Budapest Christmas Market Food: Chimney Cake, Mulled Wine and What It All Costs

Chimney cake, or kürtőskalács in Hungarian, is a spit cake from the Hungarians of Transylvania, specifically the Székelys. The first written record dates to 1679, in the village of Úzdiszentpéter, and the first recipe appears in a manuscript cookbook from 1781. It is popular in both Hungary and Romania today, which is why you will see it sold under both names in the two countries.

How it is baked

A strip of sweet yeast dough is wound around a cone-shaped spit, rolled in sugar and roasted over charcoal while basted with butter. The sugar caramelises into a crisp, shiny crust, and the finished cake is coated with walnut, cinnamon or other toppings. The hollow, ribbed shape that gives the cake its chimney name comes straight off the spit.

Modern market stalls also sell filled versions, with the filling piped into the hollow after baking.

The history of the cake, from the 1679 record to the 1781 recipe, is set out in the Wikipedia article on kürtőskalács.

At the markets last season a plain chimney cake cost 2,800-3,200 HUF ($8.48-$9.70). Filled versions, with the cream or chocolate piped inside, ran 3,300-4,500 HUF ($10.00-$13.64). The plain cake with cinnamon or walnut coating is the traditional form and the cheaper one.

The filled version is heavier and turns the dessert into something closer to a full dessert course, which matters if you plan to eat more at the stalls afterwards. Chimney cake shops also trade year-round in the centre, including on Váci utca and by the Basilica on Szent István tér, so you can try one even outside the market season.

The table below compares last season's stall prices at the two downtown markets, the Vörösmarty Square market and the Basilica market, as reported by Hungarian press. The dollar figures use 1 USD = 330 HUF. Market entry is free, so this is what you actually pay for.

Stall prices are reviewed each season and the figures on the stall are the ones that govern.

Prices shift each season, the printed stall price is the number that governs, and this table is a snapshot of last season.

Here is the same price list worked into two realistic evenings, one light and one full. The sums use only the stall figures above, at the lower end of each range.

For a couple, the light evening doubles to about 8,600 HUF ($26.06) and the full dinner to about 23,400 HUF ($70.91). Compare that with a food-inclusive tour: the market walk with treats costs $107.69 per person and includes the chimney cake, mulled wine, snacks, coffee or tea and 2.5 hours with a guide, so the food itself is a small part of what you pay for. The tour buys the story and the route, not a cheaper dinner.

Mulled wine (forralt bor) is the drink of the season at both big markets, at 1,500-1,900 HUF ($4.55-$5.76) a cup last season. Every cup comes in a ceramic mug. You usually hand the mug back for the deposit or keep it as a souvenir, so the same wine has two honest prices depending on whether the mug goes home with you.

If you want to keep drinking past the second cup, there is a cheaper way: the unlimited mulled wine cruise on the Danube serves classic mulled wine plus rosé with raspberry and apple-cinnamon versions, and alcohol-free hot drinks, for $23 a person on a 60-minute cruise past the Parliament and Castle Hill. It is a boat, not a market, but for about the price of four or five market cups you drink as much as you like.

Past the dessert stalls, the markets cook real food. These are the four savoury staples and what they cost.

• Lángos: deep-fried dough, plain at 2,000-2,400 HUF ($6.06-$7.27) or with sour cream and cheese at 3,200 HUF ($9.70). The most filling cheap option on the square.
• Kolbász: grilled Hungarian sausage, 5,500-5,700 HUF ($16.67-$17.27).
• Beef stew (marhapörkölt): 6,500-6,800 HUF ($19.70-$20.61). The warmest thing on the square on a December night when the average low is -1.6°C (29°F).
• Stuffed cabbage (töltött káposzta): about 5,700 HUF ($17.27). A traditional Hungarian dish that families also serve at home on Christmas Eve.

The two big markets sit about a 10-minute walk apart, and December averages about 8.5 hours of daylight with sunset around 16:00, so most people eat earlier than they would in summer. Both markets close at 21:00 or 22:00 on most nights, earlier on holidays, so plan dinner before the last hour.

Chimney cake heads a long dessert table. Strudel (rétes) costs 1,900-2,000 HUF ($5.76-$6.06) a slice, cheaper than the chimney cake and easier to eat while walking. Bejgli, the poppy seed or walnut roll Hungarians bake for Christmas, sold at 6,700 HUF ($20.30) for 500 g last season, which buys a whole roll to take back to the hotel or home in your luggage.

Hot chocolate runs 1,700-3,500 HUF ($5.15-$10.61) depending on how thick and how dressed-up it is. Then there is szaloncukor, the wrapped fondant candies Hungarians hang on the Christmas tree, a tradition since the 19th century. The private e-car tour that pairs the Basilica market with Szentendre hands out szaloncukor in three flavours with a hot drink included, at $99 a person.

Four of the walking tours in this catalog include a chimney cake. The table compares what each ticket costs and what food actually comes with it, so you can see how much of the price is food and how much is the guide, the route and the group size.

The chimney cake and mulled wine you get on any of these walks is worth roughly 4,300-6,400 HUF ($13.03-$19.39) at stall prices, so the rest of the ticket buys the guided route through the lit-up centre, the stories of Hungarian Christmas tradition and, on some walks, entry inside St Stephen's Basilica. The cheapest way to eat at the markets is to go alone, because entry is free and a light evening costs about $13. The cheapest food-inclusive guided walk is the three-market tour at $55.

The most expensive, at $165, buys a certified guide, a Basilica visit and a group capped at 14 travellers, which is a reasonable trade if you value the guide more than the food. Budapest Christmas market tour prices for every listing in the catalog sit on the homepage, so you can line them up against a DIY evening before you book. For a non-market format, the unlimited mulled wine cruise at $23 remains the cheapest way to drink at Budapest Christmas prices.

The market stalls borrow from a home table. In Hungarian tradition gifts arrive on the evening of 24 December, brought by Jézuska, the infant Jesus, rather than Santa Claus, and 24 December is the main family evening, which is why shops close in the early afternoon and the markets shut by 14:00 or 15:00 that day.

• Fish soup (halászlé): the paprika-rich river fish soup that opens the Christmas Eve table in many Hungarian homes.
• Fried fish: the second fish dish of the holiday table.
• Stuffed cabbage (töltött káposzta): the same dish the market stalls ladle out at about 5,700 HUF ($17.27), served at home as a festive centrepiece.
• Bejgli: the poppy seed or walnut roll that ends the meal, the same roll the stalls sell at 6,700 HUF ($20.30) for 500 g.
• Szaloncukor: wrapped fondant candies hung on the Christmas tree.

On 25-26 December most shops close and many traditional restaurants shut too, so hotel restaurants and some places in the centre serve holiday menus and book up ahead. The two big markets stay open those days on shorter hours, Vörösmarty from 12:00 to 18:00 and the Basilica from 11:00 to 20:00, which makes them the most reliable places to eat a Hungarian dish on the holidays themselves.

Hungary uses the forint, and the conversion used throughout this page is 1 USD = 330 HUF. Most market stalls take cards, but carry some cash for small stalls. Entry to every Christmas market in the city is free, so the food budget above is your whole variable cost.

If you plan to combine the markets with sightseeing, St Stephen's Basilica charges 2,600 HUF ($7.88) for the interior, 5,000 HUF ($15.15) for the lookout tower and treasury, or 6,800 HUF ($20.61) for the combined ticket, and one walking tour in the catalog includes a guided Basilica visit in the ticket price instead. For dates and opening hours market by market, see the Budapest Christmas market dates guide, and for a district-by-district look at the squares themselves, see the best Christmas markets in Budapest guide.