• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • twigg studios

    a british baking blog

    • Home
    • BLOG
    • WORKSHOPS
    • SHOP
    • PORTFOLIO
    • Contact
    • hire me
    • ABOUT ME
    • NEWSLETTER
    February 5, 2022

    Chimney cakes Kürtöskalács

    baking, recipe

    Hungarian chimney cakes or Kürtöskalács, are made from a sweet yeasted dough that is wrapped around cylinder moulds and then cooked.

    I believe they have got the English name chimney cakes because when they are removed from the moulds you can see steam coming the middle of them which looks like smoke from a chimney. When making these you will see that, they really do look like smoking chimneys.

    They can be made at home using tin cans or rolling pins as the mould and baked in the oven.

    If you have travelled to Prague or Budapest then you would have most defiantly seen these being cooked in shops along the streets.

    I saw Trdelnik, which is what they are known as in Prague when i went with my grandma a few years ago. The smell of the sweet dough wafting around the city was amazing.

    The warmth from the heaters they use to cook them was a good excuse to stop and warm up. I enjoyed standing there and watching them being made.

    I found this post about Kürtöskalács if you want to find out more.

    I was really excited when i saw a recipe for them in Irina Georgescu’s book Carpathia. It is a really beautiful book full of wonderful Romanian recipes.

    The authors father travelled to Transylvania for work when she was a child and he would return with food, often these cakes and other sweet treats. so she has found memories of these, I’m so glad she included them.

    I can see why as the yummy buttery dough that is covered in walnuts and sugar is so good.

    chimney cakes
    chimney cakes rep

    The chimney cakes i saw being sold in Prague were served with all kinds of fillings and toppings, like chocolate sauce or ice cream.

    The process of making them is fun, I used cola cans wrapped in baking paper as i didn’t have any foil.

    Taller cans would make them a more traditional length. I have seen some being made at home using a rolling pin covered in foil also.

    rolling dough
    chimney cakes
    chimney cakes

    The recipe

    The recipe from Irina Georgescu’s first book full of recipes from the heart of Romania, called Carpathia.

    Its a really wonderful book with so many delicious looking recipes, i highly recommend it.

    These are best eaten while warm, i love them with some Nutella or honey, but you can have what ever you fancy.

    I had some leftovers and warmed them up the next day in the microwave for a few seconds and they were still delicious.

    To ensure they were evenly baked this time i turned them over after 15 minutes, i didn’t do this the first time i made them.

    I used unsalted butter, so i added some salt to the dough when i made them.

    chimney cakes

    Hungarian chimney cakes

    Irina Georgescu
    Sweet yeasted dough baked in rings and covered in sugar and walnuts.
    Print Recipe Pin Recipe
    Prep Time 1 hr 30 mins
    Cook Time 20 mins
    Course Dessert, Snack
    Cuisine european
    Servings 6

    Equipment

    • 6 Tin cans, like tall beer or soft drink cans, (smaller ones are ok for smaller chimney cakes)
    • tin foil or baking paper to wrap them brushed with melted butter (20g (3/4 oz)

    Ingredients
      

    For the dough

    • 3 eggs
    • 50g (2 oz) golden caster sugar
    • 80g (3oz) butter melted
    • 600g (1 lb 5 oz) plain flour
    • 220ml (7 1/2 fl oz) milk lukewarm
    • 14g (1/2 oz) fast action yeast

    For the coating

    • 150g (5 oz) golden caster sugar
    • 100g (3 1/2 oz) walnuts finely chopped
    • 1 tsp vanilla
    • 100g (3 1/2 oz) butter melted

    Instructions
     

    To make dough

    • Briefly whisk the eggs, sugar and melted butter together. Sieve in the flour and add the milk and yeast. Knead the dough for about 8-10 minutes until smooth, then cover and set aside to rise in a warm place for 1 hour. (note – i used unsalted butter so i added a tsp of salt)
    • Wrap each emptied drink can in a sheet of kitchen foil. Twist the excess foil at one end to create a handle then brush the foil with butter. (I ran out of foil so i used baking paper)
    • Divide the dough into 6 balls and roll each into a 5mm-(in-) thick rectangle.
      Cut into 4cm- (1½in-) wide strips. Carefully wrap strips of dough around one of the prepared cans in a spiral, slightly overlapping them as you go. (see video on post)
      You will most certainly need to stick strips together in order to go all the way down the length of the can. Repeat with the remaining dough strips.
    • Preheat the oven to 200°C/400°F/gas mark 6 and line a baking sheet with non-stick baking paper.

