Calçots, longaniza, or butifarra are, without a doubt, essential ingredients of Catalan gastronomy. But Catalan cuisine also shines for its sweeter flavors, with desserts like crema catalana, panellets, xuixo, or brazo de gitano. The Guilds of Pastry Makers of Barcelona, Girona, Lleida, and Tarragona have proposed this cake, in all its variants ---with cream, whipped cream, or truffle on sponge cake layers--- as the dessert that best represents the Catalan pastry tradition, to celebrate the distinction that Catalonia receives this year as World Region of Gastronomy.
The guilds have valued that this cake is one of the desserts with the most deeply rooted tradition in Catalonia, as it is present on many tables on celebration days, and is also made with local ingredients and an original Catalan technique. "The artisan brazo de gitano perfectly symbolizes our great pastry heritage," highlighted the president of the Barcelona Pastry Guild, Miquel A. Zaguirre, who added that these desserts have been present "in Catalan homes for several generations, especially on Sundays or special days."
The first references to brazo de gitano and its nomenclature are found in recipe books from the 1920s. Even so, the origin of this cake is older and surely dates back to the 19th century, when it was common for the tinkers who repaired or sold utensils to Barcelona bakeries, who mostly belonged to the gypsy people, to receive as compensation for their work these rolled sweets filled with cream or whipped cream, which they carried under their arm.
According to historian Marta Manzanares, a Ramón y Cajal researcher at the Autonomous University of Madrid specializing in the cultural history of food, it was "a common practice to reward the services of external workers, such as tinkers, not only with money, but also with sweets, especially on holidays."
The Barcelona Guild Pastry School (EPGB) has prepared an updated version of the burnt cream Swiss roll. The cake follows the traditional recipe, made from flour, milk, eggs, and sugar to create a spongy sponge cake sheet filled with cream with the burnt cream inside, but, as explained by School professor Lluïsa Estrada, it updates its aesthetics and presentation.