#medovik

[niurd]

instagram.com/p/C--xm4mN-tV/?igsh=aHpxYTkxNjFzaDI2

[shycroissanti]

I decided to do some sketches of Irina's pets, Medovik the bear and Caramel the owl🐻🦉

(Their designs change with each drawing help xD)

A little about them:

Caramel is a small owl that Irina found while still living in the Gonshira mansion.

Irina found Caramel alone, unable to fly because she has a deformed wing.

Even so, Irina always takes care of her, and one of the little owl's favorite things is when Irina makes her fly (holding Caramel in the air while she flaps her wings)🥹

Medovik, on the other hand, is a funnier story; this is when Irina and Kishin move in together in the house in the middle of the forest.

Kishin was half-asleep, and suddenly Irina came to say she found a dog and really wanted to keep it. Kishin agreed, without even opening his eyes to see the dog. Later, Kishin wakes up and is shocked to find a giant bear sleeping in the living room... it was Medovik xD

[carnelianmeluha]

Medovik from Couscous Cake by canarysingingsweetly and layers of honey by @sushiwriterhere

I'm a little late to wishing Ilya Happy Birthday but these fics and post is perfect for the occasion! Medovik is a Russian cake where eight cookie dough-like layers are baked individually and then filled with layers of honey, sour cream, and heavy cream. It's incredibly time consuming but the taste is so unique--somewhere between a chewy cookie and a cake, and not too sweet. I have come across two Heated Rivalry fanfics that mention medovik.

The first fic is Couscous Cake, where it's Ilya's birthday and Yuna makes medovik for him. I love stories where Ilya bonds with the Hollanders but it takes some time for Yuna to warm up to the newness and sometimes awkwardness of this relationship and the Ilya that she hadn't seen before.

The fic has other recipes too. We actually begin with Ilya baking Shane's macrobiotic couscous birthday cake with the Hollanders. It's so cute with Ilya making a heart on the cashew cream icing and Yuna offering to bake a birthday cake for him next time. Here are a few lines!

~~~~~~~

Yuna pulled out the massive honey cake from her refrigerator, sliding it onto the countertop carefully. It had, indeed, taken her and Shane hours the day before to bake each of its 8 layers to perfection; to frost and crumb and oh-so carefully move it into the refrigerator to set overnight.

“Medovik,” Shane explained excitedly, and Ilya leaned over to kiss him on the temple. “It took us forever. Mom and I just followed a recipe online, but it seemed authentic. We compared a lot of them to one another. I’m hoping we got the honey ratio just right –”

David cut into it as Yuna and Shane sucked in a nervous breath, praying that it wouldn’t fall apart. Thankfully, he pulled the slice out and placed it cleanly on a plate for them to admire. Eight layers – and yes, they weren’t all perfectly the same size, and maybe Shane’s frosting job was a little haphazard at places, but it was clearly made with love, and Ilya was absolutely thrilled at the sight of it.

~~~~~~

Second, we have layers of honey by @sushiwriterhere, where it's Irina's birthday and Shane bakes medovik (after three experiments to get it just right)! Ilya first thinks that Yuna made it but when he realizes it was Shane, he is amazed and floored! The fic also beautifully weaves Ilya's grief, his memories of his mom, her last birthday, the last medovik she baked, and his attempts to find the perfect medovik in bakeries in New York City.

This fic mentions other recipes I want to try some day--Russian Napoleon Cake, Muraveinik or Anthill Cake, and Pavlova from Ilya's memories in Russia, and Chicken Katsu and curry rice that Yuna makes.

~~~~~~~

“You mentioned once this was her favorite cake–I used her recipe, the one in that red book you keep in the office–and how you haven’t had a good one since getting here, I thought you might want to remember her by having one.”

...Shane is sliding him [Ilya] a plate with a slice of the медовик and a spoon. The tears start again when the slice starts to wobble, layers clearly perfectly soaked, because of that odd type of structural integrity that only comes with a cake held together by honey, heavy cream, and sour cream.

“Как будто она сделала.” As if she made it. Ilya says softly, smiling a watery smile at his husband who releases the breath he’d been holding.

~~~~~~~~~

I baked the cake for my cousin who is visiting me; it was his birthday yesterday, and so we celebrated his birthday today too. He said he really loved the medovik!

One of the authors also included a recipe, and I found two more. Ultimately I combined them to make a recipe but I think I'll add more honey next time. It's funny how my experience making the cake was similar to the Hollanders, also making it for the first time, and sometimes it felt that I was reading the lines in my own voice!

I hope you give medovik and these fics a try!

[wouldyoueatthisfood]

Would you eat this?

I would eat this

I would not eat this

I have eaten this (positive)

I have eaten this (negative)

Voting ended onSep 15, 2025

Food: Russian medovik

Ingredients: butter, sugar, honey, eggs, vanilla, baking soda, salt, flour, sour cream, whipping cream, powdered sugar, mascarpone, icing sugar

[bugatsu]

Uzbek Cuisine:dessert (3) :Медовик（Medovik/Honey cake）

[kirstythejetblackgoldfish]

[itmeblog]

What if, instead of doing anything I'm supposed to tomorrow, I remake the most labor intensive cake I've ever had?

[fullcravings]

Honey (Medovik) Cake