Kürtőskalács - Hungarian Chimney Cake

Kürtőskalács or Hungarian Chimney Cake is one of the most delicious sweet street food you can enjoy when visiting my home country. It originated in Transylvania from the areas which are mainly populated by Transylvanian-Hungarians. It is an interesting and less-known fact, that it is the traditional appetiser for weddings, baked by the women of the family over ember, but it became a popular street food anywhere where Hungarians live, be it the home country or other corners of the world.

It is the best when it is enjoyed fresh, on its own, but modern days brought creative serving options, so certain street food trucks also offer them them with fillings, such as ice cream, custard, cream, sauces, fruits, sprinkles or other toppings.

Far from home it is not easy to source this deliciousness fresh -unless of course there is another Hungarian who is selling them from a food truck in your new country of residence-, so for ambitious home bakers I truly suggest trying to prepare it at home the traditional way, or alternatively in the oven.

Ingredients

Dough

300 g flour
125 ml milk
20 g fresh yeast
50 g sugar
30 g butter, melted
1 pinch of salt

Coating

Oil
Sugar

Toppings

Cinnamon sugar
Walnut-sugar
Desiccated, shredded coconut
Freeze dried fruits, crushed

Instructions

Dough

Sift the flour
Warm up the milk until it's lukewarm, add a pinch of sugar and crumble the yeast into it. Let it activate in about 5 minutes. It is good when the yeast comes on the top of the milk and it looks bubbly or foamy. When it's ready pout into the middle of the flour.
Mix the butter, sugar, salt and eggs in a separate bowl, then add the mixture to the flour.
Use a hand mixer to knead a smooth dough. It is good when it comes off clean from the walls of the mixing bowl.
Let the dough rise in an oiled bowl that you cover for 30-60 minutes (it depends on the yeast + the temperature in your kitchen). It is ready when it doubles in size.
Roll the dough to about half a cm thickness, use a knife or a rolling cutter to cut it into 2 cm stripes which are ideally as long as they will fully cover the form you will use to bake the chimney cakes on.
Now, there are two ways to continue.

Baking over ember

For this, you will need the traditional wooden chimney cake baking spits.
If you rarely using these wooden spits (or if they are new), you need to spend some extra time to soak them in oil, as the dry wood absorbs a lot of oil before it is ready.
Once your tools are ready, you will need to prepare a fire that burns into ember. You can bake chimney cakes only on steady ember.
When all of these are ready, and your dough stripes are by the fire you can start the baking process.
Pour some oil into a bowl and by a brush, season one spit.
Roll the dough around it, and make sure the dough-stripes are a little bit overlapping each other.
On a smooth surfaced board roll the dough on the spit while pressing down a little bit, so the cylindrical shape gets a smooth and even surface.
Brush the surface of the dough with oil.
Dip the dough into sugar.
Start baking the chimney cake over the ember, while slowly but continuously spinning the spit, so the chimney cake bakes evenly while the sugar caramelises in the process. When it is evenly golden brown and the sugar caramelised stop baking it.
Until the caramel is fresh and still sticky, roll the chimney cake on the spit into your chosen topping.
Wait a few seconds, then hit the top of the spit onto a board, so the chimney cake can get released from the spit.
Carefully slide it off and place it somewhere to cool down a bit, so it is not super hot, but make sure to eat it warm!
Repeat the process to bake the rest of the chimney cakes. If you are baking them as a group, you can bake multiple at the same time.

Baking in the oven

For this, you will need 500 ml beer cans or cylindrical baking molds.
Pour some oil into a bowl and by a brush, season one can.
Roll the dough around it, and make sure the dough-stripes are a little bit overlapping each other.
On a smooth surfaced board roll the dough on the spit while pressing down a little bit, so the cylindrical shape gets a smooth and even surface.
Brush the surface of the dough with oil.
Dip the dough into sugar.
Repeat this with the rest of the chimney cakes (or as much as fits into your oven at a time).
Place the chimney cakes onto a lined baking tray and place them into the oven pre-heated to 200 C.
Bake them for about 20 minutes while turning them around in every 5 minutes, so the dough bakes evenly and the sugar can caramelise.
Until the caramel is fresh and still sticky, roll the chimney cake on the can into your chosen topping.
Wait a few seconds, then carefully slide the chimney cakes off the cans.
Place them somewhere to cool down a bit, so it is not super hot, but make sure to eat it warm!
Repeat the process to bake the rest of the chimney cakes.