Túró Rudi torta

by | Oct 7, 2016 | Desserts

Túró Rudi is one those things that makes the Hungarian heart beat faster. It’s the sweets Hungarians living abroad miss the most. This popular cottage cheese filled chocolate bar has been produced since 1968. The “Rudi” in the product name comes from the Hungarian rúd, which translates to rod or bar, and is also a nickname for the name Rudolf.

Túró Rudi
Túró Rudi – photo: Flickr / Judit Klein

The recipe of Túró Rudi was developed after a study trip to the Soviet Union, and it was based on a Russian round confection made with curd cheese, butter and fat mixed together, and covered with dark chocolate.
Sándor Klein, a teacher at the Budapest University of Technology, gave the product its name, which sparked off a debate as people thought the name was vulgar because the word “Rudi” also has an erotic meaning in the Hungarian language. So Túró Rudi was censored and had to start its carrier without advertisment. But the name stayed, and throughout the 1970s, turned out to be very successful.

Making Túró Rudi at home is not impossible, but those small bars require a lot of time and handiness. The following cake successfully reproduces the flavours of Túró Rudi, and its preparation won’t drive you up the wall.

Túró Rudi torta
Túró Rudi torta – photo: zserbo.com

Ingredients:
For the sponge cake:

  • 3 eggs
  • 2 tbsp flour
  • 1 tbsp cocoa powder
  • 3 tbsp sugar
  • 1 tsp baking powder

For the filling:

  • 500 g (~1 lb) cottage cheese
  • 200 g (~1 1/5 cups) powdered sugar
  • seeds of a vanilla bean
  • zest of a lemon
  • 1 tbsp lemon juice
  • 100 ml (~3 oz) sour cream
  • 200 ml (~1 cup) whipping cream
  • 1 1/2 tbsp gelatin
  • 100 ml (~1/2 cup) water

For the glaze:

  • 100 g (~3 1/2 oz) semi-sweet dark chocolate
  • 1 tbsp oil

Line a 25 cm/10 inch springform round cake pan with parchment paper. Preheat the oven to 180°C / 356°F.

For the sponge cake combine flour, cocoa and baking powder. Separate the eggs, and whisk the egg whites until stiff peaks form. In a separate bowl beat egg yolks and sugar together to a ribbon stage. Stir the cocoa-flour mixture into the beaten egg yolks, then gently fold in the whipped egg whites. Pour the batter into the prepared cake pan and bake for about 15 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean. Remove cake from the pan and let it cool on a wire rack.

Combine gelatin and water, and warm until gelatin dissolves completely (but don’t boil it!). Set aside and cool until lukewarm. Place cottage cheese in a bowl. Add powdered sugar, vanilla, sour cream, lemon zest and juice, and mix until well combined. In a fine stream, while whisking constantly, pour gelatin into the mixture. Whip the cream until stiff, and gently fold into the cottage cheese cream.

Put the cocoa sponge cake in a clean springform round pan and spread the filling over the top evenly. Chill the cake for 3-4 hours.

Melt the chocolate over a pot of simmering water. Once it’s fully melted, combine with one tablespoon of oil. Remove cake from the pan and pour the glaze over the top. Put the cake in the fridge until the glaze sets.

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2 Comments

  1. Hi. Quick question on your Turo Rudi Torte recipe. Do you use Hungarian Turo or American cottage cheese in this recipe? My husband and his parents are from Hungary. We spent two weeks there last summer and ate Turo Rudi almost every day! I’d love to surprise my mother in law with this cake, but I want to make sure I get it right. Thanks! I’m so glad I found your blog. I want to make everything!

  2. Hi Annemarie, I always use Hungarian túró.

Hungarian cottage cheese

This is what Hungarian túró looks like

You often ask me what kind of cottage cheese (or curd cheese or farmer's cheese - call it what you want) I use in the recipes. In Hungary the store-bought cottage cheese is dry and crumbly as you can see in the picture. So if a recipe calls for túró, I mean this type. If you can't obtain túró, you can try to make your own from whole milk. Click on the link below.

Metric system vs cup

In Hungary metric units are in use, all the recipes on this website are based on this system, so a kitchen scale is necessary. Since I’m not familiar with cup as a measurement unit, I convert grams to cups by using an online converter. The values in brackets, therefore, are only approximate volumes, so, please, double-check them before you start cooking.

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