Gerbaud is a 160 year old Cafe and confectionery in Budapest. It was founded by Henrik Kugler in 1858. In 1882 (in Paris) he met with the Swiss pastry chef Emil Gerbaud. Kugler invited him to Budapest and asked to be business partners. In the next few decades Gerbaud grew and modernised the business with his specialty pastry offering. The shop became a well known establishment in Europe and Emil Gerbaud won various awards for his work.
This dessert is one his creations. 4 layers of soft pastry with grounded walnut and apricot jam in between the layers. It has a simple chocolate topping. Time consuming dessert if you think about how long the apricot jam takes to make. And that’s only one element of the dish.
Due to how much time it takes to make for most families this was a special treat at Christmas. When I was a child it was made a few days before Christmas and after kept in the ladder. We were only allowed to have the edges before Christmas. The ugliest but the best part!
I put it on as part of my petit fours offering for tasting menus. The feedback has been great so far, which is very encouraging to put more Hungarian or Eastern European elements on my menus.
Café Gerbaud is situated at 7 Vörösmarty tér in Budapest.
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