Kürtőskalács or kürtős kalács is a Hungarian pastry

Pastry

Pastry is the name given to various kinds of baked products made from ingredients such as flour, sugar, milk, butter, shortening, baking powder and/or eggs. Small cakes, tarts and other sweet baked products are called "pastries."...

 also known as chimney cake, stove cake, or Hungarian wedding cake. It is baked on a tapered cylindrical spit over an open fire. Originally from Transylvania

Transylvania

Transylvania is a historical region in the central part of Romania. Bounded on the east and south by the Carpathian mountain range, historical Transylvania extended in the west to the Apuseni Mountains; however, the term sometimes encompasses not only Transylvania proper, but also the historical...

, it is famous as Hungary's oldest pastry. Kürtőskalács is sold in bakeries and pastry shops, and even street vendors are selling them on street corners, carnivals, and fairs.

Kürtőskalács consists of a thin yeast pastry ribbon wound around a wooden cylinder

Cylinder (geometry)

A cylinder is one of the most basic curvilinear geometric shapes, the surface formed by the points at a fixed distance from a given line segment, the axis of the cylinder. The solid enclosed by this surface and by two planes perpendicular to the axis is also called a cylinder...

, heavily sprinkled with sugar, thus becoming a helix

Helix

A helix is a type of smooth space curve, i.e. a curve in three-dimensional space. It has the property that the tangent line at any point makes a constant angle with a fixed line called the axis. Examples of helixes are coil springs and the handrails of spiral staircases. A "filled-in" helix – for...

-shaped pastry which may taper very slightly towards the end.

The pastry is baked on a hand-turned, tapered, wooden spit, rolled slowly on the wooden cylinder above an open fire. The dough is yeast-raised, flavored with sweet spices, the most common being cinnamon, topped with walnuts or almonds, and sugar. The sugar is caramelized on the kürtöskalács surface, creating a sweet, crisp crust.

Kürtőskalács originates from Transylvania, a historical region in present-day Romania

Romania

Romania is a country located at the crossroads of Central and Southeastern Europe, on the Lower Danube, within and outside the Carpathian arch, bordering on the Black Sea...

 with a sizable Hungarian population

Hungarians in Romania

The Hungarian minority of Romania is the largest ethnic minority in Romania, consisting of 1,431,807 people and making up 6.6% of the total population, according to the 2002 census....

. The name derives from the Hungarian word kürtő that refers to chimney

Chimney

A chimney is a structure for venting hot flue gases or smoke from a boiler, stove, furnace or fireplace to the outside atmosphere. Chimneys are typically vertical, or as near as possible to vertical, to ensure that the gases flow smoothly, drawing air into the combustion in what is known as the...

.

The German Baumkuchen

Baumkuchen

Baumkuchen is a kind of layered cake. It is a traditional dessert in many countries throughout Europe and is also a popular snack and dessert in Japan...

 may be directly related to the kürtőskalács, from which it is said to derive via the Hungarian wedding cake.

See also

• Trdelnik
  Trdelník
  Trdelník is a traditional cake and sweet pastry, from the Slovak town of Skalica. It is made from rolled dough, wrapped around a stick then grilled and topped with sugar and walnut mix.- History :Its production has a long tradition in Skalica...
  
  
• Šakotis
  Šakotis
  Lithuanian Šakotis or Raguolis or Polish sękacz is a popular Lithuanian-Polish traditional cake....
  
  
• Sękacz
• Spettekaka
  Spettekaka
  Spettekaka or spettkaka ") is a local dessert of the southern parts of Sweden, chiefly in the province of Scania but also in Halland...
  
  
• National symbols of Hungary
  National symbols of Hungary
  The national symbols of Hungary are flags, icons or cultural expressions that are emblematic, representative or otherwise characteristic of Hungary or Hungarian culture...
  
  

External links

• Kürtőskalács on a Hungarian food blog
• Béla Kovács, a seller of ovens and supplies for chimney cake bakers
• A photo of a chimney cake for sale by a street vendor in New York City
  New York City
  New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
  
  
• About baumkuchen, including a legend of how the recipe for baumkuchen was brought to Germany from Hungary
• Recipe for Chimney Cake
• Making Kurtoskalacs at YouTube
• Chimney Cake Cambodia
• Kurtos-kalacs: A supplier of ovens, accessories, recipes & training