Budapest is a foodie city, famed for its gulyás, lángos, Mangalica and abundance of paprika-laden meaty dishes, as well as its fantastic range of sweet offerings. From traditional Hungarian tortes and innovative bakes to macarons and ice cream that are works of art, the city is filled with sweet gems. Here’s what we recommend.
Traditional
While maybe not as famous as their Viennese counterparts, Budapest has a rich cafe culture with mouthwatering cakes and coffees to choose from. The most famous is the Dobos torte, invented by the Hungarian confectioner József Dobos in the late 19th century. It’s layered sponge cake with chocolate buttercream and is topped with caramel to stop it drying out, a practice developed in a period when it was hard to keep a cake from drying out quickly. Try it at Central Café.
A personal favourite is the Esterházy torte, made with cognac and vanilla buttercream between layers of walnut meringue dough and invented at around the same time as the Dobos torte. Try it at Menza (you can read our review of the restaurant here). Other traditional bakes to try are Rigó Jancsi (named after a Hungarian Romani violinist who wooed the Princess de Caraman-Chimay away from her husband to marry her in the late 19th century), which is a cube-shaped dessert with two chocolate sponge cake layers between chocolate cream, and Somlói Galuska, which has plain, chocolate and walnut sponge cakes served with vanilla cream, walnuts and chocolate sauce, topped with whipped cream.
Keep an eye out for Túró Rudi, a firm Hungarian favourite since the 1960s that’s available at pretty much every supermarket. It’s a bar of chocolate-covered curd, which is known as túró in Hungarian, with curd, not to mention poppy seeds, featuring heavily in many traditional Hungarian sweets.
Chez Dodo
Situated in a cute little shop on Sas Street, Chez Dodo is home to Dóri Szalai’s remarkable and inspired macaron creations. Constantly experimenting with flavours, Chez Dodo’s macaron menu is ever changing but constantly delicious.
Gelarto Rosa
Just a short walk from Chez Dodo lies Gelarto Rosa, an ice cream parlour in the heart of Budapest on St Stephen’s Square. Not only is their ice cream fantastic, they also serve it to you in the shape of the rose. Great for a hot summer’s day in Budapest.
Sugar!
Sugar! is a confectionary and sweet shop on Paulay Ede Street that creates experlty crafted delicious cakes and sweet treats that will have you breathing heavily for a good hour or two afterwards. If you fancied something small, try one of their macarons or cupcakes and if you feel like you deserve it, treat yourself to a flowerpot or unicorn cake.
Street Cakes
This probably should have been included under the traditional section earlier, with kürtőskalács (Hungarian chimney cakes) being a sweet staple in the region, but Street Cakes on Andrássy Avenue is worth a shout out of its own. They customise your chimney cake exactly how you want it, filling it with everything from ice cream to Túró Rudi as they make it before your eyes.
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