During the weeks and days before Semana Santa (or Holy Week), you will start to see many colourful cakes and chocolate figures in bakery shop window displays, also called monas de Pascua. Be aware that looks can be deceiving though, because not everything is of the same quality. Therefore ShBarcelona wants to share with you today, where to buy the best monas de Pascua in Barcelona.
Related article: Semana Santa or Holy Week in Catalonia
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The Easter cake
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The mona is a typical Spanish pastry product and you can find it all throughout the Mediterranean. Eating this dessert or sweet treat symbolizes that Lent and its abstinences are over. According to tradition, that has been passed down from generation to generation, a godfather should give his godchild an Easter cake on Easter Sunday, and he or she can eat it on Easter Monday. Easter Monday is a holiday in Catalonia and families come together in celebration and to enjoy their mona de Pascua. Catalonia, Valencia and the Balearic Islands have been making very simple Easter cakes for centuries, consisting of flour, eggs and sugar, and resulting in a large donut-shaped cake, with one or more hard-boiled eggs in the whole on the top. But from the nineteenth century Easter cakes have begun to look different and also the ingredients changed. Hard-boiled eggs were replaced by chocolate eggs, and the top of the cake is now being decorated with figurines of all kinds, including cartoon figures, soccer players and comic or story characters, that are also made from chocolate. Nowadays there are also different coatings, from dark and milk chocolate, to white chocolate, that can even be coloured.
If you want to surprise your godson or goddaughter (and the whole family in case you follow the tradition), keep reading, because we will tell you exactly where to buy your Easter cake in Barcelona.
Related article: Enjoy Easter in Barcelona
The best Easter cakes in Barcelona
Photo by CPGXK via Visualhunt
A great master chocolatier is Oriol Balaguer (Pl Sant Gregori Taumaturg, 2 / Travessera de les Corts, 340). His style is unique and his creations are very distinctive. Each year he surprises you with a new collection of Easter cakes, with very creative and imaginative designs, from spectacular Easter eggs to a variety of shapes and characters. Following the trend of “less is more”, Balaguer’s creations are minimalistic, but at the same time, of design. His creations are an absolute treat for the eyes and for your palate.
Escribà (Gran Via de les Corts Catalanes, 546) is one of the most famous pastry shops because of its spectacular Easter cakes in Barcelona. Each year they display cakes of every colour, shape, size and price, starting at only € 2,50, but it is easy to spend much, much more. You can have a drink there as well, while your children dream away at the chocolate figures on display.
The last one of our recommendations on where to buy Easter cakes in Barcelona is La Pastisseria (Calle Aragó, 228 / Via Augusta, 166) by Josep María Rodríguez Guerola. This young man, well-known in the pastry scene, constructs magnificent Easter cakes each and every year. He has one of the most creative, original and fun Easter cake collections, for example in the form of baby animals, without ever losing sight of quality.
*Photo by calafellvalo via Visualhunt
What is your favourite bakery in Barcelona for monas de Pascua or Easter cakes?
Very interesting information!