Hungarian · dessert

Rigó Jancsi (Chocolate Cream Slice)

Rigó Jancsi (Chocolate Cream Slice) reads sweetness 7.1, richness 5.7 and fruity 4.2 on Palate's 0–10 flavor X-ray — a Hungarian dessert, about 6 hr 53 min. Measured from the recipe itself: ingredients and technique.

The flavor X-ray — six axes, 0–10

• Umami & Savory — 2.9 / 10
• Sweet & Fruity — 8.3 / 10
• Sour & Bright — 1.2 / 10
• Bitter & Earthy — 3.7 / 10
• Rich & Fat — 5.9 / 10
• Aromatic & Spice — 1.2 / 10

The measured notes (of 18)

Sweetness 7.1 · Richness 5.7 · Fruity 4.2 · Bitterness 3.4 · Salinity 2.7 · Umami 1.5 · Earthy 1.5 · Floral 1.2 · Sourness 1.0 · Smoke 0.8 · Nutty 0.7

What's in it (13)

• eggs — 600 g
• caster sugar — 150 g
• all-purpose flour — 100 g
• cocoa powder — 40 g
• unsalted butter — 60 g
• salt — 1 g
• heavy cream — 500 g
• dark chocolate — 300 g
• dark rum — 30 g
• apricot preserves — 150 g
• dark chocolate — 150 g
• water — 100 g
• granulated sugar — 120 g

Time & effort: about 6 hr 53 min (53 min active) · effort: involved

Nutrition (per 100 g, engine-estimated): 200.1 kcal, 4.5 g protein, 12.7 g fat, 21.4 g carbs

Dietary: Vegetarian · Contains dairy · Contains egg — engine-derived; double-check anything allergy-critical.

How it's cooked (14 steps)

1. Whip the yolks and whites separately with the sugar and combine, 6 minutes in total, to a thick foam that holds a ribbon.
2. Sift the flour, cocoa and salt over and fold in, 2 minutes.
3. Fold in the melted butter last, 1 minute, in a thin stream down the side of the bowl.
4. Spread in a lined 30 by 40 cm tray and bake at 180 C for 12 minutes. It should spring back and still be slightly damp.
5. Cool 30 minutes and cut into two equal sheets.
6. Heat 200 ml of the cream to just below a simmer, 3 minutes.
7. Pour it over the 300 g chopped chocolate and stir until smooth, 3 minutes.
8. Chill the ganache 1 hour 30 minutes to about 20 C. This temperature is the whole trick: warmer and it melts the whipped cream you are about to fold in, colder and it seizes into lumps that will not disperse.
9. Whip the remaining 300 ml cream to soft peaks, 4 minutes, and fold it into the ganache with the rum, 1 minute. You want a mousse deep enough to stand 5 cm tall.
10. For the glaze, boil the water and granulated sugar 6 minutes to a light syrup, take it off and stir in the 150 g chocolate until glossy, 3 minutes.
11. Pour the glaze over the second sponge sheet while it is still on the board and spread it once, 2 minutes. Score it into 5 cm squares with a hot knife while the glaze is soft. Do this now: once set, the glaze shatters when you cut through the assembled cake and the clean squares are the whole look of a Rigó Jancsi.
12. Brush the base sheet with the apricot jam.
13. Spread the chocolate mousse thickly over the base and lay the scored, glazed sheet on top, 10 minutes.
14. Chill 4 hours, then cut through the scored lines with a hot dry knife. Named for Jancsi Rigó, the Roma violinist who in 1896 ran off with a Belgian princess out of a Paris restaurant; the cake was named for the scandal.

Dishes with a similar flavor shape

• Sachertorte — Austrian
• Banoffee Pie — British
• Tarta de Queso de La Viña — Basque · Hegoalde (Spain)
• Tiramisu — Italian
• Maduros (Sweet Fried Plantains) — Cuban

Keep reading: what sweetness, richness, fruity mean in the flavor lexicon · the world's cuisines, by flavor.

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Every number above is Palate's engine-measured estimate, computed from this recipe's ingredients and techniques — not human-tasted ratings or reviews.