When Monarch Airlines challenged me to make a Menorcan-inspired recipe for their Islands cookbook, I was super excited at the challenge. I wasn’t sure if I was going to chose from Sobrassada sausage or flao, or go down some sort of paella route. And then my sweet tooth won out.
After doing some research, my inner cake lover took the helm and decided for make Coca de Congret – a super soft, Menorca sponge cake. There are lots of variations of this cake (shapes, flavour additions). It’s so, so, so airy and it goes really well with coffee. It’s almost impossible to describe just how fluffy it is. Imagine eating a cloud, and that’s probably as close as it comes. I definitely wouldn’t hesitate to eat it for breakfast!
Whilst making this cake, I was dreaming of sunny days and being on the beach again. Even though we only just got back from Thailand, it feels like a lifetime ago. Maybe a trip to the Spanish isles would remedy this feeling? Hopefully one day soon, I’ll be taking a holiday to Menorca and I can taste all the above in person!
Coca de Congret
Ingredients:
250 g cornflour (cornstarch to US readers)
250 g sugar
6 eggs
1 tablespoon of grated lemon zest
1 tablespoon of lemon juice or butter
powdered sugar to decorate
Instructions:
Separate the eggs whites from the yolks, and beat the yolks into the sugar. Beat for quite some time, until the sugar dissolves and the mixture has gone pale and creamy.
Add the cornflour into the mixture a bit at a time, all the while beating the eggs. Cornflour is a natural thickener for sauces, so your batter will become really hard to mix. It might start to feel like you are stirring concrete. Loosen it up with occasional splashes of the lemon juice.
Add a pinch of salt to your egg whites and whisk them until they form stiff peaks.
Add the lemon zest to the eggs and flour, stir together and fold in the stiff egg whites.
Pre-heat the oven to 160 C. Grease and line your cake tin. Make sure you only fill it about 1/2 way as this cake has a lot of rise to it! Place the tin at the bottom of the oven and bake for around 40 minutes or until golden.
Leave the cake to cool and then finish it off with a hearty sprinkling of powdered sugar.
I just want to point out how tan my arms are at the moment, as that will quickly fade.
What’s your favourite dessert that you’ve eaten on your travels?
*** This post was in collaboration with Monarch Airlines. All thoughts and opinions are my own. ***
