This mouth-watering pastry makes me feel like I am in a Hungarian cafe. The fluffy sour cherry filling is placed between 2 layers of the crumbly dough. I also added ginger and additional walnuts to make this tasty dessert even more exciting. The recipe is based on Hargitai György, Master chef’s mother’s recipe.

TIP

You will need a lot of sour cherries, about 1-1.6 kg (2-3.5 lbs)! The recipe asked for 1.6 kg (3.5 lbs) but I only had 1 kg (about 2 lbs) and it worked fine. Ideally, fresh sour cherries are used but honestly frozen sour cherries would work too. In fact, I bought the cherries at the farmers’ market earlier but wasn’t able to use them right away so I ended up freezing them. The frozen cherries worked well too. Just make sure they are sweet and have a nice flavorful!

RECIPE

Serves: 9 – 12 slices

INGREDIENTS

• 4 cup (500 gr) flour, cut and sifted
• pinch of salt
• 15 tbsp (260 gr) cold unsalted butter
• 2 1/2 tsp dry yeast
• 1/2 cup milk
• 4 large eggs, divided
• 10 tbsp powdered or cane sugar, divided
• peel and juice of 1 lemon
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1-2 tbsp rum (optional)
• 1 – 1.6 kg (2.25 – 3.5 lbs) fresh or frozen sour cherries (pitted)
• 1 tbsp ginger
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• 2 tbsp bread crumbs
• 1 cup + 2 tbsp walnuts

METHOD

Preheat oven to 350 F. Butter a baking pan (11 x 9 x 2 inches or equivalent size). Sprinkle some flour on the bottom.

Dough

• Preparing the yeast mixture. Add lukewarm milk (92 – 98 F) to the yeast. Let it rise.
• In a larger bowl, sift the salt in with the flour. Crumb the butter with the flour with your finger tips or you can use a food processor as well.
• Add the prepared yeast mixture from earlier.
• Add 3-4 tablespoon sugar, 3 egg yolks, vanilla extract and rum (optional). Mix quickly. Save the egg whites for later for the filling).
• Refrigerate for 1 hour.
• Meanwhile prepare the filling.

Filling

In a medium sized bowl, add ginger, cinnamon, 6 tablespoons of sugar, lemon juice and peel, 2 tablespoons of chopped walnuts and 2 tablespoons of breadcrumbs. Mix. Set aside.

Beat the the egg white saved from earlier until it is hard. Gently fold in the earlier prepared mixture.

Assembling the cake

Take the dough out of the fridge. Cut into two parts. Put 1 part back in the fridge while you work with the other.

Roll out the dough into the shape of your pan and carefully place it onto the baking pan. Place the filling on top of this dough. Sprinkle 1 cup of the walnut on the top of the filling.

Take the other part of the dough out of the fridge and roll it out into the shape of the pan. Place it on top of the filling.

Lightly whisk 1 egg and spread it on top of the assembled dough. Sprinkle a little sugar on top. Prickle the top with a fork.

Bake in the preheated oven for 40 minutes or until the top has a nice golden color top.

Take out of the oven and let the cake completely cool off. Slice the cake.

Source: Hargitai György: Édesanyám meggyes pitéje. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FI2pKA2Vrzg

Text and photo by twincitiesherbs.