History

Also called the pastel de cidra, the pastel cordobés is the city's defining pastry and turns on one ingredient: cabello de ángel, angel hair, made by boiling the flesh of the cidra pumpkin with sugar until it separates into translucent threads. The filling is medieval Andalusi confectionery, sugar-preserving fruit being an Arab technique, and it survives across Spain but is at its most concentrated here. Obrador San Rafael, working in Córdoba since 1918, makes the version most cordobeses treat as the benchmark.

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Common allergens: Gluten, Milk

Make it at home

Yield Makes 1 large pastel, serves 8Hands-on 25 minTotal 1 hr 10 minDifficulty Easy

Ingredients

  • 2 sheets all-butter puff pastry
  • 400g cabello de ángel (candied pumpkin strands)
  • 1 egg, beaten
  • 3 tablespoons caster sugar
  • 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

Method

  1. Heat the oven to 200C. Line a baking sheet with paper.
  2. Cut a 24cm disc from each pastry sheet and lay one on the paper.
  3. Spread the cabello de ángel over it, leaving a 2cm border clear all the way round.
  4. Brush the border with beaten egg, lay the second disc on top and press the edges down firmly with a fork.
  5. Brush the top with egg, prick it in a few places, and bake for 30 to 35 minutes until deep golden and well risen.
  6. Cool completely, then dust heavily with the sugar mixed with the cinnamon.

Tip from the editors. Cabello de ángel is sold in jars in any Spanish supermarket. Quince paste is not a substitute; it is far too dense.

Where to eat pastel cordobés

Pastel cordobés in Córdoba

Obrador San Rafael ★ 4.6

€€ BakeryTraditional Córdoba confiteríaCentroWalk-in only

Obrador San Rafael has run in Córdoba since 1918, and El Manolete came out of its founder's collaboration with the bullfighter of the same name.

OrderA Manolete, then a full pastel cordobés in hojaldre and cabello de ángel.

TipThere are four shops in the city; Alfayatas is the one closest to the old quarter.

Directions

Pastelería Savoy ★ 4.3

€€ BakeryTraditional Córdoba confiteríaPonienteWalk-in only

Pastelería Savoy has worked in Córdoba since 1969, founded by a third-generation pastry chef and still turning out the classic pastel cordobés.

OrderThe pastel cordobés, hojaldre and cabello de ángel, nothing else needed.

TipProduction moved to a Lope de Rueda obrador in 1982; Maestro Priego López is the shop you want.

Directions

Pastelerías Roldán Gran Capitán ★ 4.1

€ BakeryCity-wide pastelería and cafeteria chainCentroWalk-in only

Pastelerías Roldán keeps fourteen cafeterias across Córdoba, with the Gran Capitán counter selling pastelón cordobés and manoletes from 07:30.

OrderThe pastelón cordobés, which has its own page on the operator's site.

TipThe Amargacena obrador supplies every branch but is an industrial unit, not a shop you can visit.

Directions

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