Rigo Jancsi Cake

Baking partners challenge for February was the famous pastry cake Rigo Jancsi. This is one of Hungary's most famous dessert, a rich chocolate mousse cake. It has two layers of sponge cake with a thick layer of whipped chocolate cream . Finally the cake is topped with chocolate glaze. This recipe is shared by Swathi. Swathi adapted this recipe from Joe Pastry . This recipe is also inspired from Greg Patent's book "A Baker's Odyssey". The cake is named after a violinist Johnny Rigo and his scandalous love affair with the wife of Belgian Duke of Chimay. This cake was a big hit in my house. It is a dessert perfect for special occasions. The filling can be made ahead of time and stored in the refrigerator. This cake is laborious, but it is definitely worth the time. Try this, you will surely love it.

Ingredients
For the sponge cake:
Butter- 6 tbs
Cocoa powder- 1 tbs
Egg- 5 separated
Flour- 1/2 cup
Salt- a pinch
Semi sweet chocolate- chopped- 3 ounce
Sugar-4 tbs

For the filling
Semi sweet chocolate- 4 ounce
Heavy cream- 2 cup
Powdered Sugar- 3/4 cup
Cocoa powder- 2 tsp
Rum - 2 tbs
(or rum extract- 1/2 tsp)
Vanilla extract- 1 tsp

For the chocolate glaze
Bitter sweet chocolate- 4 ounce
Butter- 1 tbs
Light Corn syrup- 1 tbs
Vanilla extract- 1/4 tsp

Apricot glaze
Apricot preserve- 2 tbs
Water- 1/4 cup

Preheat oven to 350 degree F. Line jelly roll pan or a square pan with parchment paper and brush it with melted butter.
Whisk flour, salt and cocoa powder and keep it aside. Melt chocolate and butter in a micro wave safe bowl. Take out every 30 seconds and stir. Stir chocolate till smooth and well blended. ( or use double boiler to melt the chocolate). Cool till it comes to room temperature.
Beat egg yolk and half sugar till it attains a thick and pale color and consistency.Fold in the flour and chocolate mixture till well blended and set aside.
In a separate bowl add egg whites and a pinch of salt, Beat in medium speed till it increases volume and attains soft peak consistency. Add the rest of the sugar in little additions and beat till whites are creamy with stiff shiny peaks.
The yolk and chocolate mixture will be thick at this time. Add one scoop of egg white and using a rubble spatula mix and scrape the sides of the bowl. This will help to reduce the thick consistency of the chocolate mixture. Add half of the egg white mixture and gently fold in. Add the rest of the egg whites and continue folding in till it is well blended and uniform.
Spread the mixture into prepared pan and level with the spatula. Bake for 13- 15 minutes or till tooth pick inserted in the center comes out clean. Transfer to a wire rack and carefully peal off the parchment paper. Allow the cake to cool down completely.

Prepare the glaze.
Cut the cake into two equal part. Prepare chocolate glaze for one half of the cake.
Melt chocolate and butter in a micro wave safe bowl. Take out every 30 seconds and stir. Stir chocolate till smooth and well blended. ( or use double boiler to melt the chocolate). Sir in vanilla essence and light corn syrup. Pour this glaze on half of the cake and spread evenly with a spatula. Allow the glaze to set for an hour. When set cut into equal square and set aside.
For the other half of the cake mix apricot glaze with warm water. Spread this evenly on the cake sheet and allow it to soak the glaze.

To make the filling
You can make till filling ahead of time and store in refrigerator. Melt chocolate and butter in a micro wave safe bowl. Take out every 30 seconds and stir and set aside. In one bowl whisk together cocoa powder and powdered sugar and set aside. In a bowl whip chilled heavy cream, rum extract and vanilla essence till soft peaks are formed. Add the cocoa and sugar mixture and melted chocolate and whisk quickly for one minute or the filling is thick and holds a definite shape.Do not over beat or the filling may look separated or curdled.

To assemble the cake: Place the cake layer with the apricot glaze on a plate. Spread the filling evenly on top of the cake as a thick layer. Take the chocolate glazed square and arrange evenly on top of the filling. Gently press so that the top layer sticks to the cream filling. Refrigerate the cake for 1 or two hours and then slice and serve.

Like this cake, check these cake recipes too..
French Chocolate Gateau
Yule Log Cake
Medovik/Russian Honey Cake
Strawberry Upside-down cake
Raspberry Chocolate Mousse Cake

Try this
Hope you will all enjoy!