A dessert with centuries of history
The ensaimada, a dessert that was already being written about in the 17th century, is the queen of traditional Mallorcan pastries: a delicate, spiral-shaped puff pastry made with water, flour, eggs, sugar, yeast and lard (in Mallorcan, “saïm”, from which it takes its name), which is usually covered with a little icing sugar sprinkled on top.
Which ensaimada would you like to try today?
Traditionally, there have been two types of ensaimada: the plain one and the one filled with pumpkin strands in syrup, which have the Protected Geographical Indication ‘Ensaïmada de Mallorca’, but, over time and given its popularity, bakeries and pastry shops all over the island have been offering new varieties such as those filled with cream, chocolate or almond cream; the ensaimada de talles, typical of carnival, which has sobrasada and pumpkin; or the ensaimada entrunellada, with a braided cord.
Thanks to the tourists who have taken an ensaimada home with them for decades, the fame of this delicious Mallorcan dessert has spread throughout the world, and we can even find variations of the recipe in places like Puerto Rico, under the name of “Mallorcas”, or in Argentina, where they add aniseed and sesame seeds.
If you come on holiday or make a trip to Mallorca, don’t hesitate to buy an ensaimada to enjoy during your visit, eat it on your return or give it as a gift to those who will have missed you. You will find them without a problem in most bakeries and patisseries on the island, or even at Palma airport itself, but allow us to recommend four patisseries, distributed all over the island, that we particularly like.
The best patisseries in Mallorca to buy your ensaimada
Palma:
Forn del Santo Cristo (C/ Sant Miquel, 47)
Founded in 1910, this emblematic Palma bakery preserves its roots, recipes and traditional methods for making all kinds of pastries, and its ensaimadas are a pleasure for the senses.
Inca:
Forn Sant Francesc (C/ Sant Francesc, 126)
This family-run bakery and pastry shop makes all its products by hand, without additives, colourings or preservatives, and also uses free-range eggs. It’s only natural that in 2017 it won the award for “Best Ensaïmada in the World”.
Campos:
Pastisseria Pomar (C/ Plaça, 20)
Francesc Pomar, founder of this family bakery opened in 1902, opened the first pastry school in Mallorca and has passed on his passion for Mallorcan pastries to hundreds of professionals on the island. No wonder that, after almost 120 years of making ensaimadas, they are a guarantee of success.
Llubí
Forn i pastisseria Gelabert (C/ Sa Carretera, 61)
If you think you’ve tried every possible type of ensaimada, you haven’t: in this pastry shop they make 65 (yes, sixty-five!) different varieties of ensaimada, so you could spend a year and a half eating one a week without repeating it. What’s more, in 2018 they won the award for “Best Ensaïmada in the World”. We’d explain more reasons why you should go, but we don’t think there’s any need.