    Adding the walnut/sugar mix and baking

    • Combine the sugar with the walnuts and vanilla in a shallow dish. (i chopped mine in a food processor)
      Brush the dough-spirals with half of the melted butter, then roll in the sugar and walnut mixture.
      Place onto the lined baking sheet and bake for 10 minutes. Carefully remove from the oven and brush with the remaining butter, and again roll in the sugar and walnut mix.
      Bake for a further 10 minutes, or until golden brown.
      Leave to cool on a wire rack for 5 minutes, then gently push the spirals off the cans. Serve warm with a large cup of coffee and chocolate sauce if you wish.
    Keyword Chimney cakes
    prague

    A photo from when i visited Prague with my grandma back in January 2020. I loved the misty moodiness that enveloped the city.

    chimney cakes

    The ceramics were a gifted product from farmhouse pottery, and the pretty white overalls are from Saint Martén

    You might also like

    • Brown butter gingerbread cookie box

      Brown butter gingerbread and edible cookie box

    • Pumpkin ricotta gnocchi

    • marmalade

      Clementine and Whisky marmalade

    baking, chimney cake, dough, Kürtöskalács, recipe, sweet

    SIGN UP TO GET MY NEWSLETTER

    OLDER
    NEWER

    Primary Sidebar

    Hi there, I'm Aimee

    A food and photography lover. Welcome to Twigg studios. If you would like to find out more about me then head to my bio.

    LOOKING FOR SOMETHING?

    Sign up for my free visual storytelling guide

    Categories

    • baking (69)
    • cake (25)
    • dinner (12)
    • pasta (10)
    • photography (1)
    • recipe (172)
    • sweet (44)
    • tips (6)
    • Travel (6)
    • Uncategorized (827)

    On the cover of Where woman cook

    Visit Twiggstudios's profile on Pinterest.

    Recent Posts

    • A weekend at The lost music hall with Unique homestays
    • Beetroot rose tart
    • Chimney cakes Kürtöskalács
    • Gingerbread choux bun wreath
    • Brown butter gingerbread and edible cookie box

