Can popular Ukrainian desserts make their way into the hearts of Finns? Three pastry makers share what they’ve learned about local preferences and the contrasts with Ukrainian tastes.

Ukrainian confectioners in Finland are entering the market using flavours familiar to Finnish customers, such as liquorice macarons. PHOTO: NADIIA FEDOROVA.

Svitlana Yeharmina

Published 11.03.2026 at 3:04

Updated 11.03.2026 at 9:03

Zephir and “nuts”– tastes of home

Nataliia Huryna worked in the beauty industry before the war and trained as a teacher. She had never seriously considered pastry-making.

Nataliia Huryna arrived in Finland in late March 2022 from the small town of Zolotonosha in the Cherkasy region, heading straight to Pietarsaari, where relatives lived. She recalls that first year as a period of constant anxiety.

“I was always packing my bags, thinking I would return home any moment,” Huryna says.

“It was mentally exhausting. I didn’t know what to do or how to find myself here.”

At that time, she found herself craving zephir, a popular dessert in Ukraine made from fruit puree, egg whites, and a plant-based thickener called agar-agar.

Zephir is light and airy, often flavored with fruit, berries, cream, or vanilla, and has a delicate, melt-in-your-mouth texture.

“I really wanted zephir. The taste of childhood, memories of family, of home. It gave me a sense of grounding.”

Huryna tried to find a familiar dessert in local stores, but Google Translate stubbornly suggested “marshmallow”, similar in appearance but completely different in texture and flavor.

Huryna decided to make zephir at home. She bought several online courses from Ukrainian pastry masters and spent almost a year perfecting the recipe.

“If the mixture overheats, it spreads; if it cools, you can’t shape it nicely,” Huryna explains.

The first attempts failed, but the process became a form of therapy for her.

At first, she offered zephir to Finnish friends, volunteers, and yoga instructors simply as thanks for supporting Ukraine. The response was warm and curious. Gradually, her homemade dessert turned into a small business: she registered a company and began selling online and at local fairs.

Alongside zephir, she made “nuts”, homemade cookies shaped like walnuts and filled with sweet fillings. Traditionally, they are filled with boiled condensed milk, but Nataliia experimented with lemon and berry variations.

“Finns love dough. I think they even like nuts more than zephir,” Huryna says.

This winter, Nataliia Huryna decided to close her business and now bakes more for the joy of it than for sale.

“Baking still gives me inspiration and energy, but I no longer see it as a business idea.”

Starting again – one cake at a time

Alyona Antoniuk is a professionally trained pastry chef who previously taught at a culinary college in Ukraine. She specializes in cakes, from traditional classics to intricate celebration pieces.

When Russia’s full-scale invasion began, Kherson, the southern city where Alyona Antoniuk lived, swiftly fell under occupation. Antoniuk fled under shelling with her two children to join her husband, who had already been working in Turku. Her younger child was not yet three.

“It was the most frightening moment of my life,” she said.

In Finland, everything was unfamiliar. Even a trip to the grocery store was a source of stress. Seeking connection, Antoniuk began reaching out to other Ukrainian women on social media, organizing in-person gatherings, and enrolling in Finnish language courses. Gradually, a new circle took shape around her.

She returned to what she knew best: pastry-making. At home, she began baking cakes – first for herself and friends. Photographs posted on Facebook and Instagram soon led to paid orders, initially from Ukrainians and later from Finnish customers.

She still remembers her first Finnish order: a birthday cake, layered generously with whipped cream and jam.

“I was terribly nervous,” she said.

“But it turned out well, and I received good feedback.”

Finnish customers, Antoniuk has noted, show curiosity about Ukrainian desserts – Napoleon in particular proved popular – but most gravitate toward familiar flavors and textures.

“In Ukraine, confectionery culture is very diverse,” Antoniuk said.

“There are classic homemade cakes such as Medivnyk and Napoleon, as well as modern creations inspired by popular candy bars and cookies like Snickers or Oreo. In Finland, cakes with whipped cream and berry jam are more common.”

As her work attracted steady interest, Antoniuk decided to formalize her credentials in Finland. She enrolled in a pastry program at Turun ammatti-instituutti, a vocational school, where the training offers both new knowledge and practical skills.

“At first, I thought it would be difficult to find professional ingredients and equipment here,” she said.

“I kept comparing everything to Ukraine, where everything feels easily accessible. It turned out that everything exists here too. Many products are simply sold only to registered businesses. You just need to understand the system.”

She also observed cultural differences in approach.

“Finns value the quality of ingredients but pay less attention to aesthetics,” she said.

“Ukrainians carefully choose their cake and discuss every detail of the decoration.”

For now, her studies occupy her full attention, and she is not taking orders from customers. After completing the program at Turun ammatti-instituutti, Antoniuk plans to open a café in Finland dedicated to Ukrainian desserts.

From liquorice macarons to Kyiv cake

Nataliia Mazurenko is a finance professional by training. She worked in the field for more than 13 years in Ukraine before deciding to change careers in 2014. After a period of rethinking her career in Malta, she turned to a passion she had had since childhood – baking.

In Malta, Nataliia Mazurenko began by making cakes and gingerbread cookies, later adding the French dessert macaron to her assortment. In Ukraine at the time, these pastries were already popular and known for their wide variety of colors and flavors. Mazurenko was always drawn to the precision of the recipes and the opportunity to experiment with flavors.

She registered the brand Maze Bakery—a name that combines her surname with the word “amazing”—and started selling her products through social media. Eventually, the business became self-sustaining. During the COVID-19 pandemic, however, sales dropped sharply, and she returned to Kyiv.

After coming back, Mazurenko no longer sought work in finance. Instead, she took a job as a supervisor in a pastry shop.

In the spring of 2022, following the start of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, Mazurenko moved to Finland. There, she applied for baking-related positions and joined Fazer’s production facility in Helsinki. She initially worked as a baker and now works as a pastry chef there.

At the same time, Mazurenko never gave up the idea of running her own business. In Finland, she could not find macarons that matched her expectations in terms of flavor.

“A real macaron is rich and moist. Here, they are often a bit dry, more about appearance than taste.”

Having maintained her Instagram account since her time in Malta, Nataliia decided to try again. She studied the local market, sampled desserts in cafés, and observed customers’ preferences. She noticed that berry flavors — raspberry, strawberry, blueberry — are especially popular in Finland and incorporated them into her range.

But for her, liquorice presented a particular challenge.

“I had never eaten it before and at first didn’t understand it at all. But I saw that for Finns it is something very personal. I wanted to build a small bridge to their hearts through dessert.”

It took nearly a month to perfect the filling and achieve the right balance.

The liquorice macarons became among her most popular, ordered for birthdays, parties, and corporate events. Beyond sweet options, she also makes savory macarons, for example, with Dorblu cheese, a type of blue cheese, and nuts.

Initially Mazurenko rented a production space and later set up a kitchen at home. This allows her to combine her work at Fazer with developing her own brand while leaving more time for her personal life.

Looking ahead, Mazurenko plans to expand her menu by adding Medivnyk and the classic Kyiv cake, made with nut meringue layers and buttercream.

She says that pastry-making is more than a profession or a business.

“The most important moment is when someone tastes a dessert and smiles. When they later return to that flavor in their memories. That’s when I understand why I do this.”