Galician Larpeira cake. Sweet bun with pastry cream

How to prepare a Larpeira cake.

In Galicia you will find a lot of dessert and sweet recipes that accompany almost every self-respecting party.

Recipes such as  aniseed donuts , the famous Santiago tart , fritters , bicas , and of course the Larperia tart.  It is a sweet in the style of the roscón de reyes but accompanied by pastry cream.  

The process may seem laborious and complicated, that’s why the kneading and the waiting times of the levados, but the truth is that the recipe that I bring you is not at all complicated.

The mixing time is short and it is not necessary to prepare a pre-ferment so that its texture is juicy and perfectly preserved from one day to the next.

Another important point of this recipe is that the raising time will not extend much beyond an hour and a half, so we can do it the same day that we want to consume it without any problem.

The result is a sweet and juicy sponge cake that, accompanied by the pastry cream and the final syrup of the preparation, gives it a texture to start and not being able to stop, that is, it is delicious.

I encourage you to prepare this cake at home the next time you feel like one of these, the result will convince you for sure, you will tell me.

Preparation of the larpeiro bun dough

1. We heat the milk slightly and when it is warm we dilute in it the fresh baker’s yeast.
2. It is very important that the milk is not very hot since otherwise the yeast could die and lose its effect.
3. In a large bowl pour the flour and make a hole. We add the rest of the ingredients, leaving for the end the milk with the yeast that we already have dissolved.
4. I advise you not to add all the flour, leave 40 gr. to use if we see that it is necessary once we start to knead.
5. The size of the eggs can vary so depending on them and the type of flour you may or may not need.
6. We knead with our hands what, at first, will be a very very sticky dough.
7. Do not despair, we work the dough for 15 minutes and at the end we see that we get a ball of elastic dough.
8. If we see that it is necessary, we will incorporate the flour that we have reserved.
9. In the greased oven tray we place our ball. With the hands we give it a flat and rounded shape, about 3 cm. thick.
10. We let the dough rest in the oven turned off and closed until it doubles its size, not less than 1 hour and 30 minutes.
11. While the dough cam, we will prepare the pastry cream.

Preparation of the pastry cream

1. We separate 50 ml. of milk in a cup and dilute the cornstarch in it. We reserve.
2. In a bowl mix the sugar and the egg and beat until they foam. We reserve.
3. We heat the rest of the milk with the lemon peel and the cinnamon stick. When it begins to boil, remove the pot from the heat and add the egg and sugar mixture, mixing well.
4. We return to the fire and add the milk with diluted cornstarch. Stir constantly until it begins to boil again. Remove from the heat and continue stirring until a homogeneous cream is formed, without lumps.
5. Pour the pastry cream into a bowl and stir occasionally until cool.

Assembly and final presentation

1. When the dough has doubled in size and we have the pastry cream prepared and cold, we proceed to the assembly.
2. With a knife we ​​make incisions forming a rhombus on the surface of the dough.
3. With a kitchen brush we paint the surface of the cake with the beaten egg.
4. Fill a pastry bag with the cream. We make the characteristic drawing of the larpeira filling the lines that we have cut with the knife.
5. In a bowl, mix the sugar with the anise and place heaps of the soaked sugar between the holes left by the pastry cream.
6. Bake with the oven previously hot at 180º C with heat up and down for 20-25 minutes.
7. Always on the central tray of the oven, preferably on the tray or rack. In the middle of the process we cover the larpeira with aluminum foil so that the surface does not burn.

Syrup preparation

1. While the cake is baking we prepare the syrup. In a saucepan, heat and let reduce the mixture of water, anise and sugar.
2. We stir constantly for 8-10 minutes taking great care that it does not burn us.
3. When we remove the larpeira from the oven, we moisten it with the syrup over its entire surface, both the sponge cake and the syrup being still hot. Let cool before consuming.

A  yummy dessert recipe to accompany on a large table, Galician or non-Galician. It is perfect for the Entroido (Galician Carnival), a noite de San Xoan or any self-respecting celebration.

Here you have a step by step in photos where I show how to prepare this recipe for the Galician larpeira .  Do not miss any detail so that it comes out perfect, as if you were in Galicia.