    Instagram Slider

    • Sharing an old photo from a few years ago in Provence, because I like it. Such fond memories of that week. That floor was crying out to be photographed. I love anything lemon flavoured, it’s such a delicious fruit. It’s one of my favourite things to bake with. Citrus season is so colourful, I’m sad it’s almost coming to an end. What is your favourite citrus fruit? I have a few beautiful Sicilian lemons at the moment, I’m going to use them to remake the cheesecake to check my recipe. The last one got demolished so quickly. I hope you
    • I baked this lemon meringue topped mascarpone cheesecake at the weekend, and I have to say it was so delicious, I ate quite a few slices. It was so light and airy and the tartness of the lemon curd on the top went so well with the creamy mascarpone cheesecake layer. I can’t wait to share the recipe, but I will make it again just to check that I have the quantities and timings right. It’s a baked cheesecake, but a really easy one, baked at a low temperature. I thought I would try a different shot than usual, it
    • Hope you had an ‘egg’cellent weekend. sorry I couldn’t help myself. It’s a bank holiday here in the U.K. so I spent the afternoon at the beach with my brothers and our dogs. I’m exhausted now, it must be the sea air. I hope your week has started well. I thought I would dig this old photo out from a few years ago when I was in Australia with @georgie_dolling and @joefilshie #easter #still_life_nature #still_life_gallery #seasonalsimplicity #chasinglight #eggs #lifeandthyme #verilymoment #springtime #naturephotography
    • Elderflower season. I love their heady musky scent. I always look forward to this time of year. I went out and picked a basket of them yesterday and I have been baking with them today. I was inspired to take some quick photos of them in the basket. There are so many things that you can do make them. I will share the recipe of what I made soon. I did a video for it, but it takes me forever to edit as my computer is so slow I hope that you will have a lovely weekend. #elderflowers #basketbythedoor #edibleflowers
    • Making some pasta and had to take a moment to appreciate these beautiful eggs. I love all the different colour shells. The sun is out today and it’s wonderful, it really feels like spring. I hope you are having a wonderful week. #eggs #seasonalsimplicity #flatlaystyle #still_life_gallery #hautecuisines #foodfluffer #foodphotography #onvtable #f52grams #bonappetit
    • I hope you are having a relaxing weekend. This photo from a few weeks ago sums up my Sunday mood. Lounging around eating yummy things. I spent yesterday making a new recipe video, I will share it tomorrow. It involves roasted strawberries and creme fraiche. I’m quite excited about it, it feels a bit different to my other videos. I must admit that I am enjoying learning something new. I steered clear of video for so long. I still have so much to learn but it’s nice to try new things, even if posting it here is like posting into
    • Back in March we had a little weekend escape with @uniquehomestays We stayed at “the lost music hall” hidden in the south hams valley in Devon. Forgotten for years it had been reclaimed by nature, before being lovingly restored. The music room, complete with its very own Piano takes up the whole of the bottom floor. The house was enormous, I felt quite tiny wondering around it. The place was absolutely beautiful. Oak parquet floors and panelled walls gleam from the sun coming through the large windrows. You know I love a kitchen, what do you think of this one?
    • An old photo from a trip to puglia a few years ago. I’m sharing it again today as I had a dream about it last night. In it I was there eating Taralli. Those little crackers are so addictive, have you tried them? Most of my dreams involve food I have eaten or want to eat. My jaw hit the floor when walked into this place. I especially loved this corner. that beautiful sink and the curved ceilings!. I have a bit of a soft spot for kitchens and I thought you might enjoy seeing it as well. This kitchen
    • The last slice. Lemon meringue cheesecake recipe. Base 200g digestive biscuits (or any you like) 75g butter, plus a little for the tin Cheesecake layer 250g mascarpone 200g cream cheese 90g double cream 2 eggs 2 yolks (save egg whites for meringue in a clean bowl) 80g caster sugar Zest of 1 lemon 1 tsp Vanilla bean paste Curd Topping Juice of 2 lemons Zest of one 1 whole egg 1 yolk 65g caster sugar 45g butter Pinch of salt Meringue (approx) 60 egg white 120 g caster sugar Line a 20cm springform cake tin Preheat the oven to 180c
    • An old favourite from last year at @her_dark_materials house. I can’t wait to go and visit again. Ros has the most beautiful garden full of borage. It’s always a joy to cook with it. I love it’s pretty shape and colour. I haven’t baked or photographed much recently so I have nothing new to share. I had planned to make a carrot cake but the time seemed to disappear. I feel a bit lost at the moment and don’t know what to share on here. I have enjoyed experimenting with video, but I feel confused what part of a recipe
