Make cookies. Heat oven to 350 degrees. Combine sugar, honey, and butter over medium heat until it darkens and bubbles slightly (~ 5 minutes). Remove from heat and let cool slightly while beating the three eggs. This part is tricky. You need to incorporate the eggs into the honey mixture slowly, otherwise the eggs will scramble. One tiny pour at a time and continuous whisking will do the trick. Stir in flour, salt, and vanilla. This dough is going to be stiff… super stiff. You may need to add flour if the dough isn’t coming together enough to handle. 

Once you can handle the dough, divide it into 8 hunks (yes, “hunks,” technical term). On a piece of parchment paper, roll out each hunk into an 8 or 9 inch round, flouring as you go. The round will be thin… super thin. Place an 8 or 9 inch plate on the dough and cut out the cookie with a sharp knife, saving the little fringe bits as well (you will need these for the topping). Bake each cookie until the edges begin to darken, ~7-8 minutes. After you bake each cookie, bake the fringe bits until crispy, ~5 minutes. Let the cookies cool completely. Note: you can make these cookies the day before if convenient. 

Make filling. Beat the heavy whipping cream to medium peaks and sweeten slightly with sugar. Mix honey together with Greek yogurt, then fold in whipping cream. 

Make cake. Prepare your cake plate with little wedges of parchment paper (wedges, not one whole piece). When the cake is complete, you can pull each wedge out from underneath the cake leaving a spotless cake plate for presentation. Place a dollop of filling in the center of all pieces of parchment and place a cookie on top. Working iteratively, place dollops of filling on the top of each cookie, spreading the filling out to 75% of each cookie before placing another cookie on top. 

When all 8 cookies are in place, spread filling generously on the top, then whatever is left on the sides (you likely won’t cover all of the brown cookie on the sides. It’s okay. This cake looks good messy).

Decorate cake. Grind the cooked crispy bits from the sides of the cookies into a crumble. Sprinkle over cake in desired pattern or use a stencil (see notes below). If the filling begins to separate or becomes runny, simply place the cake in the fridge for an hour or so to harden up. I left the cake in the fridge overnight before decorating it. Ideally, it will sit in the fridge for several hours before consumption so the filling will have ample opportunity to soften the cookies.

Adjustments: Some recipes call for an all sour cream filling sweetened with condensed milk. Some recipes call for sour cream be mixed with whipping cream. To me, the idea of sweetening a honey cake with condensed milk doesn’t sit well, so honey it is. As for the cream, I favor whipped cream as a topping and, wherever possible (most places, it turns out), Greek yogurt as a substitute for sour cream or heavier cream products. 0% Greek yogurt has a clean, tangy flavor and is pure protein. Also, the condensed milk option gets messy quickly owing to the extra liquidity the condensed milk introduces. You are free to play with the filling.