In Catalonia, Easter Monday is a sweet day for children… and not so children. We have been waiting for this moment for more than 700 days, since last year masks, gloves, alcohol, and confinement kept stores closed.
The tradition remains latent, many would say that particularly this year even on the rise, in everything that has to do with the most famous sweet of Holy Week in Catalonia. And it is that while numerous elements related to this time of year are diluted over time, the mona continues to be one of the most deeply rooted customs. A good example of this are, of course, the spectacular shop windows that display their masterful creations these days, many of them cataloged as works of engineering and even art. It's no wonder.
A bit of history
Magnificence aside, the origins of the mona are much simpler than the elaborations we see these days. This sweet was characterized by being a rounded sponge cake that was often filled with cream, truffle or jam, and was presented adorned with hard-boiled eggs (yes, real ones). Later, the decorations added ingredients such as butter, almond pieces, candied fruit and, of course, the now essential element, chocolate, until it became a cake crowned by a giant chocolate egg or a figurine.
The so-called Easter mona is particularly famous in Catalonia and also in the Mediterranean basin and, contrary to what it may seem, its name has nothing to do with an animal, but comes from the Arabic term munna, which means "provision of the mouth", a gift in the form of a sweet food that the Moors gave to their lords to celebrate that Lent had ended. There are written testimonies that tell us that monas were already made in the 15th century but applied to our days, tradition dictates that it is the godfather who gives the mona to his godchild on Easter Sunday, although the true day to taste it is Easter Monday, when families gather to eat the mona for dessert.
And although for the most nostalgic, traditional monas will always be available, with the passage of time the cake has evolved to become the Holy Grail of pastry chefs' creativity. One only has to look at the shop windows of the main Catalan patisseries to see how the endearing chocolate animal figures have given way to creations of castles, superheroes and even spaceships that defy the law of gravity.
From sponge cakes to chocolate (and art) works
The Escribà family began selling monas in the 1950s and since then, thanks to their good work and numerous accolades, they have become a symbol of Catalan confectionery. Already crowned as the "kings of chocolate", it is the fourth generation of the family, led by Christian Escribà, who is currently in charge of the ovens and stoves of Escribà, having revolutionized traditional pastry in their own way and opting for creativity and custom-made cakes. But returning to the Easter mona, this year at Escribà they wanted to pay homage to the season's star cinematic trend, creating a mona whose protagonist is baby Yoda from The Mandalorian. A galactic creation that will be enjoyed by young and old alike.
Another of the patisseries in charge of bringing the most original creations to life is Chocolat Factory, whose traditional sweets, conceived by master pastry chef Jordi Farrés, are produced one by one and by hand in the workshop that the firm has in Sant Cugat del Vallès. The result is small works of art, some of which are displayed in their shop window, ranging from dinosaurs to traditional Easter eggs, cared for down to the smallest detail and made with high-quality ingredients, as well as being gluten-free.
Eric Ortuño, recently awarded the Best Tea Pastry in Spain 2020 and Best Sant Joan Cream Coca 2020, has created in his L'Atelier a multipurpose space of more than 1,000 square meters that is a workshop, pastry shop, and professional school in the heart of the Eixample. Ortuño also joins the wave of the most creative Easter monas, and he does so with a collection of monas dedicated to the sculpture created by Jeff Koons, better known for the dog designed from connected balloons. "This year it's a very fun mona because it's like chocolate eggs that form the piece, which also adds a touch of tradition," Ortuño tells The New Barcelona Post.
Made with white, dark, milk, and colored chocolate ranging from gold to lilac, this year's L'Atelier mona has a very kitsch touch and appeals to all audiences. "Every year we are inspired by an artist; this 2021, in addition to Koons' sculpture, we are also making small Bansky murals and we also customize the graffiti," he adds.
The boutiques of Oriol Balaguer are, 365 days a year, always, spaces where his creations combine flavors and textures with traditional and contemporary techniques. Balaguer, who is not only a tireless professional in his desserts, but practically in the entire gastronomic range (the opening of his first restaurant in Barcelona, Quatre.coses, is a good example of this), has created for this 2021 edition a collection of Easter eggs inspired by architecture, nature, and the animal universe. And the peculiar note that always accompanies Balaguer's creations, the collection is made from Grand Cru cocoa, a chocolate that the master pastry chef uses in his line of chocolates from cocoa plantations in Venezuela, Trinidad, and São Tomé, in addition to dark and white chocolate. Furthermore, and as if it were a work of art, the creations are exhibited at the Hotel Only YOU Atocha in Madrid during Holy Week, where he has just opened a new gastronomic space, and can be acquired by prior order in his spaces in Madrid and Barcelona.
A mona that looks like... The Mona Lisa
Jordi Roca, the youngest of the Roca brothers and promoter of the Rocambolesc project, has been surprising the world for years with his immense talent and sense of humor, and this year, after what we've been through, it was not going to be any less. Hence, for Easter, Roca has outdone himself again with a chocolate creation that notably recalls Leonardo da Vinci's work, the Mona Lisa, but Rocambolesc's mona has a chimpanzee head.
Made from a sculpture by Montse Zurilla, the mona conceived by Jordi Roca is made with milk chocolate, filled with roasted and salted peanut bambolas, covered with milk chocolate and cocoa powder. But that's not all, as Jordi Roca has also created another solidarity mona, a figure of a seated chimpanzee whose profits will be used to help the rehabilitation and rescue of mistreated primates through the Fundació Mona, with whom Rocambolesc collaborates. Both are available in the Girona and Barcelona locations and, by order, also in Madrid.
Monas delivered to your home
Més mones que mai (More monas than ever) is the campaign created by fifty Catalan pastry shops to send traditional Easter monas to homes. The initiative, which seeks to reduce the possible damage to the sector that the current situation is expected to cause, has been launched by Marc Rodellas, from the Rodellas pastry shop in Sant Celoni, and other master pastry chefs from different towns have joined him.
With no greater dissemination than their social networks and media coverage, the idea is to promote their monas and facilitate home delivery according to the town and postal code. On their social media profiles, there is a link to Google Maps, where the customer can choose their mona and order it by phone. Subsequently, each pastry shop coordinates home delivery if it is within the pastry shop's radius of action.
According to the Barcelona Pastry Guild, this year's Easter will be notably better than last year's, marked by the state of alarm. Pastry chefs hope to reach close to 700,000 monas sold, about 5% less than in 2019, thus recovering the numbers of 2020.