[CLOSED] Chimney Cake

HUNGARY

[UPDATE: CLOSED]

I was a bit surprised to find that Chimney Cake was housed in the ground floor of a new luxury high-rise building, as you might not expect this as the location for a bakery churning out traditional Transylvanian pastries. All the modern amenities aside, it's a pretty enjoyable place to try the one and only food product that is sold, which also happens to be the namesake of the shop.

The lovely woman who somehow seems out of place in this environment is very happy to help and ask questions, and is probably very familiar by now by the looks of wonder at an item that until now has never crossed 99% of her customer's radars, including my own.

The process in getting to these beautiful creations seems pretty simple, the dough is stretched out and wrapped around a special spindle apparatus (below), which she then hangs. I am not sure if this is for display or if the dough needs a brief amount of air, but the way the shop is set up to show you all of this is quite nice.

The spindle with the dough attached is then put into her custom oven and out emerges the perfectly toasted kürtőskalács ($4, below), crisp on the outside and pillowy soft on the inside. There is then a little preparation area where she can add almonds, sugar, or coconuts to your order.

I chose coconut and was very happy with the selection. The cake was fresh from the oven and very nice while still hot.

The tube that is created is a lot of the fun, even if the bread would be just as delicious in a flat form. But eating this requires you to uncoil it, and that adds to the experience for sure. The pastry is large enough that your $4 is probably going to fill you up for a while, making this a great place to stop by in the morning for breakfast and a coffee before work or a lazy weekend day.

When she is not taking an order, you can watch this whole process go down, from dough making, wrapping around the spindle, baking, and cooling. If you come here, plan to eat in and enjoy the creation process.

LONG ISLAND CITY Queens
10-50 Jackson Avenue