Cake of Hungary 2022

The winner of the 16th national cake contest is a plum cake called “The Naugthty Prince Plum” created by Orsolya Karikó confectioner. The base of the cake is made without flour, the pastry chef used hazelnut instead to make the so called ‘dacquoise’ with some caramelized, chocolate flavoured cinnamon crisps. The filling is chocolate mousse with spicy plum, and the key ingredient is – what else – some red wine from Eger wine region. The name of the winery is not mentioned. The gel layer of the cake is made of forest blueberry and plum, plus some red wine again. The topping is a fruity layer reminiscent of “freshly picked plums”. With so much plum in the creation a red wine made of Shiraz might be the ideal choice, since the wine of this variety usually features plummy notes.

The cake is available at more than 400 cafe houses, restaurants or pastry shops all over Hungary, see the full list here

What to pair with the Naughty Prince Plum

While last year with Sunflower Cake we recommended late harvest wines, this year red wine is a more obvious choice, even if red wine is not often paired with cakes. We definitely need oak aged red wine with some sweetish tones (these are dry wines, but with the oak spices there is a slight senstation of sweetness). Let us intruduce 3 great options.

Kovács Nimród Winery Soul Syrah 2017, Eger

“Soul. This is name of our 100% Syrah wine which is an exclusively sourced from the ripe fruit of the grapes from KNW’s Nagyfai and Nyilasmar Monopole Terroirs. The Nyilasmár vineyard has thin, stony, and tuff based soil, facing south, which gives the wine spice and body, while the Nagyfai vineyard contains rocky brown forest soil, which adds rich and complex flavors. Music, travel and arrival of the soul. This is our Monopole Soul Syrah.”
Kovács Nimród Winery has renewed its labels, but Soul 2017 is still available with the old labels. The wine aged in French, American and Hungarian oak for 20 months, 15% were new oak. On Vivino we can find 110 ratings about this wine, and users appreciated vintage 2017 the best. The average is 4,3 points out of 5. As Bertram Marek, a “heavy user of Vivivo” commented: “Jaw-dropper Syrah with unforgettable attributes. Medium-plus body, more acids than tannins. The nose offers wonderful romance of vanilla, raspberry and oak while the palate presents tomato pepper and licorice. The experience is crowned with a medium finish.”(Photo by Borsmenta.hu)

More about Kovács Nimród Winery

Sol Montis Syrah 2020, Mátra

The family winery has cultivated Syrah for several years with success, vintage 2016 for example was selected among the top wines by VinCE Magazine in 2018. The 2020 vintage is outstanding again, as Zita Kovács, manager of the winery commented, “if you pour a glass of this Syrah, you will find yourself in a bosque full of blueberries”. The wine aged in oak for 8 months. Apart from the 100% Syrah, we might enjoy another pairing from the same winery: “Ördögfajzat” (Devil) is a blend including Syrah (plus Merlot and Cabernet Franc), it aged only 6 months in oak, fruiter, lighter – it is definietly worth a try. Not to mention the price of both wines: Sol Montis Syrah 2020 costs 3300 HUF (around 8 euros) and Sol Montis Ördögfajzat 2019 is 2500 HUF (around 6 euros).

More about Sol Montis estate

Jammertal Ars Poetica Syrah 2020, Villány

From the North-East Mátra we are going to the opposite direction, to the south-wast of Hungary. The price range is also different, while the above mentioned Sol Montis wines are entry or medium level wines, the following wine represents a top category with a price of 15.000 HUF (around 37 euros). The mediterranean Villány wine region is famous for its Cabernet Franc wines, but Syarh is also favoured by some winemakers, for example the young and talented chief winemaker of Jammertal Wine Estate, Zsófia Kövesdi. She has work expereince from several wine countries including US, California. Ars Poetica Syray is an experimental project by Zsófia from a small, 1.2 hectare vineyard with strong yield controll. Fermentation took place in large, 50 hl wooden vat with gentle punching twice a day, thus tannin extraction was moderate. The wine aged in 225 L and 500 L medium toast American, French and Hungaran oak for 12 months. Bottling took place after a serious selection process and only the best samples were blended in the final wine, resulting a very limited quantity, only 2293 bottles. As Zsófia commented, the wine is not a robust, New World style Syrah, more like a Rhone valley Shiraz with elegance and fruitiness.

More about Jammertal Wine Estate