I·ATE Food Term: the world of Trdelník

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This week, we are going to Central Europe with Spit cakes, a generic terms that refers to cakes made in a similar way and that are eaten for celebrations such as weddings or Christmas.
Among the Spit cakes family, you can find Spettekaka, Trdelnik,  Baumkuchen and Kurtosfank.
Nowadays, they are very well known among tourists as a  popular street food: as they are sold when ready-made, they are eaten when they are still warm, and are delicious and enjoyable treat to cheer some cold Central Europe days!
Even if they are all prepared in a similar way (lyers of dough or batter are deposited, one at a time, onto a tapered cylindrical rotating spit and baked by an open fire), they present some differences, which we will explore today in our I·ATE Food Term.

 

trdelnik banner

 

  • Trdelník

Found in several countries of Central Europe and very popular in Czech Republic, it is made from rolled dough that is wrapped around a stick, grilled and topped with sugar and walnut mix.

  • Kürtőskalács

Specific to Hungary and Hungarian-speaking regions in Romania, called Baumstrizel  in Austria, Switzerland and Germany, the cake is made from raised dough, wraped around a truncated con-shaped baking spit and rolled in granulated sugar. You can see here how it’s done!

Kürtőskalács,_2

 

  • Spettekaka

Dessert of the southern part of Sweden, its name literally means “cake on the spit”, describing the way it’ cooked. The cake is made of a mixture of eggs, potato starch flour and sugar. Then, it is put on a skewer that will be rotated over an open fire or gas flames.

Spettekaka_cake._Taken_at_70th_birthday_party_in_Osby,_Sweden

  • Baumkuchen

Baumkuchen is from Germany. The main ingredients are eggs, sugar and wheat flour and it can be covered with sugar or chocolate glaze.

Baumkuchen,dresden,Deutschland

 

  • Šakotis

Šakotis in Lithuania, sękacz in Poland, this spit cake is also made with butter, eggs, flour, sugar and cream, cooked on a rotating spit in an oven. It’s name, “branched tree”, is due to it’s conical shape, like a pine tree.

 

Hoping you enjoyed this Food Term of the Week, see you next week with another mouth-wathering article!

 

Sources:

  • Kürtőskalács, available here,[accessed on 19/01/2018]
  • Spettekaka, available here, [accessed on 19/01/2018]
  • Baumkuchen, available here, [accessed on 19/01/2018]
  • Baumkuchen, available here, [accessed on 19/01/2018]
  • Šakotis, available here, [accessed on 19/01/2018]

 

Written by

Anaïs Gilkin  Terminology Trainee at TermCoord, she has a Bachelor’s degree in Translation and Interpreting, an MA in Translation and Terminology Studies and a Master of Science in Education from the Université catholique de Louvain, Belgium. Very interested in international politics, she focused her MA dissertation on Sharia and its impact on Muslim women. She knows French, English, Spanish and a bit of German and Dutch.

and

Carolina Quaranta – Schuman Trainee at the Terminology Coordination Unit of the European Parliament. Master Graduate in Public and Political Communication in the University of Torino, Italy; communication specialist and journalist.