Bejgli

Bejgli is a typical Hungarian christmas dessert. Bejgli is a sweet yeast dough which is filled with poppy and walnuts and then rolled up and baked. Poppy might surprise or astonish some people, but in Hungary we like it and make a lot of cake from it.
Bejgli is a seasonal dessert and only made at christmas time, but no christmas can be celebrated without bejgli. The traditional bejgli is filled with poppy and walnut, but modern versions are also exist such as jam, chesnut, chocolate filled bejgli.
This recipe is from my grandmother who makes poppy and walnut filled bejgli for us every christmas. This year we made it together. We made 6 rolls, but this recipe is just for two rolls and the fillings are for one roll.

Gundel Pancake

Pancake is a very popular dessert in Hungary. Hungarian pancakes, differently from other pancakes, are very thin and are rolled up with jam, cocoa, cinnamon or nutella.
The Gundel pancake is a walnut cream  filled pancake served with chocholate sauce. It is the specialy of the Gundel Restaurant. The Gundel restaurant opened in 1910 by Karoly Gundel and it is still existing today. Moreover it is the most famous restaurant in Hungary and has a very good reputation around the world.
 They serve traditional Hungarian food such as Goulash, Fisherman's soup or goose liver and of course the famous pancake, the Gundel pancake.
The Gundel pancake is a real calorie bomb and it is almost impossible to eat more than one at once, but you will not regret if you try it!

Rigó Jancsi

This lovely chocolate cake got its name from Rigó Jancsi. Rigó Jancsi was a Hungarian Gypsy violinist who enjoyed great popularity throughout Europe.  In 1896, he was playing in a restaurant in Paris where Claire Ward, an American millionaire's daughter, and her husband, Charaman-Chimay were eating. Clara and Jancsi fell in love. Jancsi divorced from his wife, and Clare left her husband and children and ran away with Jancsi. They lived in different countries.

Their love raised dust and they became 19th century celebrities. Clare and Jancsi were together for 10 years. Then Clare ran away with an Italian waiter.

Allegedly, Jancsi ordered this cake from a coeditor for Clare. The confectioner named it after Jancsi. The cake enjoyed great success as his namesake.