Best of Budapest & Hungary

Zsófia Lawal-Papp, pastry chef from Makó, Hungary, won this year's One Drop of Attention Foundation's Sugar-Free Cake of Hungary competition, which is organised every year in professional partnership with the Hungarian Confectioners' Association.

    The winner of the "Kikelet" cake was announced at a press conference held in the Hunting Hall of the Hungarian Parliament in Budapest. In addition to the programmes of 20 August, the Cake of Hungary was announced, which was the creation of master pastry chef Pál Lakatos from Szigetszentmiklós, the "Spicces fig respektus". The winning cakes will be available to taste from 19 August, when they will be sold in several confectioners' shops across the country and in Budapest's Street of Hungarian Flavours. This is the 12th edition of the Hungary's Sugar-free Cake competition, organised by the One Drop of Attention Foundation and the Hungarian Confectioners' Association. The confectioners used mainly the list of ingredients approved by the National Association of Hungarian Dieticians to make their cakes.

    This year's competition was won by Zsófia Lawal-Papp of Papp Confectionery in Makó with her "Kikelet". The winning confectioner aimed for refreshing harmony in her creation. The cake is designed around a drop of black tea, with blueberries and a hint of lavender to create the perfect harmony, complemented by a vanilla white chocolate mousse and a grain-free almond and lemon sponge cake. The taste and colour of the "Kikelet" evokes spring cheer and the revival of nature, which is also reflected in the decoration.

    A slice of "Kikelet" has 236.8 kcal of energy and 11.8 g of carbohydrates, which means it is a good choice for diabetics, but we recommend it to anyone who is careful about the ingredients they eat. Laboratory analysis of the cake was carried out by the testing laboratory Eurofins Analytical Services.

     The second prize was awarded to Ádám Novák and László Csonka Novák of Reök Artisanal Confectionery in Szeged for their creation "Tökmag raspberry", and the third prize to Gabriella Raffer of G&D Artisanal Confectionery in Salgótarján for her creation "Rendevú".

     The One Drop of Attention Foundation launched the Hungary's Sugar-Free Cake Competition in 2012 with the aim of raising confectioners' awareness of the growing demand for sugar-free cakes that can be included in a balanced diet. The programme is supported by the Government of Hungary.

    This year, the cake "Spicces fig respektus", a creation of Pál Lakatos, pastry chef of the Levendula and Garden Confectionery in Szigetszentmiklós, will be awarded the title of Hungary's Cake. The cake is made up of an almond flour butter joconde whipped cream, a soft salted caramel mousse cream and a walnut-caramel crunchy one, which also contains cocoa bean crumble. The tokaji sour cherry fig jelly and the acacia honey milk chocolate mirror jelly make this cake really special, topped with an acacia honey white chocolate ganache and a walnut sablé disc. In the name of the cake, the adjective "spicces" refers to the wine content of the fig jelly, while the "respect" is a tribute to the creator's teachers and mentors.