Carolina (pastry)


The Carolina is a typical pastry of Bilbao, Spain. It consists of a miniature pastry crust filled with custard and topped with a meringue cone. Typically the cone has a coating of sweet egg yolk glaze and dark chocolate.

Ingredients

The principle ingredients are: Italian meringue, puff pastry or shortcrust pastry tartlet, egg yolk, and chocolate.

History

The Marquess of Parabere included a recipe for the Carolina in her first book Confitería y Repostería, in 1930. In the book, it says the Carolina was invented by a pastry chef from Bilbao. His daughter, Carolina, loved meringue, so he put the meringue in a puff pastry tartlet to prevent her from getting dirty. She liked it so much he named it after her.
The pastry is well-recognized as a Bilbao speciality, so "Señor Karolino" was the mascot for the Bilbao Carnival in 2009.