Mantecada

To be honest, mantecada is not the most flattering word to describe this delicious pan dulce, lol! Why am I revisiting this recipe? Because I am a curious cook/baker and I am always trying to find better ways to improve upon a recipe or to make it easier.

What Does Mantecada Mean?

Mantecada or mantecadas is a word used to describe this spongy cake/pan dulce. Manteca translates to lard. So when you hear a recipe described as mantecada, it typically means that there is lard as one of the main ingredients. Before shortening, which is not natural, natural rendered pork lard was used in baking. I am sure back in the day it was much easier to get pork lard than even butter. Or maybe it’s that many people enjoy the flavor manteca adds to certain foods. Natural rendered pork lard is more healthy than many of the bottled cooking oils on the market. Natural rendered pork lard has a bad reputation, lol! For test purposes, I did use the block of white pork lard, not natural, and probably looked down upon by many chefs. That’s all I had in my pantry this day and I really wanted to test this recipe.

Doesn’t Get Any Easier Than This!

Basically, you are adding the ingredients to the bowl of your stand mixer! Whip until you achieve a thick batter and bake! Next time I will test the recipe using unsalted butter and grated piloncillo(cane sugar). Coconut oil softened is also a variation you can try instead of lard. I am leaving you with the printable recipe below and a step by step video. Enjoy!

Mantecada

Traditional pan dulce mantecadas, prepared in a loaf! Like Mexican pound cake!

5 from 1 vote

Print Pin Rate

Course: Baking, Bread

Cuisine: Mexican

Prep Time: 20 minutes minutes

Cook Time: 35 minutes minutes

Cool Bread: 20 minutes minutes

Total Time: 1 hour hour 15 minutes minutes

Servings: 10 Servings

Equipment

• loaf pan or cupcake mold

Ingredients

• 1 cup pork lard, vegetable shortening, coconut oil(softened) or unsalted butter at room temperature
• 1 cup sugar 225 grams
• 4 large eggs at room temperature
• 3-4 tsps vanilla extract
• 1 1/2 tbsps baking powder 15 grams
• Pinch of salt
• 2 cups all purpose flour 300 grams
• 1/3 cup plus 3 tbsps milk at room temperature
• Zest of 1 large orange
• READ THE NOTES FOR THE CHOCOLATE VERSION!

Instructions

• Preheat oven to 380 degrees F.
• Spray the loaf pan or cupcake mold with baking spray. Set aside.
• In the bowl of the stand mixer, add all of the ingredients, minus the milk and orange zest. Using the whip attachment, whip the ingredients at medium/high speed for 2-4 minutes until smooth looking.
• Mix in the milk and continue mixing for another 2 minutes or until batter looks very thick. On low mix in the orange zest.
• Pour batter into prepared pan. Gently pound pan with batter on counter. Transfer to oven on middle rack. Bake for 28-35 minutes or until knife comes out clean from the center and mantecada looks golden brown. Let cool slightly before removing from mold. Slice and enjoy!

Notes

If using cupcake mold, fill only 3/4 of the way up. Using paper liners will make clean up easy. I have tried this recipe with all butter for a chocolate version and it was delicious! 

To prepare the chocolate version, subtract 1/4c of the all purpose flour and replace it with 1/4 c of cocoa powder for baking. Also mix in 10 grams of finely crushed mexican chocolate to the dry ingredients. To bring out the flavors of the chocolate more, I mix in 1 full tablespoon of instant coffee dissolved in 1 tbsp of hot water. You will use all butter for this one! This yields 17-18 cupcakes. Bake at 350 degrees for about 22-23 minutes or until toothpick comes out clean from center of cupcake. Top with a few chocolate chips, some crushed Mexican chocolate, while cupcakes are hot, and sprinkle on some colored sugar sprinkles. 

Tried this recipe?Mention @pinaenlacocina or tag #pinaenlacocina!

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