Get ready for a whirlwind culinary adventure with this amazing collection of Hungarian sweets! I’ve gathered 26 incredible dessert recipes that will transport you straight to the heart of Hungary, one bite at a time.
From delicate pastries to decadent cakes, prepare to indulge in some serious deliciousness!
1. Hungarian Treasure Cookies
These Hungarian treasure cookies, boasting a delightful surprise within, are truly precious finds. The cookie itself is buttery and sweet, featuring a rich chewiness and just a whisper of tartness from the cream cheese.
As you take that initial bite, you’ll uncover a generous center of delectable jam. While your choice of jam or preserves is entirely up to you, a nut filling also makes a stellar choice!
2. Hungarian Chocolate Biscuits
If sandwich cookies are your thing, then prepare to be obsessed with this offering.
These biscuits deliver a combo of softness, buttery goodness, and rich chocolate flavor. Featuring a luscious buttercream frosting as their filling, these bites are incredibly moreish.
If you’re searching for a worthy upgrade to your usual Oreo cookies, look no further. Rest assured, the ingredient list is pretty standard and the instructions are a breeze.
3. Hungarian Sweet Pancakes (Palacsinta)
Palacsinta represents Hungary’s distinct twist on the timeless French crepes. These treats are equally fluffy and enchanting!
However, unlike the traditional approach with crepes, palacsinta is carefully rolled rather than simply folded in half.
The filling often leans toward the unique, showcasing a delicate cottage cheese known as turo. Once they’re delicately rolled, palacsinta is sprinkled with powdered sugar, striking a delicious harmony between the sweetness and the cheese’s subtle tang.
Outside of turo, beloved choices for stuffing extend to jams, fruit preserves, ground nuts, and even softly whipped cream.
4. Basic Hungarian Sponge Cake (Piskotatekercs)
With this recipe, you’ll learn how to build a solid foundation by mastering a sponge cake, setting the stage for spectacular layer cakes and elegant roulades. Additionally, it lays the groundwork for piskotatekercs, an unbelievably delicious cake roll generously filled with both jam and pillowy whipped cream.
The real secret lies in carefully incorporating flour in small amounts, which ensures a delightfully light and airy result!
5. Butterhorn Cookies with Walnuts
These butterhorns might be termed cookies, yet they more closely resemble delicate crescent rolls. These delights feature crescent dough, gracefully swirled with cinnamon sugar and crunchy walnuts, then baked to a perfect golden hue.
This Hungarian specialty is suited for breakfast alongside a steaming cup of coffee or as a sweet ending to any meal.
What elevates these pastries is the addition of sour cream to the dough. Once baked, they attain a level of flakiness, crispness, and chewiness that’s simply unmatched.
6. Gerbeaud Cake (Traditional Hungarian Cake with Walnut and Almond Jam Filling)
Gerbeaud cake is a wonderfully decadent creation featuring moist cake layers, rich jam and walnut fillings, and a shiny dark chocolate frosting. These cake layers are crafted from shortcrust pastry, lending a delightful crispness and crumbly texture.
This standout dessert comes from the mind of Swiss-born Hungarian confectioner Emil Gerbaud in the 18th century. Credit this brilliant mind for several other popular Hungarian desserts, for instance, onyakos meggy (cognac sour cherry) and csokoládé drazsé (chocolate dragees).
Although it sounds elaborate, it’s quite straightforward.
This recipe yields a generous batch, so trust me, it’ll disappear in a flash.
7. Hungarian Walnut Rolls
These holiday cookies deliver wonderful holiday cheer. These croissant-like cookies have a nice flakiness.
For the dough, cream cheese brings richness with a hint of tartness. The wonderful walnut filling brings a sweet and crunchy aspect.
Each mouthful will put a smile on your face.
8. Hungarian Apple Pie (Almás Pite)
This pie is a classic in Hungary, under names like apple squares and apple cake.
Just appreciate how stunning these bars can be.Those layers are so pretty, and a sprinkle of powdered sugar adds some elegance.
But don’t let the look fool you.Almás pite is easy to prepare.It is really as easy as pie.
9. Hungarian Plum Dumplings (Szilvás Gombóc)
If dumplings come to mind, perhaps biscuit dough is the first thing you imagine. However, what you have here is a potato dough surrounding a plum.
This sweet dish is unique and special. The dumplings get coated in both breadcrumbs and cinnamon sugar for extra flavor and texture.
10. Apple Strudel (Almás Rétes)
A rétes refers to a strudel that is quite popular in Central Europe. In Hungary, the standout traditional version contains a creamy apple filling. Instead of chunky apples, the filling will be more on the smooth side.
Many other apple treats call for cinnamon and sugar. You’ll also use raisins in this recipe for even more character.
In this recipe, you won’t need to make the pastry yourself. You can use store-bought puff pastry.
11. Kolachy Cookies
Kolachy refers to a treat that’s common at Christmastime, which brings together a cream cheese dough with a luscious filling. The dough is airy and light, while cream cheese lends a rich and zesty flavor.
You can incorporate nearly anything for the filling. Jams, nuts, and poppy seeds all perform admirably. As long as you can strike a tasty balance with the dough, it will all work out in the end.
