Until my most recent visit to Budspest, I was unaware of the existence of Kürtőskalács – chimney cake. Somehow, it escaped my notice on numerous earlier visits to Hungary. Yet, chimney cakes have been made since at least as early as the fifteenth century.

Strips of dough are wrapped around a metal cylinder to form a helix. The dough on the cylinder is baked on a rotating spit above a source of heat – traditionally glowing charcoal. It is basted as it iscooked, and then often dipped in sugar or other tasty particles that adhere to its surface.

When baked, the hollow cylindrical cake is removed from the cylinder, and is ready for eating.