What is the traditional dessert? We can say that they are the recipes that have been passed down from generation to generation and have survived to the present day. If we use this definition, we see that it would be difficult for the Almudena crown to fit into this category. Its origins date back to 1978, when a group of pastry chefs paid homage to the Virgin of Almudena.He is also the patron saint of the guild in Madrid. This was the winning recipe in a contest where other suggestions were put aside..
Although his presence can be seen in every bakery window in Madrid this year, it hasn’t always been this way. More: The Almudena crown is a rare crown outside certain organizations. until its popularity increased rapidly in the last 10 years.
At the beginning of the last decade, only a handful of bakeries were making this dessert. Today it is ‘rara avis’, which does not have its own version. At first sight, It looks like a first cousin of Roscón, but there are some differences. “It is a piece of fermented pastry dough flavored with the liquor of your choice and finished with pastry cream, whipped cream or truffle filling. It is kneaded, shaped and fermented and then decorated for baking, first dyed with egg and then with pastry cream to form a peak that simulates those in the crown,” they say in the association Pasteleros de Madrid, a private organization that emerged in 2015 and brings together many of the region’s artisan workshops .
According to the same association, This dessert “does not contain orange flower water.” “The decorations consisting of and candied fruits were replaced by details of cream and/or almonds and were decorated and completed with a statuette of the Virgin Mary.” They include it in the “typical desserts” section of Madrid on their website.
Crowns everywhere
The (current) attractive power of the Almudena crown is so great that even newcomers sign up to prepare it. happened to you Xavier BarrigaCatalan pastry chef coming to Madrid in 2023 turris – and which has had notable success at its two stores at Eloy Gonzalo and Hermosilla avenues – and already has its own version. “To be honest, I hadn’t heard of this dessert before arriving, but we followed the motto of ‘wherever you go, what you see is what you do,’” explains this experienced pastry chef.
Although Barriga defines the crown as follows, he cannot escape the similarities with the roscón:A dessert with pastry dough, cream and orange on top “This will be the ‘crown’ – it will give it a different touch.” The dough formula also includes flower honey, extra virgin olive oil and anise.. Another addition is toasted almonds. In this case, they also made a version with cream filling.
According to Barriga, such recipes turned out somewhat artificially -the crown was finally born from a competition held 45 years ago- They tend to be successful when they are associated with a specific celebration, a holiday.”. Because the corona case is not unique: Barriga, Sant Jordi bread Born from the baker’s mind Eduard Crespo In 1989. “There is not a single bakery in Barcelona that is not on sale on Sant Jordi Day. Includes layers of sobrasada and cheese to structure the image of the Catalan flag”. After all, there is another key (logic), and that is the triumph of “good ideas”, as Barriga summarizes.
More desserts have appeared in modern times
Don’t let the salty parenthesis of Sant Jordi bread fool us. Recipes usually created in honor of the specified dates are usually sweet. Another Catalan example Fresh fig tart served for Barcelona Mercé festivities in 2022 Six hands among Puerto Ricans living in Miami Antonio Bachour (best chef in the world at The Best Chef Awards 2022), chef Jordi Vila (Alkimia and Al Kostat restaurants) and Olivier FernandezDirector of the Gremi de Pastissiers pastry school in Barcelona. In 2023, this sweet sable dough, almond cream and the indispensable fruit of late summer were offered for sale in one hundred patisseries in the city. He wasn’t the only one: Master pastry chefs Oriol Balaguer, Erik Ortuño and Christian and Pol Escribà (father and son) also created a Lyonnaises-based cake with cream, raspberries and chocolate for La Mercé.
There are other examples: In 2000, the Confectioners Association Valladolid I prepared a dessert for the holiday San Lorenzo From the beginning of September. Last year in 2023, the City Council and confectioners conspired to relaunch this product. Cake based on puff pastry, orange cream and spongy chocolate sponge cake It was put on sale in nearly twenty stores in the city during the holiday.
To finish, another standout example: the dessert created by the Madrid Association of Artisan Entrepreneurs of the Pastry Industry and distributed free of charge in Madrid on the day Princess Leonor of Asturias swore the oath to the Constitution in the Cortes Generales. More than 1,500 units were produced in the bakery Manacor a kind of Russian cake based on almond sponge cake and orange pastry cream. Above is a tablet with the colors of the Spanish flag written on it. Of course, it is difficult for this dessert to reach the tradition of ‘letizias’, or heart-shaped pasta, which was prepared in memory of the current queen on the day of her wedding to Felipe VI. Time (and taste) will tell.