More than 12,000 pieces of szaloncukor – the traditional Hungarian Christmas tree sweet – were tasted at this year’s sixth Szaloncukor of the Year competition, created by Kovács Ádám and Kovács Gergely, the video makers behind the Szeretem a csokit (I Love Chocolate) TikTok channel. Producers large and small alike were given the opportunity to enter the competition.
“This year, too, the tasters for six of the eight competition categories were selected from among the followers of the competition’s social media pages. However, the jury of one of the most popular categories, Children’s Favourite, this year also included the child actors of the Magyar Színház production Keménykalap és krumpliorr. This was a particular joy for us, because through the videos made by the theatre we were able to share this experience with our followers too,” the organisers said.
This year producers could once again enter the professional category, although in this category each producer could compete with only three szaloncukor. The professional jury that judged the entries consisted of Gácsi Zoltán, professional head of the Csokoládé Akadémia; Erdélyi Balázs, professional president of the Magyar Cukrász Ipartestület; Abrudán Zsolt, chef of the New York Café; Mihály Lajos, master chef and confectioner; Szentandrás-Szabó Emese, master confectioner; and Pásztor Éva, master confectioner and vocational instructor. The professional tasting took place at the Ibis Styles Budapest Center Hotel, thanks to the hotel’s support.
Every year celebrities also help with the judging in individual categories. This year the jelly category was tasted by stars of the Magyar Színház: Trokán Anna, Jenes Kitti and Pavletits Béla.
“Every year we like to refresh the categories so that the competition can also serve smaller communities. This year ‘free-from’ szaloncukor were given their own categories, in which szaloncukor made for people with sugar, gluten and milk protein sensitivities could compete separately. Another new feature this year is that the competition, which has by now become known nationwide, received a new logo worthy of the competition, the winners and szaloncukor itself, which became a Hungaricum last year. It was designed by Szabó Károly Carlo,” said organiser Kovács Gergely.
This year the Szaloncukor of the Year was once again chosen from a record number of entries: 165 szaloncukor from 24 producers. In the competition’s 8 categories, nearly 200 tasters decided on the winners, tasting 12,000 szaloncukor.
This year’s Szaloncukor of the Year is the Lotus biscuit caramel szaloncukor coated in caramelised white chocolate from the Szent Korona cukrászda in Soltvadkert. Second place went to Keszthelyi Sütibolt’s crunchy wafer salted caramel szaloncukor, which had already been named the best caramel szaloncukor of the year in 2021. Third place went to the DJC Stílusgyakorlat szaloncukor of Gyulai Kézműves Cukrászda, made by the winners of the cake competition based on the winning cake of Hungary’s Cake (Magyarország Tortája) 2025.
The winner of the professional category was the szaloncukor named Narancs Esszencia from Promenád Kávéház in Balatongyörök, with confit orange jelly, dark chocolate and orange cream; second was the smoky whiskey hazelnut szaloncukor from Hóvirág Fagylaltbár in Orosháza, and third was the dark chocolate sour cherry szaloncukor from Hisztéria Cukrászda.
The best jelly szaloncukor was Keszthelyi Sütibolt’s Régi idők jelly szaloncukor; second place went to Sulyán Cukrászda’s real sour cherry jelly szaloncukor, and third to the Unicum plum jelly szaloncukor from Damniczki Cukrászda in Székesfehérvár.
In the category for szaloncukor with no added sugar, the Sugar-free Szaloncukor of the Year title went to Dibette’s orange and marzipan szaloncukor; the gluten-free category was won by Hisztéria Cukrászda’s blackcurrant jelly szaloncukor, while in the milk-protein-free category Stühmer’s sour cherry marzipan szaloncukor received the award.
The Children’s Favourite was the Dubai chocolate szaloncukor from Demeter Chocolate in Kiskunlacháza; second place went to the raspberry candyfloss szaloncukor from Ricsi Cukrászda in Pápa, and third to Sulyán Cukrászda’s real blueberry jelly szaloncukor. The New Flavour of the Year was the white chocolate szaloncukor with Berriolette pumpkin seed purée from Jogos Desszert chocolate and dessert workshop in Kaposvár, chosen from among the new products appearing for the first time this year.
Source: www.azevszaloncukra.hu