Category: Rigó Jancsi Cake

Making Rigó Jancsi

This cake is so scandalous I can’t even write a headline about it that doesn’t seem obscene. “Preparing Rigo Jancsi”? Not much better. Guess I just have to accept the snickers from the back of the bus and move on.

A good piece of Rigó Jancsi — there I did it again — is essentially a cube, about two inches on a side. It’s all you need since this really is decadent stuff. It’s chocolate mousse, essentially, between two layers of intensely chocolate-y (to the point of being almost coffee-like) spongecake, topped by a layer of chocolate, almost like a softened bittersweet bar.

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Rigó Jancsi Recipe

Chocolate on chocolate on chocolate. What else would one expect from a cake named for a swarthy gypsy violinist, the man who stole the wife of a Belgian prince and scandalized Parisian society for years? Ladies — to your fainting couches! This tale of passion, love and loss may be too much for your sensibilities to bear.

For the spongecake:

2.5 ounces (1/2 cup) all-purpose flour
3 tablespoons cocoa powder
4 ounces (1 stick) butter
6 ounces bittersweet chocolate, chopped fine
10 eggs, room temperature and separated
4.5 ounces (about 2/3 cup) sugar
1/4 teaspoon salt

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