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| Type | Spit cake |
|---|---|
| Place of origin | Kingdom of Hungary |
| Region or state |
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| Main ingredients |
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Trdelník (Czech pronunciation:[ˈtr̩dɛlɲiːk]; or rarelytrdlo,trozkol, orchimney cake) is a kind ofspit cake and variant ofKürtőskalács. It is made from dough that is wrapped around a stick, then baked and topped with sugar and walnut mix.
Trdelník has its origins in the northern part of the historicalKingdom of Hungary. In the mid-19th century, it was known as a Slovak dish,[1] and in the 20th century as aMoravian dish.[2][3] A similar pastry was also popular in the Hungarian-speaking part ofTransylvania (in today's Romania), where it is calledkürtőskalács. The wordtrdelník is of Czech-Slovak origin. The root of this word,trdlo, is the name of the wooden tool the cake ingredients are wrapped around during baking (which gives it its traditional hollow shape), and it can also mean "simpleton" in English.
In the 21st century, the confection became popular among tourists in the Czech Republic, Hungary and Slovakia. A variation of trdelník, with ice cream and toppings such as strawberries and chocolate, has been popularized byPrague cafés.[4][5]
Although trdelník is usually presented as a "traditional Czech cake" or "oldBohemian pastry", and mentions ofčeský trdelník ("Czech trdelník") can be found in 20th-century literature,[6] the confection is mostly mentioned in literature as a Slovak or Moravian, not Bohemian dish, and the spread of this dessert in Prague is recognized to have started more recently.[7][8] Trdelník vendors, who have proliferated in Prague since the early 2000s, have been criticised by some locals, including journalistJanek Rubeš, astourist traps that misleadingly present the dish as traditional.[5][9][10]
The production of trdelník has a long tradition in the Slovak town ofSkalica, near the border with the Moravian town ofHodonín. According to local tradition, the recipe was introduced there by the Transylvanian chef, count, and poet József Gvadányi, a retired Hungarian general who lived in the town from 1783 to 1801. The earliest surviving written reference to the pastry appears in a manuscript by Hungarian poetGyula Juhász, who served as a professor at Skalica'sgymnasium.[11]
Skalický trdelník was registered in December 2007 as aprotected geographical indication by theEuropean Commission.[5][12][13]
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