Each year, on the occasion of the national holiday on 20 August, the day when Saint Stephen founded the Hungarian State, a competition for the Cake of the Year is announced by the Hungarian Confectioner Craftsmen Corporation at the invitation of the Government of Hungary. Organised since 2007, the competition is concluded by a professional jury in two categories – sugar and since 2014, sugar-free as well. The official recipes of the award-winning cakes are shared throughout the confectioner community of the country. This enables professional confectioners to recreate the winning cakes throughout the entire country so that anyone can have a slice of the Cake of the Year. The jury expects all participants to respect Hungarian confectioner traditions and come up with new, innovative ideas.
The results are presented in the House of Parliament and this year’s winner among the six finalists is the cake, “Curiositas” – an almond, quince and chocolate cake created by Krisztián Füredi from Hisztéria Confectionery; while in the sugar-free category, the cake called “Midsummer Night’s Dream” has been announced as the winner, made by Andrea Dienes.
The Hisztéria Confectionery is located in the village of Tápiószecső, not far from Budapest. The almond cake of Krisztián Füredi is layered with milk-hazelnut crisp, quince jelly, orange-almond mousse, and coated with dark chocolate mirror glaze. Füred spent many years at the historic Gundel Restaurant which had a major influence on his cake as well. Just like the traditional Gundel Cake, the base of his cake is almond, hazelnut and chocolate but he introduced one of his favourite ingredients as well: quince.
According to the Guild, quince has been one of the most neglected fruits in the country for many years although it was introduced to Hungarian cuisine centuries ago. Füredi used the fruit on multiple levels: he supplemented the quince jelly with quince compote and completed it with quince brandy, bringing the most out of quince.
The sugar-free Cake of Hungary this year was Andrea Dienes’ “Midsummer Night’s Dream” from the JÓkenyér bakery and confectionery – a cinnamon-sour cherry cake with cherry whipped cream completed by a cream-oatmeal English custard (Crème anglaise). The cake is covered with a sugar-free layer of white chocolate and decorated with freeze-dried cherries.
As we mentioned before, the recipes of the cakes are shared among the confectioner community in Hungary so look out for them and make sure you won’t miss out on the chance for having a slice!
Links and sources: Hungary Today - Hungary’s 2019 Cake of the Year Revealed, Hungary Today - ‘Curiositas’ and ‘Midsummer Night’s Dream’ – Hungary’s 2020 Cakes of the Year Revealed!, Hungary Today - Hungary’s Cake of the Year Presented for the First Time, 24.hu - Ez lett Magyarország Tortája 2020-ban
Source of the pictures: Hungarian Confectioner Craftsmen Corporation – Press release