Fantastic Spanish Custard Dessert Recipe - Goxua - Visit Southern Spain (2024)

Basque desserts tend to have a bad reputation for being somewhat outdated or left in the past, but many of them prove the opposite.

Some are fantastic, and no matter how many years pass people will continue to love them. One of them is the Spanish custard dessert.

In this article, we will show you how you can make this Spanish dessert, some changes you can make to the ingredients, and the best ways to serve and store it.

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Background of the Dish

The Spanish custard dessert, also known as Goxua, is one of the best-known desserts in all of Spain.

Its origin is debated since different pastry chefs claim to have created it, but it is known that it was made for the first time in the second half of the 20th century in the Basque Country.

The story goes that it was made by mistake when a pastry chef wanted to make a new version of the Catalan cream by adding some sort of sponge cake (vanilla muffin or Spanish magdalenas) in the middle.

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Things You’ll Need for Spanish Custard Dessert

You will need eggs, milk, heavy cream, Spanish sponge cake, and sugar as the main ingredients for this Spanish custard dessert.

Then a large pot, a bowl, ramekins or cups for serving, and a kitchen torch (optional) are all the equipment you need.

Ingredients

• For the cake layer
• Spanish sponge cake – Get the recipe for the sponge cake here.
• 1/4 cup (50ml) water
• 1/4 cup (50 g) sugar
• 3 tablespoons (25ml) rum

• For the custard
• 1 1/4 cups (300ml) milk
• 1 1/3 cups (60 gr) sugar
• 2 egg yolks
• 1 vanilla bean (or vanilla extract)
• Zest from 1 lemon
• 2 cinnamon sticks
• 1 egg
• 3/4 cup (200ml) heavy cream
• 4 tablespoons (40 gr) flour

• For the whipped cream (replaceable with storebought)
• ½ cup (100ml) heavy cream
• 3 tablespoons sugar

• To decorate
• Sugar to caramelize

How to Make Spanish Custard Dessert – Step by Step Guide

1. To start making this basque dessert you have to make the vanilla custard. For that, put almost all (leaving a few tablespoons spare) the milk in a pot to cook it together with the heavy cream, vanilla, lemon zest, and cinnamon sticks. Turn on the stove to medium heat and let it boil.

2. In the meantime, grab a bowl and mix the eggs with the sugar until you get a smooth texture. Add the flour and mix everything, making sure there are no lumps.

3. Once the milk starts to boil, strain it and mix it with the egg mixture (add the milk gradually, and temper the egg mixture with the hot milk). Pour everything back into the pot and cook over low heat stirring constantly until it thickens. Strain once more to remove any lumps and cover with plastic wrap to put in the fridge for an hour.

4. For the next step in this Spanish dessert, you have to whip the heavy cream with a tablespoon of sugar, cover it and take it to the fridge for another hour. (You can buy whipped cream and avoid this step).

5. Now you have to make syrup to dip the muffins. You must put the water and sugar in a pot, and take it to the stove over medium heat. When the sugar dissolves, add the rum and let the alcohol evaporate a bit.

6. Then assemble the Goxua. To do this, look for a glass or small ramekin and put the sponge cake at the bottom which you soaked previously in the rum syrup. Add a layer of custard cream and finally a layer of whipped cream.

7. As the last and optional step, you can cover the top with a layer of sugar that you can caramelize with a kitchen torch. It is one of the easiest Spanish desserts to serve because you just have to leave the cups for a bit in the fridge and that’s it.

Substitution of Ingredients

See Also

An Easy Recipe for Goxua, a Basque Cream Dessert

The basque recipes, in general, do not usually give many options for changing ingredients, since tradition is something important, but still you can make some changes here and there.

If you think that the egg custard recipe to make homemade custard is difficult (we assure you that it is not) or takes a long time, you can buy vanilla custard.

The problem with storebought vanilla custard is that it has an artificial flavor that sometimes even resembles chemicals, so try to avoid it while making Spanish treats or use good quality ones.

Besides that, if you can’t find vanilla muffins you can use another flavor. For example, it can be made of chocolate and use a rum of that flavor for the syrup.

If you make a chocolate sponge, you can add a layer of custard cream, and instead of whipped cream, add dulce de leche—a twist on this Spanish dessert but with the same Spanish ingredients.

If you want you can try and make other delicious desserts, such as the Spanish pumpkin flan cake, Spanish almond cake, and the Spanish flan recipe, which usually allows more changes in the ingredients.

And for a real Spanish experience, try the Yemas de Santa Teresa and the Spanish orange flan, which are delicious desserts you’ll love.

Tips on Serving Spanish Custard Dessert

You can add first the layer of whipped cream and the sponge cake in the middle and custard cream on top.

As a personal preference, I put the layer of sponge cake first, followed by the custard cream layer and the whipped cream layer.

The taste won’t be affected, we guarantee you!

Goxua is one of the most popular desserts, so it is usually eaten after dinner or lunch.

This Spanish custard dessert can also be served to accompany tea or coffee in the afternoon since its Spanish flavors go very well with these hot beverages.

Not only is it an easy custard recipe, but also when you finish making it, they are ready to serve, since you must put them in a glass or ramekin.

Other Hispanic desserts can also be served right away, such as crema Catalana, the Spanish Natillas De Leche, and the fancy Spanish dulce de leche cupcakes.

The delicious Spanish custard tarts is a must-try recipe as well because they are easy to make and have an incredible flavor.

How to Store Spanish Custard Dessert

No vanilla custard recipe will allow you to freeze it, as it always ends up having a weird texture if frozen.

Like other similar custard desserts, the best thing you can do is keep it in the fridge for up to 4 days.

Then you just have to take the Spanish custard dessert out of the fridge, put a little sugar on top and use a kitchen torch to caramelize it.

Recipe Card: Spanish Custard Dessert