Hungarian Roll Bundt Recipe with Walnut Cream

Patri, author of Sabores&Momentos, brings us today a delicious and surprising recipe to make in your bundt pan: it's a Hungarian roll, a soft brioche-like dough (Delicious!), filled with a walnut cream that is spectacular. I'm sure you'll love trying it, so here's the recipe:

Christmas is already at the door and at home I not only like it to be seen in the decorations, I love that it can be smelled and tasted too! I already have my children helping me make Christmas cookies with that characteristic scent of vanilla and spices, to give to our friends, neighbors and school teachers. But apart from the classic Gingerbread bundt cake, this year I fancied something softer, spongier and that the little ones would also want to enjoy dipped in milk for an afternoon snack! But of course, with an intense scent of Christmas!!

So here I bring you a traditional Hungarian Christmas recipe that will delight you. Also presented in a bundt cake pan, it looks even more original than simply rolled. You can use the pan you like and have on hand, I used this square one to experiment with a different shape!

Ingredients

For the dough:

• 300gr strong flour
• 7gr dry yeast (one packet)
• 125ml whole milk
• pinch of salt
• 50gr unsalted butter at room temperature
• 80gr sugar
• 1 teaspoon ground spice mix (cinnamon, clove, ginger, cardamom),
• 1 egg + 1 yolk (reserve the white for the filling cream)

For the filling:

• 50ml whole milk
• 100g walnuts
• 100g unsalted butter
• Zest of one organic lemon (taking care not to zest the white pith)
• ½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon of pure vanilla extract
• 50g sugar
• 1 egg white (reserved from the egg used in the dough)
• Glaze (optional):
• 1 egg white
• 250g powdered sugar
• ½ teaspoon lemon juice

Madagascar vanilla extract and Microplane Zester grater

Method

We begin by preparing all our ingredients for the dough first. Heat the milk until it's just warm. In the K.A. bowl (or in a deep bowl if you are going to use a hand mixer) add the milk with the packet of yeast and one tablespoon of sugar. Mix well and set aside for about 10 minutes or until the yeast has created a foamy surface layer.

Lightly beat the egg with the yolk in a separate bowl and add it to the large bowl with the milk and yeast. Then change the whisk to the dough hook(s) and add the remaining sugar, the flour, the spice mix, the butter and the pinch of salt. Knead for about 5 minutes or until the dough is elastic and smooth. Turn off the food processor/mixer and remove the bowl which we cover with plastic wrap. Let it rise for one to two hours in a warm, draft-free place until it doubles in volume.

Meanwhile, we can start preparing the walnut cream that will be the filling for our rolled cake. Prepare the ingredients well. Start by chopping the walnuts into very small pieces if you like chunks (or ground if you prefer a smooth texture) and set aside. In a saucepan pour the milk, lemon zest, the vanilla extract, the ground cinnamon and simmer for a couple of minutes. In a mixing glass and with electric beaters whip the egg white to stiff peaks and add it to the saucepan along with the chopped/ground walnuts, the sugar and 75g of the 100g of butter at room temperature. Let it continue cooking over low heat, stirring constantly for about 3 or 4 minutes or until it begins to thicken, then remove from the heat and let it rest until it cools.

Once the dough has finished rising, flour a work surface on the counter and lightly knead the dough to begin rolling it out with a rolling pin until you get a rectangle.

I rolled it very thin to get a roll long enough to make two turns in my bundt pan, but I think that's not necessary and that rolling it to a rectangle of about 45 x 30cm will be enough to make a single turn and reduce the risk of tearing and air holes inside the bundt.

Once rolled out, melt the remaining 25g of butter and with a kitchen brush paint the entire surface of the dough. Next, using a spreading spatula, cover the entire surface with the walnut cream until it's all used up.

Then begin rolling the dough with the long side of the rectangle closest to you, rolling outward and pressing firmly all around to avoid leaving gaps until you achieve something like a Swiss roll. Carefully place it in the pan (previously greased with a little melted butter, paying special attention to the seams of the folds) with the seam of the dough facing up. Make sure it's well placed by joining the beginning and end of the roll so there are no open seams once baked. Cover the pan loosely with plastic wrap and let rise in a warm, enclosed place for another hour or two or until it has doubled in volume again.

Nordic Ware squared bundt cake pan

Preheat the oven to 180ºC (no fan), remove the plastic wrap and bake positioning the pan on the third rack from the top for about 40 minutes. You can cover it with aluminum foil during the first 20 minutes so the top doesn't brown too much. Remove the foil for the last 20 minutes so it finishes baking.

When you take it out of the oven, it should sound hollow when tapping the top crust. Let it cool a few minutes and then unmold and let cool completely on a wire rack.
The glaze is optional to decorate on top, although it looks more attractive, you can skip it. The cake itself already has a brioche-like texture, soft and very aromatic with the moisture and creaminess that the walnut cream filling provides. I'm leaving the recipe anyway in case you feel like making it: for the glaze, simply whisk together the powdered sugar in a bowl with the egg white and the drops of lemon juice, and you'll get a smooth, white glaze that will make your cake even more attractive!