Español postres fáciles y caseros – Easy Home-made Spanish Desserts

Tartas, biscochos, flanes, pasteles, cremas, merenques, helados, mousses, hojadres, geletinas, crepes…

We have them all and now we want to share them with you. We have lived in Valencia for nearly ten years and have collected hundreds of recipes. We have collected them from friends, friendly café owners who were only too pleased to share their recipes with us, and we have also collected them from magazines and newspapers.
The Spanish love their ‘postres’ ( desserts ) and every bar, restaurant and café always have a wide selection available – we know. We’ve tried most of them.

Many Spanish desserts are similar to desserts found all around the world, but they tend to use a wider selection of fillings, especially locally available fresh fruits and there’s no shortage of those.

Here in Valencia, these consist of oranges, tangerines, clementine, lemon, peach, nectarines, fig, grapes, apricots, plums, apple, pineapple, blackberries, blueberries, blackcurrants, strawberries, raspberries, banana and mango. Almonds are also a great favourite with the Spanish and they use them in everything from soups to desserts. Most of these we grow in our own garden – although the pineapples, banana and mangos are a bit of a problem. It’s hot, but not hot enough to produce good quality fruits on these plants.

Unfortunately, Spanish sponge cakes never seem to be as light as our own English types. It may be because they use so much olive oil in their baking. When we visit our friends for paella on Sundays, we always take a traditional English cake with us – they love it – especially anything with chocolate. We always alternate with chocolate sponge cakes and a victoria sponge cake filled with whatever fresh fruit is in season. Sheila prefers tangerines. However, there is one habit they have that we detest. They always pour brandy over the sponge cake!

Over the next few months, we will be bringing you a wide selection of recipes for the desserts that the Spanish (and us) love so much. We have set up a new category on the side bar just for these recipes. You will find them all under ‘Spanish Desserts.’

We start the series off with a dessert you should know well. In Spain, it is known as ‘Brazo de gitano’ – arm of the gypsy. However in England, we know it better as a ‘Swiss Roll’. In England, we tend to keep with tradition and always use raspberry jam as a filling, with cream sometimes – if we are feeling extravagant. Cadbury’s and (one of my favourite dessert chef’s) Mary Berry, introduced us to chocolate Swiss Rolls.

The Spanish versions use everything that is available or in season. Creamy apricot and rich orange jam oozing out of the sponge makes my mouth water just to think about them. Banana custard cream with slices of banana – you could make one of these every week for a year and never bake the same one twice.

And here are the recipes for the ‘Brazo de gitano’. I have provided two of the recipes we use regularly. The first one uses Valencia oranges straight from the trees in our garden and walnuts when they are in season – which is now!

The second is the version that our Spanish friends prefer – Chocolate. You can play around with this and cover it in melted chocolate, or convert it into a Christmas log by cutting one end of the roll at a 45 degree angle and repositioning it 1/3 way along the roll to make it look like a log. Finish of by covering with a chocolate butter cream and using a fork to grain the icing to look like bark.

Our photograph shows a plain sponge Swiss Roll with a filling of custard cream. You can mix any fruit into the cream for a more exotic cake. Garnish is simply a dusting of icing sugar with a sprig of mint and lemon rind. Serve with a sweet orange sauce.

Orange and Walnut Swiss Roll

4 eggs, separated
4oz (115 g) Caster sugar
4oz (115 g) very finely chopped walnuts
Good pinch cream of tartar
Pinch of salt
Icing sugar, for dusting

F0R THE FILLING

10 fl oz (300 ml) whipping cream
1 tablespoon caster sugar
grated rind of 1 orange (direct from the tree if you have one…)_

1 tablespoon orange liqueur, such as Grand Marnier (You are allowed to taste it first to make sure it is OK….)

1 Preheat a 350°F/180°C/Gas 4 oven. Line a 12 X 9Vz in (30 X 24cm) Swiss roll tin with greaseproof paper and grease the paper.

2 With an electric mixer, beat the egg yolks and sugar until thick.

3 A Stir in the walnuts.

4 ln another bowl beat the egg whites with the cream of tartar and salt until they hold stiff peaks. Fold gently but thoroughly into the walnut mixture.

5 Pour the mixture into the prepared tin and spread level with a spatula. Bake for 15 minutes.

6 Run a knife along the inside edge to loosen, then invert the cake onto a sheet of greaseproof paper dusted with icing sugar.

7 A Peel off the baking paper. Roll up the cake while it is still warm with the help of the sugared paper. Set aside to cool.

8 For the filling, whip the cream until it holds soft peaks. Stir together the caster sugar and orange rind, and then fold into the whipped cream. Add the liqueur. (You should test it again in case it’s gone off since you started…)

9 Gently unroll the cake. Spread the inside with a layer of orange whipped cream, and then re-roll. Keep refrigerated until ready to serve. Dust the top with icing sugar just before serving.

Chocolate Swiss Roll

8 oz (225 g) plain chocolate
3 tablespoons water
2 tablespoons rum, brandy or strong coffee (forget the coffee, just use the booze – but test it first to make sure it hasn’t gone off….)
7 eggs, separated
6 oz (170 g) caster sugar
Pinch of salt
12 fl oz (350 ml) whipping cream
icing sugar, for dusting

1 Preheat a 350°F/180°C/Gas 4 oven. Line a 15 X 13in (38 X 33 cm) Swiss roll tin with greaseproof paper and grease the paper.

1 Preheat a 350°F/180°C/Gas 4 oven Line a15 X 13in (38 X 33 cm) Swiss roll tin with greaseproof paper and grease the paper.

2 Combine the chocolate, water and rum or other flavouring in the top of a double boiler, or in a heatproof bowl set over hot water. Heat until melted. Set aside.

3 With an electric mixer, beat the egg yolks and sugar until thick.

4 Stir in the melted chocolate.

5 ln another bowl, beat the egg whites and salt until they hold stiff peaks. Fold a large dollop of egg
whites into the yolk mixture to lighten it, then carefully fold in the rest of the whites.

6 Pour the mixture into the pan; smooth evenly with a metal spatula.

7 Bake for 15 minutes. Remove from the oven, cover with greaseproof paper and a damp cloth. Let stand for 1-2 hours.

8 With an electric mixer, whip the cream until stiff. Set aside.

9 Run a knife along the inside edge to loosen, then invert the cake onto a sheet of greaseproof paper that has been dusted with icing sugar.

10 Peel off the baking paper. Spread with an even layer of whipped cream, then roll up the cake with the help of the sugared paper.

11 Refrigerate for several hours. Before serving, dust with an even layer of icing sugar, or if you wish you can cover with melted chocolate for more extravagant cake.

Our photograph shows a plain sponge Swiss Roll with a filling of custard cream. You can mix any fruit into the cream for a more exotic cake. Garnish is simply a dusting of icing sugar with a sprig of mint and lemon rind. Serve with a sweet orange sauce.

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Dessert Recipes with Bill & Sheila