These vegan chimney cakes (Kürtöskalács in Hungarian or Trdelník in Czech) are a delicious soft and fluffy sweet yeast bread with a crispy cinnamon sugar exterior. Their hollow, cylindrical shape gives them the name ‘chimney’. It's easy to make this traditional street food at home using empty drinks cans!
What Are Chimney Cakes?
The chimney cake, known as Kürtőskalács in Hungarian, Trdelník in Czech and Baumstriezel in German, is a distinctive spiral-shaped yeasted pastry traditionally cooked on a spit over hot coals. Once baked, it forms a hollow, golden-brown tube that resembles a chimney—hence the name (kürtőskalács literally translates to ‘chimney cake’).
It is formed by wrapping strips of sweetened dough around a cylindrical wooden spit, rolling the dough in sugar then rotating it over hot coals. As it bakes, the outer layer caramelises, creating a crispy, golden-brown crust, while the inside remains soft and fluffy.
Once cooked it can be rolled in various different toppings such as cinnamon sugar, chopped nuts, cocoa or coconut, then torn into strips to eat. Some modern versions form the dough into a cone rather than a tube and are filled with toppings such as chocolate, ice cream or whipped cream.
It originated in Hungarian communities in Transylvania (now part of Romania) and dates back centuries.
While traditional recipes contain eggs and dairy, it is an easy recipe to veganise using my vegan sweet bread dough recipe.
Ingredient Details:
Bread flour: White bread flour helps to give these vegan chimney cakes their soft, fluffy, chewy texture. Plain (all-purpose) flour will also work. I don’t recommend using wholemeal flour as that will make the bread too dense.
Instant yeast: I always prefer to use instant yeast when making bread as it can just be added straight to the flour and doesn’t need to be activated first.
Salt: You simply cannot make good bread without salt. Don’t omit it.
Non-dairy milk: Soy milk is always my favourite for baking as it has the highest protein content so most closely resembles dairy milk. Any variety of non-dairy milk will work however, but go for an unsweetened one if you can, and definitely soy milk if you have it.
Sugar: I use caster sugar both in the dough and for rolling the chimney cakes in. Granulated sugar is also fine.
Vegan butter: A block style butter such as Flora plant butter or Naturli vegan block really is best. A spreadable one will work but your dough may be softer and therefore harder to work with.
Cinnamon: Optional for rolling the baked chimney cakes in.
Bicarbonate of soda: As the dough does not get a second prooving time, adding a little bit of bicarb (baking soda) helps to give it a bit of extra lift in the oven. You can safely omit it if you don't have any.
Empty drinks cans: To shape the chimney cakes I use empty, foil wrapped drinks cans. Use taller cans such as Red Bull or beer cans rather than shorter Coke can style ones. You will need 5 cans, maybe 4 if you are using larger sized cans. Make sure that they have been rinsed out thoroughly before use!
How To Make Vegan Chimney Cakes:
(Full measurements and instructions can be found in the recipe card at the bottom of the page)
- Step 1: To make the dough, mix the bread flour, yeast, salt and sugar in the bowl of a stand mixer. Add the milk and vanilla and mix to form a shaggy dough.
- Step 2: knead for 5-10 minutes until smooth and elastic then add the butter.
- Step 3: The dough will be very greasy and sticky at first but keep kneading and the butter will all incorporate and the dough will become smooth. It will still be fairly sticky however.
- Step 4: Shape into a ball, place in an oiled bowl, cover and let rise until doubled.
- Step 5: Roll empty drinks cans up in tin foil and fold over the top and bottom so they are fully encased.
- Step 6: Punch down the risen dough and divide it into 10 pieces. Roll each piece out using your hands into a long, thin rope. Leaving a bit of a gap at the bottom and tucking the end under, start to coil one of the strips of dough around a can.
- Step 7: When you reach the end of the first strip, press the end of another strip into the first end then continue to coil it round until you reach the top of the can. Trim off any excess dough then tuck the end under. Roll the can on the worksurface to flatten the dough slightly.
