Kürtőskalács comes from Székely Land in Transylvania, the home of the Hungarian speaking Székely people, and the earliest known recipe appears in a Transylvanian cookbook written by Countess Mária Mikes in 1784. A long ribbon of enriched yeast dough is wrapped round a tapered wooden spit, rolled in sugar and turned slowly over glowing charcoal, basted with butter until the sugar melts into a glossy, crackling crust. Kürtő means stovepipe, and when the finished cake is slid off the spit and stood on its end, steaming from the top, the name explains itself.

Today it is street food wherever Hungarian is spoken, sold hot from stalls at fairs, Christmas markets and festivals, and torn apart in spirals as you walk. At home, a foil wrapped rolling pin balanced over a roasting pan stands in for the spit, and the oven does a respectable impression of the charcoal. The cake should be eaten within the hour, which has never once been a problem.

The dough

Ingredients

• 3 3/4 cups (475 g) all purpose flour
• 2 1/4 teaspoons (7 g) instant yeast
• 1/4 cup (50 g) sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon fine salt
• 3/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons (210 ml) whole milk
• 1 large egg
• 2 large egg yolks
• 5 tablespoons (70 g) unsalted butter
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Method

1. In the large bowl, stir together the flour, yeast, sugar and salt. Add the warm milk, egg, egg yolks, melted butter and vanilla, and stir with a spoon and then your hand until everything comes together into a soft dough.
2. Turn the dough onto a lightly floured counter and knead for 8 to 10 minutes, pushing it away with the heel of your hand and folding it back. Add flour only a teaspoon at a time if it really sticks.
3. Put the dough back into the bowl, cover and leave it somewhere warm for about 1 hour.

Wrapping and baking

Ingredients

• 6 tablespoons (85 g) unsalted butter
• 3/4 cup (150 g) granulated sugar

Method

1. Heat the oven to 375°F (190°C) with a rack in the lower middle position. Wrap each wooden rolling pin tightly in two layers of foil, leaving about 2 inches (5 cm) at each end bare to hold on to. Brush the foil generously with melted butter. Spread the sugar on one tray.
2. Punch the dough down and divide it into 4 pieces. Roll one piece on a floured counter into a long rectangle about 1/4 inch (6 mm) thick. Using the ruler and the pizza wheel, cut it into one long continuous strip about 3/4 inch (2 cm) wide; if it breaks, simply pinch the ends together.
3. Press one end of the strip onto the buttered foil near one end of a pin. Turn the pin with one hand and guide the dough with the other, so it winds round in a spiral with each turn slightly overlapping the last. Leave space for a second cake on the same pin, and wind a second strip there. Gently roll the covered pin on the counter so the spirals stick to each other.
4. Brush the dough all over with melted butter, then roll the pin in the tray of sugar, pressing lightly so the dough is thickly coated. Repeat the cutting, winding and sugaring with the remaining dough on the second pin.
5. Rest the pins across the roasting pan so the dough hangs freely above the bottom, and put the pan in the oven. Bake for 20 to 25 minutes, using oven mitts to give each pin a quarter turn every 5 minutes so all sides brown evenly. Brush with a little melted butter at the halfway point.
6. Lift a pin out, hold it upright by the bare end over a tray, and gently twist and slide each cake off with a clean towel or oven mitt. Stand the cakes on the rack.

The toppings

Ingredients

• 1 cup (100 g) walnuts
• 1/4 cup (50 g) sugar
• 1/4 cup (50 g) sugar
• 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon

Method

1. While the cakes bake, mix the ground walnuts with 1/4 cup sugar on one plate, and the cinnamon with the other 1/4 cup sugar on a second plate.
2. As soon as each cake comes off its pin, roll it in one of the toppings while the caramel is still sticky, pressing gently. Do half with walnut and half with cinnamon.

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