    • I have not baked a cake since Christmas, it seems very unlike me. I used to make lots of cakes. I thought you might miss seeing them so here’s one of my favourites I made with @her_dark_materials a while ago. I loved how pretty it was with the wild strawberries from her garden. Ros shared her photo of it again the other day and I thought I would do the same. I really fancy baking one, especially now British strawberries are coming into season. It will probably be something smaller though as it’s just the two of us. I have
    • I haven’t made Ukrainian paska bread before, but I have seen it shared at Easter time each year and thought how delicious it looked. Often it is made in tall deep tins, but I don’t have any tins like that. I saw some smaller braided ones online, so I decided to give that a go. My attempt reminds me of a basket. The dough is similar to a broiche and is made with milk, eggs, butter and sugar. This loaf is flavoured with orange and sultanas that I soaked in the orange juice. It smelt so wonderful baking in the
    • An old shot from this time a few years ago. I’m so excited that the warm spring sunshine is back, as in the evening the light is so beautiful. It makes the most mundane of things like this amaretto biscotti dough look magical. I find that I am exhausted by the time it’s shining perfectly on the table recently though. Hopefully I will have the opportunity to create with it soon as I love harsh light. Pablo has got into the habit of waking me up at a silly time in the morning. By the evening I feel like I
    • Pablo waiting for his cheese dog biscuits. My brothers dog Ralph came to stay over Easter, so on Sunday we made dog biscuits together. I couldn’t get a photo of them both together as they were moving around too much I thought it might end up in disaster but it was really fun. The recipe I used was from @theartoftreat beautiful treat book. it is full of really fun recipes for dogs. I have been wanting to bake from it since Natalia kindly sent me a copy. I highly recommend it, These biscuits were a big hit with them and
    • Elderflowers infusing in milk from my last recipe. I had originally planned to make a panna cotta with it, but then changed my mind and did the clafoutis. A few of you asked questions about what you can do with elderflowers so here are some suggestions. You can make a cordial or syrup, this is the most popular thing to make. It’s really easy, you will find lots of recipes for it online. The cordial can be used in so many things. It would be hard to list them all but here are a few. To flavour cakes, frostings, bakes.
    • I scrolled back and realised I hadn’t shared my frankendessert from the other week. A science experiment really, A cheesecake baked inside a pavlova. I wanted to see if it was possible Turns out it is, but I need to work out a few creases. Apparently it’s world baking day, I had no idea until a moment ago. There are so many different days for things it’s hard to keep up . Though to be honest, I wasn’t actually sure what day of the week it was until a moment ago either. I thought it was Wednesday . I didn’t
    • Have you been busy in the kitchen making any Easter themed bakes? I wish I had chance to make some more delicious breads like this Ukrainian paska bread and some more flowery hot cross buns (swipe to see them), but I have been dog sitting this weekend. I did get to enjoy a shop bought hot cross bun for good Friday yesterday though. It’s been so lovely to see all your flowery hot cross buns. I had wanted to attempt baking some other European Easter breads on the lead up to Easter, there are so many. l wanted to try
    • I have been eating as much wild garlic as I can while the season lasts. It’s such a yummy addition to most of the meals I have been making. I just chop a handful up and add it in. I need to go back and visit this spot with my camera and get another photo as it’s in flower now and looks really beautiful. I usually love to make a pie with it, so that’s my next plan. The flavour gets less intense once it has flowered so you might find you need to add more. I collected a big
    • British Strawberries, Toile de Jouy and a funky plate I found for £2.50 in a charity shop. The beginnings of a vin santo and strawberry parfait/tiramisu number. I hope your week is going well. #strawberries #seasonalsimplicity #flatlatfood #toiledejouy #hauecuisines #foodfluffer
    • Leek and potato Galette experiment for dinner the other day. I wasn’t really sure how this would pan out, but it was a yummy one. It was prettier in my imagination than in real life though. It was a nutty walnut pastry (I need to work on that as my recipe is better baked in a tin as it’s really short and crumbly) with a layer of cheesy béchamel sauce. then I cooked the leeks in some sage butter, and sautéed the thinly sliced potato with some leek and garlic and arranged them on top like a flowers. then baked
    • E-mail
    • Facebook
    • Instagram
    • Pinterest
    • Twitter

    LOOKING FOR SOMETHING?

    Visit Twiggstudios's profile on Pinterest.

    Recent Posts

    • A weekend at The lost music hall with Unique homestays
    • Beetroot rose tart
    • Chimney cakes Kürtöskalács
    • Gingerbread choux bun wreath
    • Brown butter gingerbread and edible cookie box

    HELP

    • HOME
    • ABOUT ME
    • CONTACT ME
    Get in the know.
    Sign up with your email address to receive news and updates.
    As a welcome you will receive my presentation on visual storytelling
    Thank you for subscribing!

    INFO

    • E-mail Me

    twigg studios © 2023 - DESIGNED BY HERPARK STUDIO