Hungarian Poppy Seed Moon Cake – An authentic Hungarian recipe from June Meyer. These cakes predate Christianity as the poppy was dedicated to the Moon goddess. Opium-sleep. Every family has its own version, and recipes are handed down through generations by the women.
June Meyer’s Authentic
Hungarian Poppy Seed Moon Cake
(Makosbeigli)
(Recipe is reproduced here with permission from June Meyer)
Makes 4 cakes.
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Here is a recipe for Poppy Seed Moon Cake. I learned to make it from my grandmother and mother who were from Austria-Hungary. Every family has its own version of Mond Kuchen. These cakes predate Christianity as the poppy was dedicated to the Moon goddess. Opium-sleep. The seeds are still called “Moon seeds” in German. The recipes are handed down by the women. The Moon cakes are now usually made around Christmas time when all the fancy baking is done.
Poppy seeds can be purchased in bulk from a German Deli that specializes in imported spices. They should finely grind the seeds for you. You can also grind your own seeds in a coffee grinder. Grind the seeds well. It will make a big difference in the texture. You should not use the poppy seeds that come in small jars. They would be too expensive and not fresh enough.
These cakes can be wrapped in foil and stored in the freezer after they are baked. Hope you enjoy this cake.
Regards, June Meyer.
Kirk’s Notes: I got my bulk poppy seeds at a natural foods market that had a large bin full of them. You can also source them from a bakery supply or perhaps even an Indian foods market.
Oh, and if a poppy seed bagel can be detected by a tox-screen, then eating these babies might raise a few eyebrows down at the lab. So, you probably don’t want to eat these within 4 days of a tox-screen.
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Poppy Seed Filling
1 pound of freshly ground poppy seeds (finely)
2 cups of sugar
1 cup BOILED milk
¼ cup melted butter
2 teaspoons of grated lemon zest
Mix filling in bowl using only ¾ cup of boiled milk; it should be thick. If not spreadable use the rest of milk. Divide into 4 portions, one for each dough roll-up.
Kirk’s Notes: I had a difficult time getting all the seeds to grind to a smooth paste, even with my spice grinder. But I got most to blend and still ended up with a nice spreadable paste. There was still a little crunch to the texture, but that may not be such a bad thing.
I made the filling ahead of time and kept it in the fridge until I was ready to prepare the dough (the next day). It stiffened up when cooled, but I found that briefly microwaving the filling (to lukewarm) made it spreadable again.
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Cake Dough
4 cups flour
4 Tablespoons sugar
1 cup lukewarm water
2 eggs slightly beaten
2 cakes yeast reg. or dry
½ cup soft butter
1 teaspoon salt
Crumble yeast in bowl, add water and sugar stirring till mixture liquifies. Blend flour and butter with wire pastry blender. Mix well, mix in eggs, salt and yeast. Mix until dough is smooth and leaves side of bowl clean. DO NOT LET RISE.
Divide into four portions and roll each out in a rectangular shape spread with filling and roll up like Jelly Roll. Place in greased baking pans. BAKE AT ONCE in a 350ºF (180ºC) oven about 30 to 45 min. or until brown.
Kirk’s Notes: I live in a hot and humid climate, so I found I needed to add about ¼ to ⅓ cup more flour to get the dough to leave the side of bowl clean. I still had a rather soft dough, so I refrigerated it about 30-minutes before rolling out… and it worked just fine (and did not rise).
I rolled the dough out on parchment paper so as to aid in rolling it up into a strudel and lifting into the baking pan later. Each portion was rolled to a 10″ x 12″ rectangle.
The lukewarm portion of filling was spread over the chilled dough. I left about a ¾” border on three sides and about 1¼” boarder on the trailing edge of rolling (one of the 10″ sides). I used the parchment to help roll it up into a strudel.
The rolls were placed into their pans seam-side down; this was achieved by lifting the roll using the parchment with the strudel seam-side up. Lay the strudel to one side of the pan, and then cut the parchment paper close to the edge of the strudel (pan-side).
Then when it is rolled off the parchment, it will be seam-side down and in the center of the pan.
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Makes 4 cakes.
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Hungarian Moon Cake – ready to bake
Hungarian Moon Cake – baked
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A special thanks to June Meyer for keeping this and other Hungarian heirloom recipes alive. For more authentic Hungarian recipes, please click the link to June Meyer’s page on the right sidebar. Enjoy.
Culinary Thrillseekers 