At first glance Pionono is just like a simple jelly roll cake: a sponge cake made of eggs, sugar and flour, but instead of jam filled with plenty of Manjar Blanco.
Pionono is a delicious sweet treat for in between, as a dessert or cake. For some (like us here at LimaEasy) Pionono is heaven on earth and extremely addictive.
While in Peru Pionono is sold by street vendors literally everywhere or in bodegas and supermarkets, the good thing: you can really easily and quickly prepare it yourself at home
LimaEasy's Recipe for Pionono
Ingredients for the cake:
- 180 g (1.5 cups) all-purpose flour
- 1 tsp baking powder
- 5 eggs
- 3 Tbsp water
- 180 g (0.9 cup) sugar
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
Ingredients for the filling:
- 220 - 240 g (3/4 cup) Manjar Blanco
- some icing sugar
Preparation:
- Preheat oven to 180°C. Line a jelly roll pan or large baking tray with parchment paper. Sift flour and baking powder together and set aside. Separate the eggs.
- In a mixing bowl beat the egg whites together with the water until stiff. Then gradually add the sugar and whisk until the sugar is completely dissolved. Add the egg yolks and the vanilla extract. Beat until foamy. Gently fold in the flour-baking powder mixture.
- Spread the batter evenly on the jelly roll pan or large baking tray. Bake cake until it is golden brown and just starts to spring back to your touch, about 8-10 minutes. Don't bake to long as the cake will break when rolling!
- Prepare a clean dish cloth (or piece of parchment paper)the size of the cake.
- Once the cake is ready, remove from oven and immediately turn out onto the prepared dish cloth. Quickly remove parchment paper used for baking, trim the edges and loosely roll up the cake. Let cool completely.
- Carefully unroll the cake and spread evenly with manjarblanco. Roll cake again and sprinkle with icing sugar.
- Enjoy!