Easter is, after Christmas, the sweetest time of the year. Holidays and family gatherings encourage feasting and, above all, the typical desserts of this time of year, such as French toast or Easter cakes.
These traditional Catalan sweets delight the little ones, and the older ones who want to remember their childhood thanks to the cakes and chocolate eggs. Of course, over the years traditional cakes have evolved, and the current ones have little to do with those that were cooked centuries ago.
The most demanded Easter cakes
- So that despite the crisis, children will be able to enjoy the elaborate chocolate figures that have gradually gained ground over the traditional egg-coated cake and accompanied by a simple chocolate decoration, being undoubtedly the sweetest of Holy Week.
- Now, in addition to the traditional egg, popular figures from cartoons are manufactured, with Dora the Explorer, Hello Kitty and SpongeBob, a true children’s idol, being successful above all. There is no shortage of princess castles, and other fantasy themes, nor are they forgetting football in Barcelona, with miniatures of Xavi, Messi oriniesta. For those who prefer Formula 1, there will be replicas of Fernando Alonso’s Ferrari.
The sales of monkeys are maintained
- Despite the crisis and the weather forecast, the Barcelona Pastry Chefs Guild ensures that sales will remain at least at the level of last year. Initial forecasts suggest that around 660,000 Easter cakes will be marketed throughout Catalonia, a figure that would be equal to that of 2010.
- The organization’s president, Josep Cardona, has pointed out that the tradition of chocolate in Catalonia is very important, which is why confectioners they have advanced sales this year and there are many who order the monkeys in advance so as not to run out of them
Easter sweets in other regions
- Also in Asturias and Murcia, pastry chefs are confident. According to the president of the Asturias Confectionery Artisan Guild, Manuel Antonio Menéndez, at this time “nobody questions buying a bun for their godson.”
- And in Murcia they assure that sales will continue, although people will opt for the cheapest, spending between 20 and 24 euros per person.
- In Valladolid, in addition to Easter eggs, the “penitents”, figures of brothers made of caramel or chocolate, are very popular. “The protagonists are the children. Their eyes run wild, they buy what catches their eye,” says a local pastry chef.
- The president of the Spanish Confederation of Pastry Entrepreneurs, Salvador Santos Campano, pointed out that this year 10 million Easter cakes and between 38 and 39 million French toast are expected to be sold in Spain.
The origin of the Easter cake
- Where do these sweets come from? Its origin, disputed by experts, may be Arabic (the word Mona would come from the Arabic word “munna”, which means gift) or Roman (in which the sweet would be a symbol of death and resurrection).
- About the dates, the tradition has been known since the fifteenth century, and it says that every Easter Monday the godparents have to give their godchildren, from the age of two and until they take communion, this delight in the form of a cake or chocolate egg.
- Formerly it was a circular bread cake, which incorporated the egg, although now there are many varieties in terms of size and shape. But the undisputed protagonist continues to be chocolate, which since the 20th century began to become the elaborate figures enjoyed by the little ones today.