Madarica

Ingredients

Pastry sheets

• 500 gplain flour
• 200 gbutter, softened
• 2eggs
• 100 mlmilk
• 80 gsugar
• 1 teaspoonbaking powder
• a pinch of salt

Chocolate cream

• 1 litrewhole milk
• 200 gsugar
• 80 gcornflour
• 60 gcocoa powder
• 200 gdark chocolate, chopped
• 150 gbutter
• 1 teaspoonvanilla

Glaze

• 200 gdark chocolate
• 80 gbutter
• 2 tablespoonsoil
• or 2 tablespoons cream

To serve

• cut into small squares
• coffee
• at Christmas

Directions

1. Butter is beaten in at the end. That gives richness and a firm set. Butter is beaten in once the custard cools. Adding it hot melts it into oil. Let the custard cool right down first. It takes real time and effort to make. Put the flour, sugar and salt in a bowl. Add the baking powder to it as well. Rub the softened butter into the flour.
2. Work it in with your fingertips. It should look like coarse crumbs. Beat the eggs together with the milk. Add them to the flour mixture. Bring it together into a firm dough. It should be firm rather than soft. Knead it just until it is smooth. Give it about three full minutes.
3. Divide the dough into six or seven pieces. Make them all the same weight. Wrap each piece and chill them. Give them at least thirty minutes. Roll each piece out very thin. Take it down to about two millimetres. Roll each to the size of your baking tray. They must all be the same size. Roll each sheet on baking paper. A very thin sheet tears if lifted by hand. Prick each sheet all over with a fork.
4. Steam bubbles up under the sheet otherwise. Prick them thoroughly all over. Heat the oven to one hundred and eighty degrees. Bake each sheet for about eight minutes. They should be pale gold rather than brown. Let them cool down completely there. Mix the cornflour and cocoa in a bowl. Add a little of the cold milk. Whisk it into a smooth thin paste. Dry cornflour and cocoa lump in hot milk.
5. Whisk it until there are no lumps at all. Put the rest of the milk in a heavy pot. Add all of the sugar to it too. Bring it all up to a bare simmer. Adding the paste in takes care. Pour the paste into the hot milk slowly. Whisk it hard as you pour it in.
6. Keep whisking until it is all in. Bring it back to a bare simmer. Let it cook for about four minutes. Stir it constantly the whole time. Stir right into the corners each time. Judging the custard takes a look. Take the pot right off the heat. Stir in the chopped chocolate.
7. Let it melt in the residual heat. Stir it until it is completely smooth. Let the custard cool to lukewarm. Press film onto the surface as it cools. Film pressed on top prevents it. Beat the softened butter until pale. Beat it into the cooled custard. Add it in a very little at a time. Add the vanilla along with it. Both must be at a similar temperature.
8. Set a sheet on a board or tray. Spread a layer of cream over it. Spread it evenly and right to the edges. Set the next pastry sheet on top. Press it down gently and evenly. Spread more of the cream over it. Repeat until all the sheets are used.
9. Set a board or a tray on top of it. Put a moderate weight on that. It should press evenly across the cake. Melt the chocolate with the butter. Use a bowl over barely simmering water. Do not let the water touch the bowl.
10. Stir in the oil or else the cream. A little oil keeps the glaze soft. Take the weight off the cake now. Pour the cooled glaze over the top. Spread it evenly with a palette knife. Let it set at room temperature. Give it about one full hour there.
11. Use a long and very sharp knife. Dip it in hot water and wipe it dry. Cut through in one firm stroke. A warm blade cuts through set chocolate. Cut it into small even squares. Serve strong coffee alongside them. It keeps for a week refrigerated.

Technique

• The pastry sheets come out of the oven crisp and must soften against the cream before the cake can be cut, which takes at least four hours in the refrigerator and preferably overnight; cutting it early shatters the layers.
• A board with a moderate even weight goes on the assembled cake to compress the layers and push the cream into the sheets, which gives clean even layers when cut; too much weight squeezes the cream out of the sides.
• The butter is beaten into the custard only once both are lukewarm: hot custard melts it into oil and the cream separates, while cold custard will not take it in at all.

Substitutions

• Roll each sheet directly on baking paper and slide it onto the tray, since a two-millimetre sheet tears if lifted by hand.
• A little oil in the glaze keeps it soft, since a hard glaze cracks when the cake is cut.

Variations

• Six or seven layers is usual, though some bakers make more and thinner.
• Broken sheets go into the middle layers where they do not show.
• It is baked for Christmas and for family celebrations.

History

A Croatian household cake named the Hungarian, baked for Christmas and family celebrations.

Frequently asked questions

What is Madarica?

Madarica is a dessert from Croatia: many thin pastry sheets layered with dark chocolate cream, glazed on top. A Croatian household cake named the Hungarian, baked for Christmas and family celebrations.

How long does Madarica take to make?

Madarica takes 1 hour 30 minutes plus resting of preparation and 40 minutes of cooking. The recipe makes one cake, serves 16. It is rated hard to make.

What can I substitute in Madarica?

Yes, within limits. Roll each sheet directly on baking paper and slide it onto the tray, since a two-millimetre sheet tears if lifted by hand. A little oil in the glaze keeps it soft, since a hard glaze cracks when the cake is cut.

What is the most important thing to get right in Madarica?

Work it in with your fingertips. It should look like coarse crumbs. Beat the eggs together with the milk. Add them to the flour mixture. Bring it together into a firm dough. It should be firm rather than soft. Knead it just until it is smooth. Give it about three full minutes.