Mexican Baker Teaches Us That A Pastel By Any Other Name Will Taste As Sweet
A Mexican baker would like you to know that she understands every Latino has a specific preference when it comes to cakes. And she’s willing and able to cater to all your confectionary desires:
A typical Puerto Rican cake is doused in brandy and filled with sweetened pineapple. A Mexican cake will sit in a mixture of four types of milk for hours to get its moist texture. [Ed. note: We just had, like, seventeen orgasms reading that.]
Whew. Please continue. Slowly:
Yolanda Maldonado, a Mexican baker and owner of International Cakes at Live Oak Center Plaza in DeBary, has mastered the art of making specialty cakes to suit the palates of Latinos — a skill that reflects the diversity within the Hispanic culture in Volusia County.
“From the time they say ‘cake, bizcocho or pastel,’ I want to know where they are from,” Maldonado said at her bakery. “Each region has a different way of preparing the cakes.”
We call them “cake,” pronounced “kay,” and like ours drenched with rum and covered with fondant. And smeared all over a skinny boy. But enough about last night:
Depending on the region of Latin America, customers call the cakes and ingredients by different names. Dominicans call a type of cake frosting “suspiro,” a word that also describes a sigh.
In Spanish, Mexicans and Salvadorans call a cake “pastel,” while Puerto Ricans and Dominicans call it “bizcocho.” And for Colombians, Argentines and other South Americans, it’s called a “torta.”
Jesus Christ. We need a cigarette.
Baker makes cakes to reflect Hispanic diversity [Daytona Beach News-Journal]
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- Managing Editor
Daniel Mauser
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Cindy Casares
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Alex Alvarez
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Gabriel Caro - Camilla Rowan
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Marcelo Cunning
Just further evidence that the Magnolia Bakery is but a pale, but still yummy, shadow of the milky sweet goodness that keeps gente-types of all stripes alive during these cruel winter months.
Posted by pocho_guey_al_norte | December 10, 2007
It’s pronounced ka-ke.
Posted by Diego | December 10, 2007
i’ll show you a bizcoochi.
Posted by el voz | December 10, 2007
@ pocho guey: They taste infinitely better after a night in the fridge. Trust.
Posted by ...dijo Alex | December 10, 2007
@ Diego: Agreed! It’s all about the ka-ke in my family!
Posted by Latin_Princess | December 10, 2007
“A typical Puerto Rican cake is doused in brandy and filled with sweetened pineapple…”
Um, no. I wonder where she got the recipe. Not my family, obvs. The brandy part she got right, though. The cheaper the better, too. I’m hungry.
Posted by Bosrican | December 10, 2007
@…dijo Alex: I believe. Everything tastes better after a night in the fridge.
Posted by pocho_guey_al_norte | December 10, 2007
Queque. And yes, Alex, SO much better after a night in the fridge.
Posted by Marco | December 10, 2007
@Diego and Latin_Princess: Um…I thought it was something more along the lines of ‘que-kee’. At least that was my Abuelita’s rendition.
Posted by pocho_guey_al_norte | December 10, 2007
I’m from the ‘que-kee” clan myself.
Posted by pocachica | December 10, 2007
“We call them “cake,” pronounced “kay,”… “kay”? What Latino planet are you from? Most unusual…
Posted by rebekah | December 10, 2007
@ rebekah: I’m from a strange and wondrous world called Miami. “Kay” is a bastardization of “cake.” Often mumbled while frosting is being shoved in my mouth by a man wearing high heels.
TMI?
I still owe you a PBR, cupcake.
Posted by ...dijo Alex | December 10, 2007
BTW, I don’t think Mexicans are very good at making desserts; tres leches cake is so overrated and pan de huevo is hard and the sugar always falls off. I do like cochitos, though.
Posted by rebekah | December 10, 2007
@rebekah: That would be a very Mexican-influenced planet, where over-pronunciation in certain respects is elevated to high art.
Posted by pocho_guey_al_norte | December 10, 2007
Aaaaaaahhh, “Miami”… so do you sound like those girls on that Bounty Hunter show?
Posted by rebekah | December 10, 2007
Actually, no.
We all speak exactly like Al Pacino in Scarface.
Posted by ...dijo Alex | December 10, 2007
@ pocho_guey_al_norte: I love ‘que-kee’. Cute! I wonder if I can get my Tex-Mex family to stop saying ka-ke (pronounced kay-que)?
Posted by Latin_Princess | December 10, 2007
we say “pon-que”. anyhooot.. i’m drooling at the thought of cold tres leches cake .. mmmmmmmmmmmm.
Posted by mare | December 10, 2007
@rebekah: So true. Mexico—not known for it’s desserts. Leche quemada or cajeta rules, though.
Posted by La Cindy | December 10, 2007
Flan or churros anyone?
Posted by chanalachile | December 10, 2007
Capirotada?
Posted by Diego | December 11, 2007
Yep. In Miami it’s “Kay”. Or probably more accurately, “Quei”. Pronounced in your best Tony Montana. You godda proleng wi’ dat, Meng?
Posted by fulanita | December 11, 2007
@rebekah: tres leches is OVERRATED? woman, no! my mom’s tres leches is moan-worthy. seriously.
then again, maybe you have a point: my mom is puerto rican.
Posted by fulana de tal | December 11, 2007
As for Mexican desserts, most of them are a variation of Spanish ones (even the huesos de muerto). I guess the most mexican thing would be the spicy tamarindo chupachups…….
Posted by Ponte | December 12, 2007
What about Pink Cake? That stuff’s everywhere in south Texas. I have family members that don’t speak much english at all, but they still call the stuff “pink cake”. Mmmm… gonna have to go down to the panaderia soon and get me some…
Posted by milgracias | December 12, 2007