Brazo de gitano
Brazo de gitano, literally “gypsy's arm”, is the Spanish roll cake sold in many pastry shops from Madrid to Barcelona. It is a thin, flexible sponge rolled around thick crema pastelera custard, scented with lemon peel and cinnamon, and, in the Catalan style, topped with a thin layer of custard and sugar caramelised into a crackly shell, like crema catalana. Two things matter most: roll the sponge while still hot, since a cooled one cracks, and let the custard cool completely before spreading.
Your own work in that: 1 h 5 min.
- Custard 20 min
- Chilling the custard 60 min
- Sponge 20 min
- Baking 12 min
- First roll 30 min
- Filling 15 min
- Chilling the roll 60 min
Step by step
0 / 8 doneInfuse the milk
Bring the milk to the boil with the lemon peel and cinnamon stick, take off the heat and leave 10 minutes to infuse. Remove the peel and cinnamon.
Ingredients: 500 ml milk · 4 pcs egg yolks · 100 g sugar · 40 g cornflour · 1 pcs strip of lemon peel · 1 pcs cinnamon stick
Cook the custard
Beat the yolks with the sugar and cornflour. Pour in the hot milk in a thin stream, stirring, return to the pan and cook over medium heat for 3–4 minutes, whisking, until thick and bubbling, then keep it bubbling for about a minute more — undercooked yolk and starch custard can thin out later.
Ingredients: 500 ml milk · 4 pcs egg yolks · 100 g sugar · 40 g cornflour · 1 pcs strip of lemon peel · 1 pcs cinnamon stick
Whisk constantly until it bubbles.Chill the custard
Tip into a shallow dish (a thin layer cools faster), press cling film onto the surface and refrigerate 60 minutes. Warm custard would soak the sponge.
Ingredients: 500 ml milk · 4 pcs egg yolks · 100 g sugar · 40 g cornflour · 1 pcs strip of lemon peel · 1 pcs cinnamon stick
Whisk the eggs
Heat the oven to 190°C. Whisk the eggs with the sugar, salt and vanilla for 8–10 minutes, until very pale, thick and tripled in volume.
Ingredients: 5 pcs eggs · 130 g sugar · 130 g cake flour · 1 tsp vanilla extract · 1 pinch salt
Fold and bake
Sift in the flour and fold gently in three additions. Spread evenly over a lined 30 × 40 cm tray and bake 10–12 minutes, until golden and springy. Do not overbake — a dry sponge cracks when rolled.
Ingredients: 5 pcs eggs · 130 g sugar · 130 g cake flour · 1 tsp vanilla extract · 1 pinch salt
Roll it hot
Turn the hot sponge onto a sugar-dusted cloth, peel off the paper and immediately roll it up with the cloth from a short side. Leave rolled until cool, about 30 minutes — the sponge remembers the shape and will not crack.
Ingredients: 5 pcs eggs · 130 g sugar · 130 g cake flour · 1 tsp vanilla extract · 1 pinch salt
Roll it hot — cold, it cracks.Fill
Whisk the chilled custard smooth and set aside 4 tablespoons for the top. Unroll the sponge, spread the rest of the custard over it, leaving a 2 cm border at the far end, and roll up again, this time without the cloth. Set seam side down.
Ingredients: 500 ml milk · 4 pcs egg yolks · 100 g sugar · 40 g cornflour · 1 pcs strip of lemon peel · 1 pcs cinnamon stick
Cold custard, cooled sponge — only then.Caramelise and chill
Refrigerate the roll 60 minutes. Before serving, spread the reserved custard over the top, sprinkle it thinly with sugar and caramelise with a blowtorch or a heated crema catalana iron until it forms a crisp shell.
Ingredients: 50 g sugar for caramelising and dusting the cloth
Before you start
Without a blowtorch
Without a blowtorch, skip the custard on top and simply dust the roll with icing sugar — that is how many pastry shops sell it too. The caramelised version is associated above all with Catalonia.
Other fillings
Whipped cream and strawberries, chocolate cream or truffle filling are popular too. The sponge and rolling method stay the same.
Storage
A roll with yolk custard must be refrigerated — it keeps up to 2 days and should not sit out for more than 2 hours. The caramel softens within hours, so caramelise just before serving.
