake to be. Then roll out each piece of dough, cut a circle out of it and bake it. Crush the baked dough scraps into crumbs.

Alternative cream ideas for honey cake “Winnie-the-Pooh”

Instead of the sour cream-butter cream, you can prepare a sour cream-cream cream for the honey cake “Winnie-the-Pooh”. To do this, use cream and sour cream in a ratio of about 1:1 or 2:3. The cream and sour cream must be cold. Whip the two ingredients together with powdered sugar until creamy.

The honey cake “Winnie-the-Pooh” also tastes delicious with the classic sour cream. For the cream, simply mix sour cream and powdered sugar. The amount of powdered sugar you determine according to taste.

In addition, the cake is very tasty with a cream of sour cream and quark. Quark and sour cream are mixed together with powdered sugar. In Russia, tvorog is used instead of quark. You have to puree the tvorog first.

With nuts or without?

I have refined the honey cake “Winnie-the-Pooh” with roasted walnuts. This gives it an additional nutty flavor.

You can use other nuts instead of walnuts. Experiment with peanuts, hazelnuts or pistachios, for example, and tell me about your experience in a comment below. The important thing is that you roast the nuts first. That way they taste and smell best.

However, the honey cake “Winnie-the-Pooh” tastes delicious even without nuts. You can simply omit them from the recipe.

Make cake layers the day before

You can make the honey cake layers for the “Winnie-the-Pooh” the day before. Simply store them at room temperature overnight. The next day you only have to prepare the cream and assemble the cake.

Tastes best the next day

Just like the classic Medovik cake or many other Russian cakes, the honey cake “Winnie-the-Pooh” tastes best the next day. Overnight, it can be well absorbed and chilled in the refrigerator. So make it the day before serving.

The honey cake “Winnie-the-Pooh” remains delicious and fresh for several days. Every day it tastes even better than the day before. So you can enjoy it for several days.

The honey cake “Winnie-the-Pooh” is

• fluffy,
• creamy,
• tender,
• nutty,
• soft,
• moderately sweet,
• incredibly tasty,
• aromatic,
• easy to make with common ingredients,
• perfect for a tea round with the family or for a party,
• from the collection of Soviet homemade cakes.

Simple honey cake “Winnie-the-Pooh” recipe

The recipe for the honey cake “Winnie-the-Pooh”, which you can find here below in the recipe box, is pretty simple. The only thing that involves some effort is rolling out and baking the several thin cake layers.

In contrast, the cake cream is ready in a flash. All you have to do is whip the ingredients until creamy.

Then you just assemble the cake from the cake layers and the cream and leave it in the refrigerator overnight.

How to make honey cake “Winnie-the-Pooh”: tips and tricks

• The amount of flour for the dough given in the recipe may vary. Add flour in portions until you get a soft dough.
• You can omit alcohol for the dough.
• You can adjust the amount of powdered sugar for the cream to your taste.
• The vanilla for the cream can be vanilla bean, vanilla sugar or vanilla extract.
• The cake tastes best the next day and the following days after preparation. Therefore, you should make it at least one day before serving.

Did you make the cake “Winnie-the-Pooh” yourself using this recipe? I’m looking forward to your result, your star rating and your comment here below, how you succeeded and tasted the popular Soviet honey cake.

Not tired of delicious honey cakes? Try some more:

• Honey cake “Ryzhik” – recipe for popular Russian red layer cake
• Orange medovik – popular Russian honey cake refined with orange
• Medovik cake roll: honey cake roll with sour cream