Flódni

  1. Recipes

Flódni is a rich layered cake Hungarian Jews traditionally made for Purim, the joyous festival celebrating Esther, the Queen of Persia, who prevented the mass killing of Persian Jews in the 5th century B.C. Since the 1960s, flódni has spread into the Budapest mainstream and today many pastry shops serve it, in fact, ironically, peak flódni season is the Christmas period. Flódni is a truly special-occasion cake, rich in fillings and elaborate in preparation. Here, you can read more about the flódni's success story in Budapest.

Ingredients

Yield: makes about 30 flódni; Total time: 3 hours (2 hours prep time, 1 hour baking time)

For the dough

  • 500 grams (1 pound; 4 cups) all-purpose flour

  • 3 medium eggs

  • 100 grams (½ cup) sugar

  • 250 grams (1 cup) butter, diced

  • ⅓ cup water

  • Pinch of salt

For the apple filling

  • 1.2 kilos (2 ½ pounds) apples, peeled, cored, and grated (comes out to about 800 grams or 1 ¾ pounds net)

  • Lemon juice, using 1 medium lemon

  • 3 tablespoons honey

  • 1 tablespoon ground cinnamon

For the walnut filling

  • 300 grams shelled walnuts, ground (3 ½ cups)

  • 100 grams (½ cup) sugar

  • 1 tablespoon freshly grated orange zest (using 1 medium orange)

  • ½ cup water

For the poppy seeds filling

  • 300 grams (2 cups) ground poppy seeds

  • 100 grams (½ cup) sugar

  • 1 tablespoon freshly grated lemon zest (using 1 medium lemon)

  • ½ cup water

For the plum jam filling

  • 1 jar (350 gram / 12-ounce) plum jam, ideally homemade (sorry!)

For the egg wash

  • 1 large egg

  • 1 tablespoon milk

Directions

  • Step 1: Combine ingredients for the rich shortcrust dough – flour, butter, sugar, salt, eggs, water – using your hands or a food processor until it forms a ball. Divide the dough into five equal parts, flatten each to a disc, and let it rest in the refrigerator while you prepare the fillings (at least 1 hour).

  • Step 2: Prepare the walnut filling. Add water and sugar to a saucepan on low heat and mix until sugar dissolves. Turn off heat, add ground walnuts and orange zest and mix well. You should get a solid, but easily spreadable texture.

  • Step 3: Prepare the poppy seed filling. Add water and sugar to a saucepan on low heat and mix until sugar dissolves. Turn off heat, add ground poppy seeds and lemon zest and mix well. As with the walnuts, you should get a solid, but easily spreadable texture.

  • Step 4: Prepare the apple filling. In a bowl or saucepan, combine lemon juice, grated apples, honey, and cinnamon and mix well.

  • Step 5: Take your dough from the refrigerator. Using a rolling pin and a well-floured board, roll into a size that covers the surface of your baking pan. I used a 34 cm x 26.5 cm (13.4 x 10.4 inches) baking pan.

  • Step 6: Place the first layer of dough in the baking pan, then add the poppy seed filling and spread evenly. Another dough comes next, then the walnut filling. Same with the apples and the plum jam. Separate each filling by a layer of dough. The order of fillings doesn’t matter.

  • Step 7: Make the egg wash: combine whisked egg and milk in a small bowl. Then, using a brush or a spoon, coat the top of the flódni (this will yield a shiny, golden crust).

  • Step 8: Preheat oven to 175 degrees Celsius (350 Fahrenheit) and bake the flódni for one hour. When ready, let it cool a bit and cut into 5 cm by 5 cm cubes (2 by 2 inches) and serve either hot or cold. Even better with chilled Tokaji sweet wine on the side.

I created these recipes with the help of nearly a dozen historical Hungarian cookbooks, adjusting ingredients, cooking times, and methods to reflect my own preferences and tastes of the current day. Do you have any feedback? Please let me know!