ElfyChimney Cake (or Kürtőskalács in Hungarian) is a popular pastry unique to Hungarian-speaking regions, particularly Szekler Land (Székelyföld in Hungarian). It’s available at festivals, funfairs, beach, and even street carts.
The first known recipe for chimney cake comes from Transylvania and was published in 1784 in the cookbook of Countess Mária Mikes of Zabola. It is no mention of any kind of sweetening in the preparation. In the first half of the twentieth century, the Székelys developed the current, most commonly baked variant of chimney cake.
| Prep time | Cook Time | Rest Time | Total Time |
|---|---|---|---|
| 20 min | 20 min | 60 min | 100 min |
The chimney cake is baked over embers in Transylvania. Before rolling up the dough, lightly oil the baking pin so that the cake can be easily slipped off the wood once baked. It should also be fried over coals and occasionally splattered with hot butter or oil. Roll in sugar the cak, then bake e over the embers so that the sugar melts and forms a glaze (caramel) on top. Then remove it from the baking pin.
Traditionally, the hot chimney cake is rolled in ground walnuts, but there are now many other options, such as coconut, cinnamon, almond, and cocoa, to name a few.
Ingredients
Dough & Topping
Baking
Instructions
Dissolve the yeast in 50ml lukewarm milk with a pinch of sugar.
Sift the room temperature flour into a mixing bowl and whisk in 1 whole egg, the egg yolks, the remaining sugar, dissolved yeast, and the remaining milk.
Combine all of the ingredients and begin kneading. When the dough begins to come loose from the bowl, add the melted butter and knead for more 10 minutes.
Cover with a clean kitchen towel and then let the dough rise for 1 hour or until doubles in size in a warm place.
Meanwhile prepare the beer cans. Cover them with alufoil to not be in touch with the dough, the paint from the beer can can be poisoning when is in the oven.
Cover the alufoil with baking paper.Roll out the dough to about 0.5 cm thick on a floured pastry board and cut into 2 cm wide strips. Wrap the rolls around the prepared beer cans (like a spiral), leaving the ends of can empty.
Line up the dough strip layers as closely as possible, even overlapping them.While winding, try to stretch the dough as thinly as possible without excessing it.
When is done, roll each chimney cake on the board to flatten and even out the dough.Brush melted butter on the chimney cakes. Roll them in sugar and place them standing in baking pan lined with parchment paper.
Bake at 200°C / 392°F for about 15-20 minutes or until golden brown.After they are baked, while they are hot brush them lightly with melted butter, and roll them in grounded walnuts, or coconut, cocoa, almond or cinnamon, as you prefer.
Let the chimney cakes cool for a few minutes, then you can remove the beer cans and baking paper.
Wrap them in cellophane so they won’t dry out. Best to eat while they are still warm.Enjoy, Good Appetite!
