Cake of Hungary Title Goes to “Respect for Drunken Fig”

Pál Lakatos, pastry chef at the Levendula és Kert (Lavender and Garden) confectionery in Szigetszentmiklós, won the title of Hungary’s cake this year with his creation called Spicces füge respektus (Respect for Drunken Fig), an Aszú-flavored fig creation with honey, while Kikelet (Springtime), a black tea and lavender flavored cake by pastry chef Zsófia Lawal-Papp at Papp Confectionery in Makó, was named Hungary’s best sugar-free cake, The winners were announced on Monday at the awards ceremony in the Parliament building, where this year’s St. Stephen’s Day bread was also presented.

László Selmeczi, co-chairman of the Hungarian Confectioners’ Association, said that

a new feature of this year’s competition, held for the 17th time, was that at least one ingredient had to be chosen from a list of Hungarikums (Hungarian specialties).

According to him, the Respect for Drunken Fig is made up of a butter joconde whipped cream with almond flour, a soft salted caramel mousse and a walnut-caramel crunch, containing cocoa bean kernels. The flavors provided by the fig jelly drowned in Tokaji aszú with morello and the acacia honey milk chocolate nappage are topped with an acacia honey white chocolate ganache and a walnut sablé discs. The ‘drunken’ adjective in the name of the cake refers to the wine content of the fig jelly, but no alcohol is left in the finished cake, he clarified.

László Nándori, President of the jury of the 12th edition of the Sugar-free Cake of Hungary competition organized by the Hungarian Confectioners’ Association and the Egy Csepp Figyelem (A Drop of Attention) Foundation, said that the winning confectioner had created the Kikelet cake around the idea of a drop of black tea, using blueberries and lavender to create the harmony, which was completed by the vanilla white chocolate mousse and the almond and lemon sponge cake made without cereal flour.

In order to protect the quality of the cakes,

the recipes will only be available to the public from the end of the year, until then only members of the industry association will be allowed to make them.

The winning cakes can be sampled from August 19 in the Hungarian Street of Tastes in the Várkert Bazaar and in hundreds of confectioners’ shops across the country.

József Septe, President of the Hungarian Bakers’ Association, presented the award-winning St. Stephen’s Day bread. The winner of the competition in two categories was the durum bread of Heim Sütöde Bt., the winner of the innovative bread category was the bread called Aranymetszés (Golden Section) of Balmaz-Sütöde Kft. from Balmazújváros, and the winner of the newly introduced, cake-to-go category was the raspberry-pistachio baked ice cream of Szilárd Éles (Stella Bakery) of Biharkeresztes.

Featured image: Facebook/Magyar Cukrász Ipartestület