This sophisticated cake was named after János Rákóczi, a Hungarian confectioner and chef (1897-1966), its recipe was first published for a food magazine in 1937. It aquired international attention at the Expo in Brussels in 1958 where it was served at the Hungarian restaurant.

Every pastry shop in Hungary offers this cake; however, there might be differences in the look. The base of these Hungarian curd cheese squares is a thin sweet shortcrust pastry, followed by a layer of sweet curd cheese filling and topped with meringue. According to the original recipe there are some meringue grids on its top, filled in between with apricot jam, other versions have a very thick layer of meringue.

As I’m not so handy with a piping bag, I chose the simpler version, namely: shortcrust pastry – apricot jam – curd cheese filling – meringue. Some recipes advise to put the curd cheese through a sieve, but I didn’t do it because I prefer if the filling’s texture is more crumbly.