Hungary Hosts a ‘Cake of the 12 months’ Competitors—and I Traveled 5,000 Miles for a Slice

As a mushy night rain started to coat the cobblestone streets of Budapest’s Buda Fort District, my husband and I ducked excitedly into Korona Kávéház, a family-run confectionery and cafe, with dessert on the thoughts. The candy we had been after had been rigorously thought-about and chosen for me lengthy earlier than we set foot within the Pearl of the Danube. We got here for a slice of Hungary’s 2024 Cake of the 12 months.

Beaming with pleasure, our server dropped at the desk a towering piece of Mákvirág (Poppy Flower) cake. Created by Alfréd Kovács, proprietor and pastry chef of the Édes Vonal confectionery in Vác, the cake is nice but delicately tart and fruit-forward. It consists of alternating layers of spongy almond-flour poppy seed, crunchy black sesame, and black currant, and it is topped with dense white chocolate icing. We might have voted for it twice.

Kovács shared what an honor this achievement was, particularly contemplating his pastry store had opened solely 5 months previous to profitable the competitors. “The speedy surge in demand after profitable was overwhelming. We labored day and night time to serve all of our clients, but it surely was value it,” the chef advised Journey + Leisure. “This competitors was a terrific alternative to revive and refresh previous, conventional flavors. My cake just isn’t too candy or overly heavy, as poppy seed truffles in Hungarian delicacies might be.”

The nation’s reverence for cake is deeply ingrained in its historical past and tradition, with classics like Esterházy torte, characterised by its intricate spider-web icing, and the six-layer, chocolate cream-filled Stefánia cake, named after a princess, relationship again to the Austro-Hungarian Empire.

Established in 2007, Hungary’s Cake of the 12 months competitors is overseen by the Hungarian Confectioners’ Affiliation, with the winner introduced yearly on St. Stephen’s Day. On Aug. 20, the nationwide vacation, also referred to as Basis Day, commemorates the muse of the Hungarian state, and the Cake of the 12 months is taken into account a birthday cake for the nation.

“Through the years, Hungary’s cake has turn out to be an integral a part of the Aug. twentieth celebrations,” mentioned László Selmeczi, the managing director of the affiliation. “The profitable cake is unveiled every year at a press convention held within the Hunter’s Corridor of the Hungarian Parliament as a part of the official state celebrations.”

Considered one of these celebrations contains the Road of Hungarian Flavors, which honors Hungary’s proud cultural historical past of gastronomy. Through the occasion, 30,000 to 40,000 slices of the newly topped Cake of the 12 months are bought over the course of two days. Main as much as the nationwide vacation, many pastry outlets additionally put together truffles from earlier yr’s competitions.

When requested about a few of his favourite and most memorable truffles over time, Selmeczi shared the 2016 Cake of the 12 months—Őrség Zöld Aranya (Inexperienced Gold of Őrség)—has remained widespread, and continues to be broadly obtainable in most pastry outlets. “It is also my private favourite due to its use of pumpkin seed oil within the sponge cake and the glazing, which pairs superbly with raspberries and white chocolate.”

The competitors provides pastry cooks the chance to additional the heritage of Hungarian desserts, whereas contributing their very own creations to that illustrious historical past. A brand new college of cooks like Kovács is dedicated to reinventing the classics of Hungarian pastry previous, taking a extra health-conscious, experimental method. There’s even a sugar-free division from which a separate winner is chosen. In 2024, that winner was Zöld Málna (Inexperienced Raspberry), a fruity, floral magnificence made with pistachio, raspberry jelly, and rosewater, and adorned with dried rose petals.

No matter your style preferences, Hungary’s storied pastry- and cake-making custom has a vibrant future. Cooks getting into the 2025 competitors will have a good time the a hundred and fortieth anniversary of Hungary’s famed Dobos—a layered, sponge cake with chocolate buttercream and a caramel topping—that has been a staple of Hungarian desserts since József C. Dobos launched it on the Budapest Nationwide Common Exhibition in 1885. This yr’s competitors requires cooks to make use of the important thing components attribute of the cake, together with different instructed components akin to spices, native fruits, pálinka (a standard Hungarian fruit brandy), or wines produced from grape varieties indigenous to the Carpathian Basin.

Bookmark Aug. 20, 2025 in your calendar and put together to have a good time one of many world’s sweetest traditions.