What you didn’t know about most famous Hungarian desserts

We eat them, we enjoy them but we don’t know who we can thank them for. Listed below are some of our most famous desserts and the stories behind them.

Dobos Cake

József Dobos was already a well-known confectioner when, in 1884, he came up with a brand new idea and created the dessert named after him. He wanted something that could be consumed after a longer period of time despite the undeveloped refrigerating techniques of his era. It started out with a mistake when his man accidentally added sugar to the butter instead of salt. Master Dobos liked how it tasted and created the butter cream, which is now very popular around the world. The cake quickly became famous, but the recipe remained secret until 1906 when he gave out the original recipe to the public. He retired the same year, but was always proud to have created such a cake.

Gundel Pancake

Photo: Tamas Balogh

Not many people know that the famous pancake actually wasn’t created by the historic Gundel family. The recipe belongs to the wife of Sándor Márai, Lola. She introduced Károly Gundel to the recipe at a banquet held in the restaurant after one of the premiers of his husband. Károly Gundel liked it so much that he put it on his menu under the name Márai pancake. It became Gundel pancake during the communist regime when the Márai family had to emigrate and the use of his name was prohibited.

Rigó Jancsi Cake

Photo: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100009808504556&pnref=story

János Rigó was born in 1858 in Pákozd with a great talent of playing the violin, which brought him to Pest and later travelled all around the world. In 1896 he performed in Restaurant Payard when he met Clara Ward and the fell in love. They both got divorced so that they could remarry. One time he wanted to impress her woman with a creamy chocolate cake. While watching the couple, the confectioner who created the cake named it after him with a great sense for marketing. His hopes were right; the cake became popular and spread quickly.

Rákóczi’s cake with cottage cheese

Photo: facebook.com/rakoczi.turos/

The name can be deceiving, because it was not named after the monarch, but a confectioner named János Rákóczi. He was a unique master chef who worked all around Europe’s best restaurants. His dessert debuted in 1956 at the world exhibition is Brussels. It brought the Hungarian pies to a whole new level. What made it so special is that Rákóczi covered the cottage cheese layer with meringue instead of pastry. The dessert instantly became popular and still remains of Hungary’s specialties.

Kossuth’s cake

The dessert, named after Lajos Kossuth, started its way towards recognition from Bratislava in the beginning of the 1840s. A restaurant called Vasforrás was the favourite place of the representatives of the parliament to dine in. The owner, Jakab Palugyai, was the one who created the famous dessert and named it after the revolutionary. Different versions exist, for instance with walnut or poppy seeds, but it is said that the one made with almonds was Kossuth’s favourite.

Photo: eletunk.com (Main)

Written by Alexandra Béni