- Step 8: Lightly brush the dough with melted butter then roll in sugar.
- Step 9: Repeat with the rest of the dough then stand the cans upright and spaced apart on a baking sheet.
- Step 10: Bake for 20 minutes until well browned then brush with more butter and roll in cinnamon sugar.
Top Tips:
USE SCALES. As with all of my baking recipes I really do recommend using the metric measurements with a digital scales rather than the cup conversions. Cups are a wildly inaccurate measuring system and you will get far better, more consistent results using a scale, not to mention that it is also easier and less messy than cups!
Tablespoon and teaspoon measurements are for proper measuring spoons, NOT regular kitchen spoons. A Tablespoon is 15ml and a teaspoon is 5ml and they should be level, not heaped.
Make sure that your yeast isn't out of date! Old yeast can lead to dough that doesn’t rise.
The rising time of the dough will vary depending on how warm it is; on hot days it will rise much faster than on cold ones.
When wrapping the dough strips around the cans, be sure not to pull it too tight otherwise it can tear while baking.
Do not overlap the strips of dough, they should just lay side by side.
I found that oiling the cans before adding the dough caused the strips of dough to slide down the cans a bit so I don't oil mine. This makes it slightly harder to release the chimney cakes but if you just loosen the baked cakes around the top and bottom of the can with a butter knife then they should slide off easily enough.
Instead of forming the dough into long ropes to wrap around the cans, you can also roll the dough out into a large rectangle then use a pizza cutter to cut it lengthwise into strips.
FAQ's:
These vegan chimney cakes go stale very quickly and need to be eaten on the day they are baked, ideally while they are still warm from the oven, so they cannot be baked in advance.
Once it has risen most of the way, the dough can be kept in a covered container in the fridge for 24 hours, ready to assemble and bake the chimney cakes when you want to eat them.
Instead of the drinks cans you can wrap a couple of wooden rolling pins in tin foil and suspend them by the handles over a roasting tin. Rotate them halfway through cooking for even colouring. Make sure that the pins have no plastic parts or anything that can melt in the oven!
Alternatively if you happen to have a set of pastry cones (for making cream horns) then you can use those to make cone shaped chimney cakes which are perfect for filling with things like ice cream!
These chimney cakes need to be eaten as fresh as possible. Any leftovers will keep in an airtight container at room temperature for a day, warm through briefly in the oven before serving to refresh them.
I do not recommend freezing these vegan chimney cakes as the sugar coating may become wet and sticky upon defrosting.
Eat the chimney cakes warm and freshly baked. They are great dipped in vegan Nutella or a mug of thick, Italian-style hot chocolate!
No, I’m afraid that you cannot use gluten free flour. Making gluten free bread is tricky and the entire recipe would need reworking. Gluten free baking is not my area of expertise so I cannot advise you. It is best to use a recipe that is designed to be gluten free rather than trying to adapt a non gluten free recipe.
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Vegan Chimney Cakes (Kürtöskalács)
Equipment
- 5 tall empty drinks cans (such as Red Bull or beer cans)
- Stand mixer with dough hook
- aluminium foil
Ingredients
Dough:
- 350 g (3 cups) white bread flour
- 7 g (2 ¼ teaspoons) instant/fast action yeast
- 40 g (3 ½ Tablespoons) caster or granulated sugar
- ¾ teaspoon salt
- ½ teaspoon bicarbonate of soda (baking soda)
- 200 g (¾ cup + 4 teaspoons) unsweetened non-dairy milk (I use soy)
- 1 Tablespoon vanilla extract
- 40 g (3 Tablespoons) vegan block butter softened
To Coat:
- 50 g (¼ cup) vegan butter melted
- 100 g (½ cup) caster or granulated sugar
Cinnamon Sugar:
- 100 g (½ cup) caster or granulated sugar
- 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
Instructions
- To make the dough, place the bread flour in a large bowl or the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a dough hook, add the yeast to one side and the sugar, salt and bicarbonate of soda to the other, stir to combine.350 g (3 cups) white bread flour, 7 g (2 ¼ teaspoons) instant/fast action yeast, 40 g (3 ½ Tablespoons) caster or granulated sugar, ¾ teaspoon salt, ½ teaspoon bicarbonate of soda (baking soda)
- Add the milk and the vanilla and mix to form a shaggy dough. Knead with the mixer or turn out onto an un-floured surface and knead for 5-10 minutes until smooth and elastic. The dough should be fairly stiff but tacky to the touch.200 g (¾ cup + 4 teaspoons) unsweetened non-dairy milk (I use soy), 1 Tablespoon vanilla extract
- Add the softened vegan butter. Continue to knead until the butter is fully incorporated and the dough is smooth and elastic. It may seem greasy and messy at first but keep kneading and I promise you the butter will all mix in and the dough will become smooth.40 g (3 Tablespoons) vegan block butter
- Once the butter is fully incorporated the dough should look smooth and silky but will be very sticky. If you are kneading by hand, use a bench scraper to scrape it off the worksurface.
