This is a Hungarian recipe that I was thinking to try since a while, and finally today I decided to do it.

It’s a recipe I discovered on a Hungarian cookbook and on Youtube, made by one of the most famous food writers/TV conductors in Hungary (Borbás Marcsi), and probably my favorite because she is probably the only one that really focuses on the traditional recipes through all the country, she searches deep, and she does it always keeping the focus on good quality ingredients and asking also to some of the best professionals in the country.

I did some little changes on her recipe, but all in all it’s still that cake 🙂 I added some yolks because I like to have more color, I put just a little bit more sugar in the dough, and I reduced the yeast amount (I prefer to use just what’s enough).

From what I understood after some researches, normally this cake is made, traditionally, for important events in the families, and normally it is made with butter/oil and not with pumpkin seed oil. But that’s exactly the version that attracted my eyes, and I think it’s very interesting and particular, and I can tell you it’s very good.

INGREDIENTS (but you can do a smaller one with 2/3 of these amounts):

Dough:

• 900 g flour (strong is better)
• 550 ml milk (not skimmed)
• 5 yolks 
• 100 g cold butter (+ 80/100 g of melted butter)
• 100 g sugar
• 1 spoon honey
• 30 g fresh baker’s yeast (also 25 g can be enough)
• 12 g salt

Filling:

• 400 g pumpkin seeds (I used 50% natural and 50% toasted)
• 200 g powder sugar
• 150-200 ml pumpkin seed oil

+ 1 egg to brush

1. First of all we have to prepare the dough. Warm the milk (just a bit) and then add the spoon of honey and the fresh yeast, and wait until it makes a foam on the surface. Melt also 100 grams of butter in a bain-marie.
2. Then sift the flour and add the 100 grams of cold butter. Mix it with the flour, until you have a crumble texture. Then add the sugar.
3. Make a hole in the middle of the flour, and pour the milk inside, and add also the yolks. Start mixing with the flour.
4. When the dough starts to have a shape, add the salt, and keep working it.
5. When the dough it’s almost ready, add gradually the melted butter, until absorbed. The dough has to be very soft and elastic, and not sticky (if not very little).
6. Place the dough in a greased bowl, and wait until it doubles its size, it will take about 2 hours at room temperature.
7. Meanwhile reduce the pumpkin seeds in crumbles, and mix with the powder sugar.
8. When the dough has doubled its size, spread flour on your working table and flatten the dough, first with your hands (it should be very easy), and then with a rolling pin. It must have a round shape, and quite thin.
9. Then place a dine plate in the middle, and from it cut the dough into 7-8 wedges of similar size. Their size has to be enough to cover the central surface.
10. Now start to make the layers. First spread some pumpkin seed oil in the middle, then add the pumpkin seeds with powder sugar, and then cover with the first wedge of dough. Repeat the same with all the wedges of dough. With the last dough cover well the whole cake, also on the sides (the dough it’s very elastic, it’s easy).
11. Then with some care lift the whole cake and place it in an oven tray, with a baking paper on the bottom.
12. With a brush spread one egg on all the surface, then with a sharp knife cut the surface into 8 wedges.
13. Bake at 180 °C, static oven, for about 60-65 minutes (if you see it gets too dark, cover with an aluminium foil). If you bake a smaller one made with 2/3 of the ingredients, probably 45 minutes is enough.
14. When it’s ready let it cool down a bit, and then enjoy the first slice when still warm 🙂