Mađarica

The story

Mađarica is the cake Croatians cut into small, neat bars: five thin baked layers of dough sandwiched with cooked chocolate cream and sealed under a glossy chocolate glaze. It comes from the Central European baking tradition of the old Austro-Hungarian Monarchy, where Hungarian, Austrian and Czech kitchens have similar layered cakes, and the Croatian version is a local reading of those recipes. Croatian food writers call it a modest cake that the holidays are now unthinkable without, and they give a practical reason: it does not spoil quickly and can be made ahead, a real help in the days when a household is baking for the Christmas table. In the 1990s it was a favorite that everyone had copied into the family recipe notebook, and the eastern region of Slavonia is especially known for it. When a Croatian bakery chain gave away Christmas cakes one December, a woman who received them called mađarica and vanilla crescents the smells of childhood. For Croatian American families, a pan of mađarica resting overnight in the refrigerator is a simple way to put that childhood plate back on the Christmas table.