First Look: Get 12-Layer Honey Cake and Other Armenian Bakes at Tatik’s Delights

Honey cake is an elusive treat in Melbourne – Tatik’s Delights is changing that. Setting up shop on Moray Street in Southbank, the new Armenian bakery specialises in one of the country’s best-known bakes. 

“We’re not bakers or chefs,” says co-owner Nawid Fayazi. “Everything you’re eating is basically the food my wife’s grown up with. We commercialised the products to serve on a larger scale, but everything is actually the original recipe.”

At Tatik’s, medovik, or honey cake, is made using a family recipe passed down from co-owner Aisha Fayazi’s tatik (“grandmother” in Armenian). It’s a labour of love, taking 24 hours to make. Thin sheets of honey biscuit are baked until crisp, then layered with sweet cream, iced again and finished with crushed biscuit crumbs. Left to rest overnight, the cream softens each layer into something closer to sponge cake. Tatik’s version comprises 12 thin layers, roughly double that of most versions, according to the couple. “This is a more traditional way of doing it,” Nawid says. “It’s a thinner biscuit because we figured it allows the flavour to balance much more than doing six layers with thick cream.” 

There’s also the mikado, a chocolate variation made with house-made chocolate biscuits, caramel chocolate cream and dark chocolate shavings.

Layers appear across many Armenian desserts. At Tatik’s you’ll find Armenian napoleons of house-made puff pastry layered with cream, plus tall caramel wafers – delicate biscuits, piled high with caramel and walnuts between each.

Khachapuri, often associated with Georgia but also widely eaten in Armenia, is another standout. Each boat-shaped flatbread is filled with melted cheese and an egg yolk (meant to be stirred through before eating) before it’s baked to order in about 15 minutes. For something quicker, there are grab-and-go snacks such as gata (buttery biscuits), ideal for dunking into coffee, and piroshki (puffy fried hand pies filled with potato or minced beef). 

The space wasn’t intended as a retail venue. The couple secured it as a commercial kitchen for their wholesale and catering business, which began in 2024 and gained momentum through collaborations with Cardwell Cellars and the Armenian Film Festival. But they say the shopfront proved too good not to open to the public.

Inside, bench seating lines one wall, with several tables outside. The response so far has been warm, especially among Armenian Australians and members of Melbourne’s broader post-Soviet diaspora. “People say it tastes like home,” Nawid says.

Tatik’s Delights
84 Moray Street, Southbank
0459 693 183

Hours:
Wed to Fri 8am–3pm
Sat & Sun 9am–4pm

tatiksdelights.com
@tatiksdelights