For my Spanish club we’re having a pot luck and I’m going to be making some sort of dessert. I’d like to make a cake from a recipe coming from a Spanish speaking culture. Yes, I checked online, but I thought you folks would have some pretty good ideas since I trust you more than some anonymous website. There, I’ve stroked your egos, now Marc demands your recipes!!!
Hell, just because I’m looking for cake recipies in specific doesn’t mean you can’t chime in with other desserts from Spanish cultures you know and love. Far be it from me to have such a limited thread topic. Have a ball folks!
Marc
Tres Leches is probably my favorite cake, period. I’ve never made one so I don’t have a personal recipe, but whenever I crave cake it’s what I end up buying.
Other favorite desserts of mine - flan, tembleque, and arroz con dulce.
Add another vote for flan! Mmmmm! It’s hard to go wrong with it. What about churros, served with chocolate? (ETA: As in cocoa. There is a Spanish text book titled “Churros y Chocolate” that I had in High School Spanish.) Or, even sopapillias? (sp?)
With a bit of searching, I found a cake recipe that sounds YUMMY! I haven’t tried it, but I definitely would if given an opportunity to. Rosca de Almendra
I’ve never seen real chocolate a la taza outside of Spain. It should be almost solid. Best chocolate a la taza I had was what the nuns in my dorm made every Sunday: it was so thick that it would come off the walls when you tried to pierce it with a churro!
My basic recipe for bizcocho (without the s to make it plural): take your basic American recipe for sponge cake. Cut the sugar down to about 1/5 of what’s in the original recipe. If you’re using yoghurt to help it raise, use lemon yoghurt if available; if not, add the freshly-squeezed juice of a lemon to the mixture. The advantage of giving recipes this way is that I don’t have to translate the way we give recipes in Spain to the way they’re given in the US (I’ve had three ovens with temperatures marked on them: two in the States and one in Switzerland).
To make it bizcocho de cacao, don’t use lemon and add sweet cocoa powder (Nesquik works fine) to the mix. It should be just enough to start tasting chocolatey before you bake (baking raises the chocolatey flavor).
A favourite that’s good for receiving people at home, but not for bringing it to places because it has to be made in situ: leche con canela or leche merengada.
Hot: milk. Lots of milk. Big pot. Add lots of sugar and some vanilla (merengada) or not (con canela). Bring to a very slow, careful boil, moving it all the time as it boils to keep it from sticking (and, if it’s sugared, to dissolve the sugar). Once it’s been reduced by about 1/4 to 1/3 of its initial volume, serve in individual cups and add a bit of cinnamon to each (on top, don’t dissolve it yourself).
Cold: serve milk in individual cups. Put in the freezer shortly before the meal starts. By the time you reach dessert, the milk will have started freezing: a ring of ice will have formed on each cup and the milk is lower than the ring. Take out each ring, add cinnamon to each cup.
Can one get fat by thinking of food? Cos if so, I am!
(ETA: As in cocoa. There is a Spanish text book titled “Churros y Chocolate” that I had in High School Spanish.) Or, even sopapillias? (sp?)