The home delivery cakes that are a hit in Barcelona

To Jon García, at the helm of Jon Cake, at least two merits must be attributed. One, the fact of having brought a business forward in the midst of confinement and, the second, having achieved the great title of making what has now been crowned the best cheesecake in Barcelona. And only a few months have passed since, after numerous tests, he found the recipe that made it unbeatable. "It occurred to me that I could make cheesecakes after practically losing my job in the middle of confinement, so I started doing tests for my friends, my family... until I found a recipe that convinced me to, definitively, take the step and sell it." García spent weeks analyzing the recipes of some of the most famous cakes in Spain, such as La Viña's, Zuberoa's, Estimar's... That was the basis of his achievement. "I changed the elaboration process, introduced different things, it was weeks of endless tests until I found the one I liked." We are now at the end of November, when García began to make, in an hourly workshop and with a shared kitchen, about 60 to 70 cakes a week that he sold throughés of friends, family and alsoén residually on Instagram. When he saw that during the month of December, and as Christmas approached, things became unstoppable, he moved to another kitchen with more space and more freedom until the last week of January and with more than 150 weekly cakes in his order, he incorporated three people into the team. By the time February arrived, Jon Cake, as his workshop is called, was already making by hand 400 cakes a week, "and leaving many orders unattended because production is limited." A blessed problem, that of growing faster than you can handle, many will think. Nothing here has been trivial, although there were many clues. Since La Viña's cheesecake, in San Sebastián, was chosen as the flavor of the yearo según The New York Times, the phenomenon of cakes in general and cheesecakes in particular, has only grown. "It has been very viral," Jon García confirms to The New Barcelona Post, "the media have helped us a lot and social networks like Instagram have given us many wings, we have gone from 1,000 to 11,000 followers in just 2 months."

The trendy cake

There is no doubt that cheesecake is in fashion, and if not, ask one of the most influential media in the world, The New York Times, which may have, with its praise of the Basque Burnt Cheesecake, caused a phenomenon hitherto unknown, that of being able to enjoy a cake at home without the need for, as tradition dictates, any celebration in between beyond that of mere enjoyment, which is no small thing.

Whether or not the perfect cheesecake exists is something we don't know, but that Jon Cake's reaches the highest levels is a reality attested by the more than 1,600 cakes it distributes monthly throughout Barcelona.

For The New York Times the key is that it is "crustless and baked so that the top caramelizes and its interior is soft and fluffy." For Jon García, it is "that it tastes like cheese and that the texture is creamy but not liquid, which is the most difficult to achieve."

Jon Cake is not alone. Another of the home delivery cakes in Barcelona that has conquered homes has been the iconic cheesecake from the restaurant Fismuler, which we can also enjoy at home thanks to the home delivery service of Escalope Armando, the, surely, penultimate project of Nino Redruello and Patxi Zumárraga. Their secret? Well, despite having been one of the most copied cakes in the gastronomic scene, the mystery remains unsolved. It may be its almost liquid creaminess or its characteristic smoky flavor, which as they themselves confess "is the result of mixing three different types of cheese: fresh, smoked and blue" which generates hundreds of followers. Whatever it may be, now it can also be enjoyed at home thanks to its delivery at home without the need to sit at Fismuler's table.

Cakes at home in Barcelona: cheese vs carrot

The phenomenon of home delivery cakes in Barcelona is relatively recent, but it has been so overwhelming that it feels like they have always been here, although, in reality, all this sweet entrepreneurship was born as a result of the pandemic.

This is also the case of PastéBCN and its carrot cake, a pastry phenomenon that has managed to make a place for itself in the homes, and in the hearts, of lovers of the famous carrot cake. At the helm of the workshop is Hugo Roche who, after passing through the kitchens of Bo.TiC and Pastisseria Canal, undertook as a hobby what was truly his passion, pastry. "What I liked was preparing sweet elaborations, taking care of desserts; I like the tranquility, the calm and the dedication that is needed to elaborate these preparations," confirms this young artisan to The New Barcelona Post , who was hit by the pandemic with a cake under his arm.

"With the arrival of covid, we decided to bet everything on the online world, on social media, especially Instagram, to get our products out there. We also realized the importance of having a corporate image, a logo, a catchy name, a photography style, and a work and communication philosophy." No sooner said than done. This is how PastéBCN was born, a team of only three people where only Hugo is in the kitchen, who has managed to position his desserts, which are only served at home, as a delight to enjoy for no particular reason, but with all the desire in the world.

Barcelona, a sweet city

"The two cakes we sell the most are the Carrotcake and the Oreo Cheesecake. The first is a cake that we have been making for a long time, which we have been improving little by little, and the truth is that the customer who knows us knows that it is a cake that never fails," assures Roche.

And the truth is that we don't need more proof to agree with him: a moist sponge cake, the crunchy touch of walnuts, the soft touch of spices and a very, very smooth cream cheese, make the combination of this cake practically perfect. "A very important aspect for us, and one that we have applied to all our cakes, is to create light elaborations, in such a way that they do not saturate the customer when they enjoy them," he concludes.

Pastisseria Foix de Sarrià, Pastisseria Canal or Escribà have been conquering the palates of Barcelona residents for years with creations that have loyalized generation after generation. Temples of pastry that will endure for years, but which have not prevented numerous entrepreneurs of sweet creations from proliferating in recent times who, moreover, and due to the circumstances, have opted for a new business model that goes from the oven to the table in order to sweeten any meal, for no other reason than simply to enjoy.