Organised by the Hungarian Confectioners’ Guild (Magyar Cukrász Ipartestület), the Ice Cream of the Year competition’s nationwide “roadshow” continued again this year, hosted this time by Hajdúszoboszló. The aim of the hugely popular competition is to promote traditional, high-quality artisan ice cream, so that Hungarian confectionery offers ever better
Organised by the Hungarian Confectioners’ Guild (Magyar Cukrász Ipartestület), the Ice Cream of the Year competition was held again in 2025, hosted this time by Hajdúszoboszló. The aim of the hugely popular competition is to promote traditional, high-quality artisan ice cream, so that Hungarian confectioners offer their guests ever better ice creams, thereby also creating demand among guests for healthy, high-quality artisan products.
This year the Guild once again held the competition as a “festival”, as part of a town event. The competition was hosted by Hajdúszoboszló, home to Europe’s largest spa complex, where the competitors prepared their entries in front of an audience, so that consumers could learn more about the secrets of ice-cream making. The competition took place in a fully equipped ice-cream laboratory on three professional Carpigiani batch freezers from morning until early afternoon. This was followed by various entertaining and educational ice-cream demonstrations with tastings, and a trade exhibition also added colour to the programme.
In addition to the traditional and “Free-from” categories, this year a new category called “Pávai’s Favourite” (Pávai kedvence) was announced in honour of the host town, Hajdúszoboszló, and to mark the 100th anniversary of the discovery of Hajdúszoboszló’s medicinal water. One of the favourite cakes of geologist Dr Pávai Vajna Ferenc, famous as “the father of hot springs”, was apple pie, so entries in this category were ice creams made from apples and apple pie ice creams.
This year the Ice Cream of the Year competition received a record 100 ice cream entries in five categories, and together with the award-winning Hungarian ice cream masterpieces of previous years, more than 130 kinds of ice cream could be tasted during the all-day event.
The ice creams were judged by a Professional Jury of outstanding master confectioners, an Audience Jury and a jury of Professional Organisations.
Once again, the competitors’ creativity knew no bounds. In the artisan categories, alongside traditional flavours, entirely novel flavour combinations could be tasted – from orange-caramel brown butter ice cream and spiced masala tea ice cream to malted pecan ice cream. Curd cheese (túró) was the hit base flavour, while among fruits, berries took centre stage: alongside raspberries, blackberries, redcurrants and strawberries, jostaberries and rowanberries were a surprise in several ice creams. Bold spices also appeared in some ice creams, such as Madagascan wild pepper, pink peppercorns or even piquant timur pepper. In the “Pávai’s Favourite” category, the competitors “spiced up” the apple ice creams not only with the usual cinnamon, clove and ginger flavourings but also with more exciting ingredients – even apple pálinka or apple cider.
At the ice cream demonstrations, visitors could get to know last year’s winner, “Pumpkin seed sorbet with red berries”, as well as “Caramel corn ice cream”; also presented were the “Creamy tiramisu ice cream with extra crunchy coffee crumble and coffee–milk chocolate variegato” and the “Dobos torte revolution”, created in ice cream form in honour of the Hungarikum Dobos torte, which turns 140 this year.
In an exceptionally strong field, the results were as follows:
Category “A”: competition for confectioners and artisan ice cream parlours
Gold medal and winner of the ICE CREAM OF THE YEAR challenge cup: DÖRGICSE ALMOND – Márton Sándor, Bagaméri Fagylaltozó, Balatonfüred
Silver medal: CAMELIA – Gyuris László, Virág Cukrászda, Szeged
Bronze medal: BRÜSZKE – Szabó Zsombor Gábor, Mignon Cukrászda, Debrecen
Category “M” – Free-from: competition for confectioners and artisan ice cream parlours (category for ice creams free from added sugar, gluten, lactose and milk protein)
Gold medal: SALTED PISTACHIO SORBET WITH BLACKCURRANT BLUEBERRIES – Böröczky-Asztalos Ágnes, Margaréta Fagyizó, Balatonszemes
Silver medal: BERRY JAZZ – Wilheim Dávid, DaCrema Fagyizó, Nagykanizsa
Bronze medal: RIO – Kovács Roland, Krém Cukrászda, Székesfehérvár
“Pávai’s Favourite” category:
Gold medal: FAIRY PIE (TÜNDÉRPITE) – Márton Sándor, Bagaméri Fagylaltozó, Balatonfüred
Silver medal: HUNDRED-YEAR-OLD APPLE – Vadócz Jenő, Promenád Kávéház, Balatongyörök
Bronze medal: FAIRY-TALE APPLE – Koncz Andrea, Sissi Fagylaltozó, Gödöllő
Category “C”: competition for ingredient manufacturers and distributors
Gold medal: KEKSZ ON THE BEACH – Kádár Ferenc, m-GEL Hungary Kft., Budapest
Silver medal: TRIPLE-NUT PANCAKE WITH CRANBERRIES – Szabados Norbert, König-Units Kft., Üllő
Bronze medal: BLUEBERRY CLAFOUTIS (MILK PIE) – Szabados Norbert, König-Units Kft., Üllő
Category “C/M – Free-from”: competition for ingredient manufacturers and distributors (category for ice creams free from added sugar, gluten, lactose and milk protein)
Gold medal: SUMMER MELODY – Benkő Péter, Ireks-Stamag Kft., Komárom
Silver medal: DETOX SMOOTHIE – Rétfalvi Attila, Master Martini Hungary Kft., Budapest
Bronze medal: PISTACHIO PESTO WITH MALDON SALT FLAKES – Rétfalvi Attila, Master Martini Hungary Kft., Budapest
Special prizes:
Audience Award: PISTACHIO WITH CANDIED CITRUS – Marsa Éva Heléna, Vanília&Gelarto, Nagykőrös
Special Prize of the Professional Organisations: BALATON TIPSY CHOCOLATE – Bergmann Nándor, a Kis Bergmann Cukrászda, Balatonfüred
Hajdúszoboszló Centenary 2025 Special Prize: FAIRY PIE (TÜNDÉRPITE) – Márton Sándor, Bagaméri Fagylaltozó, Balatonfüred
Special Prize of the First Hungarian Order of the White Table (Első Magyar Fehérasztal Lovagrend): CAMELIA – Gyuris László, Virág Cukrászda, Szeged
Artisan Ice Cream Award of Excellence: Márton Sándor, Bagaméri Fagylaltozó, Balatonfüred
Courtesy of Hungarospa Hajdúszoboszlói Zrt., every prize-winning competitor also received, as a special prize, admission for two people to the lido and the Premium Zone.
Source: cukraszat.net