- Oil your hands and shape the dough into a ball, place it in a lightly oiled bowl, cover and set aside to rise in a warm spot until doubled in size, about 1-2 hours.
- While the dough is rising, roll the empty drinks cans up in squares of tin foil and fold over the top and bottom so they are fully encased. Try and ensure that the foil doesn't become too crinkled and make sure they can still be stood upright without wobbling.
- Preheat the oven to 200℃/180℃ fan/400℉/gas mark 6.
- Punch down the risen dough and divide it into 10 pieces. Roll each piece out using your hands into a long, thin rope.
- Leaving a couple of centimetres gap at the bottom and tucking the end under, start to coil one of the strips of dough around a can. Don't overlap the dough, the coils should lay side by side, and don't pull the dough too tight otherwise it may tear as it bakes.
- When you reach the end of the first strip of dough, press the end of another strip into the first end then continue to coil it round until you reach the top of the can. Trim off any excess dough then tuck the end under. Roll the can on the countertop to flatten the dough slightly.
- Repeat this process with the rest of the cans then lightly brush the dough with melted butter then roll in the sugar.50 g (¼ cup) vegan butter, 100 g (½ cup) caster or granulated sugar
- Place the wrapped cans standing upright on a baking sheet, make sure they are well spaced apart to give them room to expand in the oven.
- Bake for 20-23 minutes until nicely browned all over. Rotate the cans after 15 minutes to ensure even colouring.
- Mix together the sugar and cinnamon and place it in a wide dish or tray. Brush the hot chimney cakes with more butter then roll them in the cinnamon sugar to coat.100 g (½ cup) caster or granulated sugar, 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
- Allow to cool for a few minutes until they are just cool enough to handle, then use a butter knife to loosen the dough around the very top and bottom of the can before sliding the cakes off. Serve asap.
Notes
- See post above for tips, details and step-by-step photos. If you have a question about the recipe I may have already answered it above!
- USE SCALES. As with all of my baking recipes I really do recommend using the metric measurements with a digital scales rather than the cup conversions. Cups are a wildly inaccurate measuring system and you will get far better, more consistent results using a scale, not to mention that it is also easier and less messy than cups!
- Instead of forming the dough into long ropes to wrap around the cans, you can also roll the dough out on a lightly floured surface into a large rectangle then use a pizza cutter to cut it lengthwise into strips.
- Storage: serve these vegan chimney cakes hot from the oven or within a few hours of baking.
If you tried this recipe let me know how it went! Rate it, leave a comment or tag @domestic_gothess on Instagram and hashtag it #domesticgothess
Michele
Thank you for this recipe! I can't wait to try it. There is a restaurant in Toronto called Eva's Chimney's, you can also find them at the CNE in the food building. They make these on the spot and fill them with reese peanut butter, soft ice cream and or/other toppings. (All Vegan) They are a once a year treat and we all can't wait until we have them again. Now I can make them at home...may be dangerous..Thank you!
Orsi
Hi Hannah. You've made really happy with this recipe. Can't wait to make it with my daughter on Friday. I will report back how it turned out. Thank you for an other great recipe!