Let us talk about sweets again, you know I love it. 

Every country and continent has their own cakes and bakes that both small and big kids run to the store for. Caribbean is known for coconut cake in hard or soft version, guava cheese and rum cakes. In Sweden the cinnamon rolls are a household necessity alongside chocolate balls as well as the brownie these days. France boasts with exquisite lemon tart, almond croissants, macarons and a wide array of other extraordinary desserts. And in Spain you'll be foolish not to try flan, turrón or crema de limon. 

What about Colombia? Well, the Dulce de Leche is widely used as I mentioned and can be found within and on top of approximately 70% of all dulces and postres, but there comes a time when the flavor of arequipe starts to bore you, at least if you haven't grown up with the taste. When that happens, it might be hard to find anything else of interest - but that's only until you get introduced to these bad boys. 

Let me introduce to you the Pionono de crema. 

What are these things? 

Technically they aren't more than a jelly roll, a sponge cake made of eggs, sugar, flour, baking powder and perhaps vanilla - and then filled with whatever takes the bakers fancy. 

Naturally, you'll find these Piononos filled with dulce de leche/arequipe/manjar blanco - as that's what most desserts are filled with remember. But it can so happen that you run into a Pionono made con crema. Now, this specific cake on the picture doesn't in fact remind much of a typical sponge cake rolled around in a cylinder as you might know them, but it's because it's turned upside down and baked in a slightly different shape. But let's not loose focus on what really is important here: the filling and topping of this cake. 

We were walking on one of the narrow cobbled streets in Getsemani when I heard Alex mumbling "I need something sweet" - when that normally happens, we have like ten minutes to find something before he starts to get moody (diabetes warning anyone?) We walked across the street towards a tiny bodega we've never seen before. "Whatever they've got, no more dulce de leche for today" I responded hurrying after. Inside of the dark mini market with walls stacked with cans of food and bottles of rum we found it. With an angelic presence in white attire they lit up the dark room and we just knew what was on order. Two of those please!!

After that I don't remember much, just that we continued our walk, each mouth full of cake and all of a sudden we looked at each other. What was that? Do we remember the name of this street again? Will you find here if we need more?

After our day in the historic center, we did find another little bodega that served them, though for double the price and with less intense flavor so I guess we'll soon be back in Getsemani looking for the very same tienda.

I've googled the cake and found out that it's pretty hard to find Piononos that isn't filled with dulce de leche. But I think I've finally understood that this rare, but oh so divine filling is a simple mixture of milk, lemon zest, egg yolks, a bit of maizena, a dash of rum, and then topped with a bit of cinnamon.

They might not look much to an unskilled eye, but believe me when I say that the sweet softness of the cake mixed with the flavors of the filling combined with the cinnamon on top are out of this world. I'm also happy to announce that the boat is now in order so I can finally start baking myself again. It's been a while.

Remember my previous take on the sponge roll?