Where to find traditional Hungarian cakes, cookies and sweet treats for Christmas

Confectioneries

Mark Szonja’s Édesem is worth visiting any time during Advent – you can order your own Christmas biscuit box or it can also be a nice surprise for a friend or family member. The selection of ten varieties includes specialities such as pistachio-and-cranberry cookies, matcha pines and gingerbread reindeers.

In Óbuda, Málna, the Pastry Shop stocks the usual traditional range, with Hungarian, French and German Christmas favourites: classic bejgli cake, several types of fruit bread, truffles and various bűches de Noël. At Desszert.Neked, you can look sprinkle up holidays with something from the wide selection lining their shops on Paulay Ede utca and at the Allee mall – seasonal macarons, Christmas sweets and premium bejgli cake.

Cioccolatte in Újlipótváros essential deals in ice cream, but at Christmas you can get heavenly Italian panettone. Christmas packages, chocolate bars and festive cakes await at Chouchou but, as every year, they also offer poppy-seed and walnut bejgli cake. At Sütizz confectionery, in addition to bejgli, you’ll find panettone, flódni layered cake, Gerbeaud cake, cookies and Bratislava croissants lining the counter.

In addition to cookies and fruit bread, ÉdességLabor also stocks chocolate logs while the range of December favourites at Sütit akarok! runs from bejgli cake to layered cakes such as flódni and Gerbeaud.


Among the more traditional confectioneries, don’t miss the bejgli and teacakes at Ruszwurm, or the Gerbeaud layered cake, cookies and bejgli at ever-reliable Daubner, whose complete gift boxes make perfect presents. At venerable Auguszt, besides bejgli and Christmas sweets, they also make sweet teacakes and fruit breads for the holidays.

Allergen-free treats

Christmas can be especially difficult for those on a diet or with some kind of intolerance – fortunately, there are a good few places catering to them, too. At Plantmilkyway they prepare a wonderful selection of cookies for Christmas, Zabrakadabra awaits with vegan and sugar-free bejgli cake and paleo fruit bread, while Örömsüti offers special gluten-, lactose- and sugar-free poppy bejgli cake.


Fittnass Cukormentes Confectionery has several varieties of bejgli cake: sugar-free, paleo and vegan, as well as gluten- and milk-free poppy and walnut versions, plus similarly prepared traditional Christmas cookies. You’ll find allergen-free bejgli cake, gingerbread, snowballs and cake pops at Sóvany vigasz, where special Advent boxes are available on Sundays.

Delis & bakeries

Even during the winter shutdown, the city is full of great bakeries and delicatessens worth checking out. Whether the products are prepared in-house or ordered from a supplier, the quality is usually impeccable.

First there’s FALU, whose Nutella-Oreo seasonal bejgli cake supplements the traditional favourite fillings such as walnut, poppy and chestnut. Over at BUONO, the Italian olive oil and pasta shop, you find what is probably the best Italian panettone in town.

At Babka Deli, Klára’s traditional, soft-dough beigli cakes sit alongside beautiful, sourdough panettones, not to mention the namesake babkas. Make sure to check out the Christmas pop-up market at Zsebi on Bartók Béla út, where walnut and poppy bejgli cake, Bratislava croissants and chocolate babkas are all to be had.

Every year at the Jacques Liszt bakery, their in-house bejgli cake is an enormous success, and every Friday sees regulars claim the bakery’s babkas in minutes. If you’re worried about getting your hands on your favourite Christmas treats, you can order bejgli from Artizán, who also have an offer of a special Christmas package including bejgli, granola, marzipan-and-orange sourdough kuglóf cake and Bratislava croissants.

New bakery Megszegett Ígéret based in Újbuda sells incredible sourdough bread and pastries, as proved by the queue of customers snaking out the door. Just in time for Christmas, they are offering walnut, chestnut and poppy bejgli cake and, if you’re lucky, there are sometimes also babkas waiting on the counter.


Meanwhile at the Arán Bakery, the owners were inspired by Irish sourdough after spending time on the Emerald Isle. Their traditional Hungarian bejgli cake sits alongside British specialities such as mince pies.

Over at Jászai Mari tér, pastry chef Kata and baker Norbi behind JM6 Sütiző Bakery & Café bake bread fresh twice daily, and make delicious sweet pastries to entice custom. And it works: their classic bejgli cake generates repeat custom, and their special almond-orange and Gerbeaud varieties are the icing on the cake as it were. In addition, their German sweetbread stollen is the best in the city.

The Kisperec Bakery on Bakáts tér sells everything from classic pastries to sweet and savoury snacks, and during the holiday season their bejglis include the traditional walnut and poppy, but also flavours such as coconut, chestnut and marzipan. Kifli croissants and snowballs are also available.

Restaurants

There’s one plus of the shutdown: plenty of the restaurants around town are offering Christmas menus, and that includes desserts and cakes. At the Rosenstein Vendéglő, you can find bejgli next to flódni layered cake and Rosenstein Timi pies.


At French bistro Grumpy, the traditional walnut, poppy and chestnut bejgli cakes are fresh out of the oven and waiting to come to your table. Scandinavian-style fine-dining restaurant SALT also has bejgli on the menu, with poppy, walnut and plum varieties available.

Bejgli can also be ordered from Szaletly, the classic poppy and walnut varieties. The Két Szerecsen breaks from the traditional mould, listing honey-flavoured cream cake and rum-cherry chocolate cake on their Christmas menu. Finally, at KIOSK, you can order chocolate cake, raspberry Sacher cake, vanilla croissants and, of course, traditional bejgli.