El Salvadoran Marquesote Recipe

Marquesote is a traditional Salvadoran sponge cake made with eggs, sugar, flour and flavored with cinnamon. The eggs whites are whipped until stiff before adding the egg yolks and other ingredients. It is baked for a short time then served with a beverage such as coffee.

Traditional marquesote is slightly tedious to make because it is made with no mechanical equipment. Whipping eggs to the stiff stage takes several minutes and is usually something El Salvadoran families do together. Historically marquesote was made with cornstarch or pinole instead of wheat flour. Pinole is maize that has been roasted and ground.

Marquesote is a dry sponge cake sometimes referred to as bread due to its lacking overall sweetness when eaten plainly. Due to its mild flavor, it is sometimes used to make other desserts. One of these is adding some sort of sugar syrup like piloncillo, which is made from an unrefined brown cane sugar called pilon.

When marquesote is soaked in sugar syrup it is then called mamon. Mamon means sucker, referring to how well the cake absorbs liquid. Another popular dessert made from marquesote is tres leches cakes, a sponge cake drenched in a sweet mixture of three types of milk.

Origin and Significance

The origin of marquesote is unclear. It’s believed to come from the word Marques, a Spanish noble man. The suffix ote is added on to words to express their grandness so marquesote roughly translates to big noble. Popular not only in El Salvador, it is also enjoyed in Mexico, Guatemala and Honduras.

The Salvadoran town of San Roman is a central hub for the production of marquesote where they are made in traditional wood fire ovens by family-owned bakeries. The cakes are then sold to other towns.

Photo Credit: JoseManuelLoRi

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Salvadoran Marquesote Recipe

Yield: 4 Servings

Prep Time: 25 minutes

Cook Time: 25 minutes

Total Time: 50 minutes

Marquesote is a traditional El Salvadoran sponge cake made with eggs, sugar, flour and flavored with cinnamon.

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Ingredients

• Flour - 1 cup
• Eggs (divided) - 6
• Sugar - 1 cup
• Cinnamon stick - 1
• Margarine - for greasing

Instructions

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
2. Grease a metal cake pan with the margarine.
3. Grate the cinnamon stick enough to get 1 teaspoon full.
4. Beat the egg whites into a stiff foam. This will take several minutes.
5. Add the yolks one at a time, adding the next after each yolk is completely mixed in.
6. Slowly add the sugar and cinnamon and beat until silky smooth
7. Add the flour, mix well.
8. Bake immediately, for 25 minutes or until a toothpick or knife comes out clean. Be careful not to over bake.

Nutrition Information:

Yield: 4 Serving Size: 1
Amount Per Serving: Calories: 441Total Fat: 10gSaturated Fat: 3gTrans Fat: 1gUnsaturated Fat: 7gCholesterol: 279mgSodium: 108mgCarbohydrates: 75gFiber: 1gSugar: 50gProtein: 13g

Nutrition is provided and calculated by Nutritionix. It is for general information purposes and is only a rough estimation.