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 Wound around a wooden cylinder and baked in an open oven, the chimney cake's recipe and the special technology of its preparation came to Hungary-speaking word from the German-speaking world after 1680, when Rumpolt’s cookbook was translated into Hungarian. There is a documentation of the use of the current Hungarian name from 1723. It was also called stick doughnut, stick coil. These designations are not others, than the loan translations of the German Baumkuchen.
First, the chimney cake got acclimatized in Transylvania. Its Hungarian name, the “kűrtőskalács”, developed also in that region. The inhabitants of Transylvania called them „smoke pipes”, because the shape of the product strongly resembles the funnel of a smoke pipe.
Contemporary notes from Kolozsvár bear witness to the frequent preparation of chimney cake in the larger cities of Transylvania in the 18th century.
The technology of baking, nowadays considered as the recipe of the original chimney cake, was improved in the region of Transylvania in the 19th century. The wooden cylinder required for baking was made of hard beech-wood in that way that the first end had smaller diameter and the second end had larger diameter. A shorter iron rod and a longer one were placed into the middle of the narrower and the thicker end of it, respectively. The shorter iron rod was placed on a holder over the brand. The grip used to revolve the chimney cake in baking over the glowing embers, was worked up on the longer one.
 The popularity of the chimney cake spread quickly from Transylvania to the West. First, it was baked in the region bordering Transylvania, then at the end of the 19th century it was also baked in the market towns. In these market towns, the peasants no longer used wooden funnels or pins, but pieces of dried corn cobs. In this manner, the size of the chimney cakes became smaller. At the beginning of the 20th century, the surface of chimney cake were started to flavour with sugar and walnut. The small roasted, sweetened pieces of walnut made them even more popular. At the beginning of the 20th century, the surface of chimney cake were started to flavour with sugar and walnut. The small roasted, sweetened pieces of walnut made them even more popular.
 The chimney cake from Csík, Kászon, Transdanubium and the small one of the Great Plain can be distinguished based on flavouring ingredients and baking technology. The chimney cake from Csík and Kászon was particularly present at traditional celebrations, such as weddings, christenings and it was baked in honour of important guests. The smaller one of the Great Plain was prepared when the housewives could spare time to struggle with it. No longer in existence, the chimney cake from Transdanubium fried in oil was very popular among the lower nobility community.
In our country, the chimney cake became the symbol of the nourishment culture of Transylvania. It is mainly made by Transylvanian people immigrated to our motherland. |
