Chimney cake - Kurtos Kalacs

I first came across these unusually shaped buns when we traveled to Hungary. And they were not just shaped unusually. They were cooked in an unusual way too - on the charcoal, just as you would do a kebab on a stick. But for these cakes the sticks were more like thick pieces of wood (or giant rolling pins). The cook had to make sure the sticks constantly rotate, so that you do not end up with one side being burnt and the other still being raw. Bottom line: one needs a lot of special expertise (and equipment) to make chimney cakes at home. Or so I thought at the time...

However, the taste of a chimney cake really hit me. The dough is very soft, with nice cinnamon, nutty and caramel flavours. After trying them once I seriously focused my mind on how I could replicate this recipe in home conditions. Luckily, a friend of mine came up with a simple solution (and simplicity is always a sign of genius!). I tried her suggestion - and the result was, well, nearly as good as the original. So I am happy to share this treat with you!

The recipe itself is taken from the blog Joepastry. I have very slightly adapted it.

Chimney cake - Kurtos Kalacs

Recipe

Dough:
1 3/4 cups of AP flour
2 tsp of instant dry yeast
2 Tbsp of sugar
1/8 tsp salt
2 egg yolks
42 g of melted butter
125 ml of warm milk
oil for greasing the moulds

Topping:
60 g ground roasted walnuts
1/2 cup of sugar
2 tsp of cinnamon

First of all you will need to make chimney cake moulds. To do that cut the carton which is in the middle of your paper towel roll into 2 parts (each about 11 cm long). After a few experiments with different lengths I found that 11 cm works perfectly for a standard oven. Wrap each cylinder in kitchen foil. Like that:

For this recipe you will need 6 moulds. Once the moulds are ready, grease them in oil.

Now we can start making the dough. Dissolve yeast in milk, let stand for about 20 minutes. Add all other ingredients and knead the dough for about 10 minutes. Put it in a bowl and let rise in warm place till it doubles in size.

Divide the dough into 6 equal pieces. Roll each piece into a very long ribbon (about 40-50 cm long). Take your mould and wrap the ribbon along it, creating a spiral. Repeat the same with other pieces.

Combine all the ingredients for topping and spread the mixture on a shallow plate (or on a chopping board). Roll each cylinder in the mixture, so that topping sticks to the dough. Put all the cylinders vertically on a baking tray, let stand for 10 minutes, then bake in a pre-heated to 180C oven for approximately 15-20 minutes.

I had to turn the cylinders upside down once half-through the baking, as the tops started to brown, and the bottoms were still raw.

Cool them for a few minutes. The cakes come off the molds easily.

Enjoy!