On the night before Budapest’s annual St. Stephen’s Day late last month which draws 1 million or so people to the banks of the Danube River, we took an evening stroll through Budapest. It was within my first few hours in the city, so it includes a night view of Buda Castle, my first sighting of it in all its glory. As we walk through the city from the river’s edge to the top of Buda Castle, we talk about the origin of the infamous Kurtos Kalacs found frequently in Eastern Europe.
Kürtős kalács or Kürtőskalács is a Hungarian pastry also known as chimney cake, a stove cake or Hungarian wedding cake. It is baked on a tapered cylindrical spit over an open fire. Originally from Transylvania, it is famous as Hungary’s oldest pastry. They are sold in bakeries, pastry shops and more frequently street vendors sell them on street corners, carnivals and fairs. We purchased ours at the top of the castle where they had various flavors available, including kakeo (cacao), vanilla, Fajef (cinnamon), Kokusz (coconut), Dio (walnut), Aforya (blueberry) and Meggy (sour cherry).
The pastry consists of a thin yeast pastry ribbon wound around a wooden cylinder, heavily sprinkled with sugar, thus becoming a helix shaped cylindrical pastry or a pastry roll that sometimes tapers very slightly towards the end. It is then baked on a hand-turned, tapered, wooden spit, rolled slowly on the wooden cylinder above an open fire. The dough is yeast-raised, flavored with sweet spices, the most common being cinnamon, topped with walnuts or almonds, and sugar.
The sugar is caramelized on the kürtöskalács surface, creating a sweet, crisp crust. Kürtős kalács originates from Transylvania, a historical region in present-day Romania with a sizable Hungarian population and its name derives from the Hungarian word kürtő that refers to chimney. Below are a few videos talking about and showing the dessert.
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Part II:
Renee Blodgett is the founder of We Blog the World. The site combines the magic of an online culture and travel magazine with a global blog network and has contributors from every continent in the world. Having lived in 10 countries and explored nearly 80, she is an avid traveler, and a lover, observer and participant in cultural diversity.
She is also the CEO and founder of Magic Sauce Media, a new media services consultancy focused on viral marketing, social media, branding, events and PR. For over 20 years, she has helped companies from 12 countries get traction in the market. Known for her global and organic approach to product and corporate launches, Renee practices what she pitches and as an active user of social media, she helps clients navigate digital waters from around the world. Renee has been blogging for over 16 years and regularly writes on her personal blog Down the Avenue, Huffington Post, BlogHer, We Blog the World and other sites. She was ranked #12 Social Media Influencer by Forbes Magazine and is listed as a new media influencer and game changer on various sites and books on the new media revolution. In 2013, she was listed as the 6th most influential woman in social media by Forbes Magazine on a Top 20 List.
Her passion for art, storytelling and photography led to the launch of Magic Sauce Photography, which is a visual extension of her writing, the result of which has led to producing six photo books: Galapagos Islands, London, South Africa, Rome, Urbanization and Ecuador.
Renee is also the co-founder of Traveling Geeks, an initiative that brings entrepreneurs, thought leaders, bloggers, creators, curators and influencers to other countries to share and learn from peers, governments, corporations, and the general public in order to educate, share, evaluate, and promote innovative technologies.