12. Strawberry Cake
What is great about this treat? The biskvit layers get filled with a fresh strawberry puree and a creamy frosting of sugar, cream cheese, and whipped cream. That is definitely summer in dessert form.
I know what’s on your mind: what is a biskvit? It’s like sponge cake, though much easier to prepare. This recipe calls for just three ingredients: eggs, sugar, and flour.
13. Dobos Torta
Let’s put an exclamation point on this guide with a bang.
Perhaps the most popular of all the desserts from Hungary is dobos torta. That means seven layers of chocolate cake filled with buttercream and glazed caramel.
You could end the recipe right there or continue on with ground nuts on the glaze. Calling it sinful is an understatement.
14. Hungarian Baked Dessert Noodles (Rakott Teszta)
You won’t find a more unique recipe than baked dessert noodles. However, once you give this dish a shot, you’ll wonder what took you so long.
Rakott metelt (layered noodles) relies on egg noodles baked with a medley of eggs, butter, sugar, sour cream, cottage cheese, and raisins. While it may sound like a strange combo, each element comes together wonderfully.
As this features carbs, it’s also well-suited to breakfast or brunch.
15. Hungarian Golden Pull-Apart Cake with Walnuts and Apricot Jam (Aranygaluska)
This pastry goes by various names, like butter puffs, monkey bread, or golden dumpling cake. Another name that really fits is “cake that is happiness you can eat.” These treats are tough to resist.
Each ball offers a texture that melts when you eat it, in addition to sugar and walnuts. It’s tough to have just one so expect to find yourself coming back for more!
16. Hungarian Chocolate Coconut Balls
Ever had coconut and chocolate as one?Treat yourself to both with these chocolate coconut balls.
Kókuszgolyó blends crushed biscuits, chocolate, sugar, butter, and sour cherry juice.To finish, the mixture becomes balls with grated coconut.What results is pure coconut and chocolate bliss.
17. Hungarian Chocolate Cake
Chocolate cake is just as popular in Hungary as it is here. This recipe may end up supplanting your current favorite.
If you haven’t heard about this cake before, you’re about to find something special. Any true chocolate lover should stop what they’re doing and start making this cake.
Thanks to rum syrup, this is incredibly moist. Also, coffee gives it even more chocolate flavor. With the help of rum, the ganache becomes truly unforgettable.
18. Hungarian Apple Cake
Known as almas pite, this is a type of pie rather than cake.
However, the apple filling is between two layers of walnut. It’s also dusted with powdered sugar and cut into squares. It’s an intriguing version of something familiar, so it’s worth trying.
19. Hungarian Shortbread
For this recipe, there are a couple of layers of shortbread with jam in between. It’s simple but still packs a punch.
You’ll be blown away by that fluffy, crumbly shortbread. These are enjoyable even without the jam.
20. Hungarian Chestnut Cake
You may not see chestnut as a common ingredient for sweets. But you must try this at least once.
This cake is complicated but well worth the effort.
Notice that the recipe uses no flour. That highlights how fudgy it is. You can thank that absence for highlighting the chocolate, rum, butter, and chestnut.
While the cake is amazing by itself, it also requires frosting. To complete the presentation, you’ll finish by adding chocolate-covered chestnuts and whipped cream.
21. Túrógombóc
These well-known dumplings from Hungary are filled with cheese and breadcrumbs. Both the flavor and texture complement one another to really explode in your mouth.
Technically, they’re a dessert. However, as these aren’t too sugary, these can also be enjoyed as a main course.
22. Chimney Cake (Kürtőskalács)
Just one glimpse at this amazing dessert, and you can figure out why it gets that name. Despite being known as “cake,” this is really a type of bread. What sets this apart is the crunchy, sticky outside.
With a sugar coating and walnuts, this bread/cake tastes amazing in its own way. Due to the form factor, you can add ice cream, whipped cream, or custard.
23. Beigli (Traditional Hungarian Nut Rolls)
Here is yet another rolled pastry that you’ll find during the holidays. Thanks to its great taste and texture, it’s easy to understand why.
Sweet walnut filling goes inside incredibly soft bread. It’s a simple idea with unbelievable flavor.
The nutty character of the walnuts makes the treat truly distinct.
24. Hungarian Walnut Torte
This torte from Hungary is a very rich confection. You’ll get four layers of chewy, soft torte with pudding in the middle.
What are the main distinctions between tortes and cakes?
Tortes will use minimal or no flour. Instead, these will rely on ground nuts for structure. This delivers far more texture and taste than a cake.
25. Kakaós Csiga (Hungarian Chocolate Rolls)
When you just have to have something sweet for breakfast, you should grab a serving of kakaos csiga. These chocolate rolls are so good that they are worth getting up early for. This pastry is a staple that’s filled with delicious chocolate.
You’ll see these everywhere in Hungary, from streets to supermarkets. You can enjoy these at pretty much any time.
26. Hungarian Poppy Seed Bread Pudding
Poppy seeds are a fairly common ingredient in Central Europe, symbolizing wealth and fertility. The reason is that they’re said to deliver fortune and money. You’ll often see them in pies, strudels, cakes, and even pudding as you can see here.
Mákos guba features a sweet bread pudding with a crescent roll known as kifi. The poppy seeds add an amazing nutty flavor and great texture.