Somló Sponge Cake Dessert

Somló sponge cake (somlói galuska) is one of the festive classics of Hungarian confectionery: it is built up from layers of three kinds of sponge, silky vanilla cream, walnut, raisins and chocolate sauce.

The sponge

1. Whisk the eggs with the sugar into a pale, frothy cream, until the mixture grows considerably and turns pale yellow.

2. Divide the mixture in two: fold one half carefully with plain flour, the other with flour mixed with the cocoa powder, so the foam does not collapse.

3. Bake a pale and a brown sheet at 180 °C for about 10-12 minutes, then let them cool completely.

The vanilla cream

4. Cook the milk with the egg yolks, the sugar, the vanilla sugar and the flour, stirring constantly, into a thick vanilla custard. It is ready when it coats the back of the spoon.

Assembly

5. Melt the dark chocolate with a little cream over steam or a low heat into a glossy chocolate sauce.

6. Drizzle the sponge sheets with rum, then layer them up: sponge, vanilla cream, ground walnut and raisins, sponge again – and so on.

7. After resting, scoop dumplings from it with a wet spoon onto the plate.

8. Whip the remaining cream stiff; drizzle the dumplings with chocolate sauce, and serve them with whipped cream and walnut.

Tip: Rested in the fridge overnight, the flavours really come together.