Kedves szelet is an old-fashioned layered cake, which has been a beloved dessert in my family for decades. It consists of 3 soft cake layers, which contain lard and sour cream, and two kinds of filling: vanilla and cocoa cream.

You can use butter instead of lard in the dough, in this case the butter’s quantity will be 225 grams (1 cup). The glaze is made from cocoa powder and a considerable amount of butter, but if you prefer a glaze made from chocolate and oil, feel free to replace with it.

Ingredients:

For the dough:

• 600 g (~4 3/4 cups) flour
• 180 g (~3/4 cup + 1 tbsp) lard
• 15 g (~1 1/3 tbsp) baking powder
• 100 g (~1/2 cup) granulated sugar
• 1 egg + 1 egg yolk
• 250 g (~8 3/4 oz) sour cream

For the filling:

• 1 liter (~4 1/4 cups) milk
• 170 g (~1 1/3 cups) flour
• 60 g + 180 g (~1/2 cup + 1 1/3 cups) powdered sugar
• 300 g (~1 1/3 cups) butter, softened
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 2 tbsp cocoa powder

For the glaze:

• 3 tbsp milk
• 3 tbsp granulated sugar
• 1 1/2 tbsp cocoa powder
• 120 g (~1/2 cup) butter

Size of the baking pan: 30×30 cm / 12×12 inch

First cook the filling. Place flour and 60 grams (1/2 cup) of powdered sugar in a saucepan. In small batches add milk to the flour and stir until the mixture becomes homogenous. Cook, while stirring constantly, until it thickens. Set aside and let it cool completely.

Now comes the dough. Rub lard into the flour. Add baking powder, sugar, one whole egg, one egg yolk and sour cream, and knead into a smooth, soft dough. Divide it into 3 equal parts.

Grease a baking pan and preheat the oven to 180°C / 356°F.

On a floured surface roll out a piece of dough into a 30×30 cm / 12×12″ square, roll it up on your rolling pin and transfer in the prepared baking pan. With a fork poke holes in the pastry and bake for 8 minutes. Transfer the cake layer onto a tray or wooden board and let it cool.

Repeat the above process with the rest of the dough.

For the filling cream softened butter and 180 g (1 1/3 cups) of powdered sugar. Scoop creamed butter in the cooked floury cream and mix until well combined. Divide the filling in two equal portions. Add vanilla extract to half of the filling, then mix cocoa powder in the other portion.

Spread the cocoa cream filling on the first cake layer evenly and cover with the second layer. Spread the vanilla cream on top of the pastry, then place the last cake layer on the filling.

For the glaze place milk, cocoa powder, sugar and butter in a saucepan and heat until all the ingredients melt. Let it cool a bit. When the glaze has reached room temperature and thickened a little, pour it onto the top of the cake and spread all over it. Chill the cake for at least 3-4 hours before serving.