The most classic of Romanian cakes are those delicious little bites that you find in the confectionery shops. Growing up, going to the confectionery shop and having to have a cake was an often occurrence. In fact, confectionary shops played a very important role in the social life of the country. It wasn’t just parents treating their children to cakes, it was also teens going there for a date, couples celebrating a special day, and even friends meeting there for a chat.
Whilst the confectionery shops have modernised over the years and not many still have table service, they are still the places to go for a classic Romanian cake, to order holiday cookie platters, or even your birthday cake. The cakes that the confectionery shops sell are not easy to make at home, so when Romanians are looking for a treat, they are still the place to go to.
The most delicious classic Romanian cakes:
Amandina
Amandina is my favourite classic Romanian cake. And no wonder, as this cake is every chocolate lover’s dream. It has layers of cocoa sponge filled with chocolate buttercream, finished with a hard chocolate glaze and more cream on top. The sponge is very moist, infused with a sugar and rum essence syrup.
This is a very sweet and decadent dessert that will satisfy all your chocolate cravings with one spoon full.
Savarina
Savarina is another classic Romanian cake. The sponge is sweet and left to infuse with a rum sugar syrup overnight, until it is completely soaked. When you dive into this cake with your desert spoon, there should be syrup oozing out of the sponge. The cake is cut to have a “body” and a “cap”, and in between plenty of whipped cream.
Now, you know a good savarina by how good the whipped cream is. Some places prefer to use already made vegetable whipped cream, which is sickly and doesn’t taste good at all. You can tell when a confectionery shop makes their own whipped cream by the delicate, sweet taste, and the fluffy aerated texture. The cap of the savarina is usually decorated with a very thin layer of fruit jam or jelly.
Negresa
Negresa is one of those cakes that I never missing from my childhood, as I was growing up. My mother used to make it several times a month, and I could never get enough of it. It wouldn’t take more than two days for the entire tray to be devoured.
Negresa is practically the Romanian equivalent of the brownie. It is chocolatey, gooey, and it can be enhanced with adding walnuts or sour cherries in the batter. I will always be a fan of it!
Cremsnit
I will never forget the giant Cremsnit cakes that my grandfather would use to bring home, after his visits to the farmer’s market. The shop selling them has been there forever, and, when I grew up and moved with my grandma for uni, I was the one who took on the role of buying Cremsnit from the same place.
Cremsnit is a fantastic cake, very messy to eat, but delicious. It consists of a massive layer of vanilla custard enclosed in between two filo pastry layers, dusted generously with powdered sugar. It’s creamy and sweet, with a delicious crunch in every bite.
Mascota
Mascota is a proper classic, one of the most iconic Romanian cakes. This grown up cake is a delicate ganache enclosed inside a tempered dark chocolate shell, in the shape of an upside down muffin. The ganache is enhanced with walnuts, confit fruits, as well as raisins soaked in liquor.
You won’t find this cake too easily around the confectionery shops in Bucharest. For the best experience, head over to Casa Capsa, one of the last remaining prestigious confectionery shops that are still using traditional recipes for their cakes.
Ecler
Ecler is a cake that is famous all over Europe, if not beyond. In Romania, it used to be a classic since before the communist times. The most popular ecler was the one filled with vanilla cream and covered in chocolate. Over the years, the flavours have evolved, and the white chocolate and caramel covered eclairs have appeared on the market.
In Bucharest there is a confectionary shop that specialises in eclairs, where you can buy the most incredible flavours and fillings. It’s called the “French Revolution”.
Sarlota
Salota is a mousse-like based Romanian cake, made with chocolate as well as whipped cream. There are many variations of this cake, some including fruits, and some even coffee. It’s a great cake to have in summer because it is very light and refreshing, no matter if it’s chocolate or fruit based.
Dobos
Dobos is actually a Hungarian cake that made its way to Romania and became a classic. It is a layered cake, with vanilla sponge and generous chocolate filling. It has exactly 6 sponges and 5 layers of chocolate. On top, it has a perfect crunchy layer of caramelised sugar.
Tarta cu Fructe – Fruit Tart
The Romanian fruit tart is a very pretty cake. The base of this cake is a cute shortbread biscuit, in the shape of a little basket. The inside is filled with a vanilla custard, topped with different fruits. Jelly is then set over the top, to bind everything together.
You can find many variations of the fruit tart around the cake shops in Romania. Some are mixing different fruits, some are using only one type of fruits, whilst some choose combinations such as winter berries, strawberries and kiwi, or pineapple and sour cherries.
Carpati
Carpati is another of the classic Romanian cakes. Its shape is triangular and it is made from layers and layers of sponge and chocolate ganache. Because of its shape, similar to a mountain, it is called Carpati – Romania’s mountain range.
The top of the cake is sprinkled with coconut flakes, which are symbolising the snowy peaks of the mountains.
Carolina
Carolina is a classic Romanian cake mostly found around Transylvania. It is an old cake, from back during the communist times. Carolina is a small conic cake, made from a mixture of sponge, cocoa cream, walnuts, vanilla and rum essence. It sits on a simple base and it is covered with a chocolate ganache.
Carolina was actually born as a way to reuse the extra sponges and cuts from other cakes. But don’t let this deter you from trying it, as it tastes delicious with its wonderful and creamy texture.
Boema
Boema is another delicious Romanian chocolate cake. If you love chocolate, you will definitely enjoy this cake a lot. The base is made from layers of chocolate sponge with a buttery ganache between them. On top, there is a beautiful shiny chocolate glaze. Over it, there are two different creams, alternated in a pretty roll: chocolate and whipped cream.
Sometimes, on the top of the whipped cream there will be a morello cherry, for decoration.
Diplomat
I associate the Diplomat cake with the New Year’s Eve celebrations. This is when, as a family, we would usually have this cake. In confectionery shops you can have it as a stand alone portion as well. This is a very refreshing cake, made with pineapple chunks and orange slices.
The diplomat cake has the consistency of a jellied mousse and it’s a delight for your taste buds.
You can click here to see my recipe for Diplomat Cake.
Cartof
The Cartof is a funny one. The name literally translates as “potato”, and it has to do with the irregular shape of this cake. It is made from a mixture of crushed biscuits, walnuts, milk, butter, vanilla and cocoa, with an easy texture to form the potato shape.
The cake is then rolled into cocoa and put into the fridge to set. Some recipes also include dried fruits and sometimes even Turkish delight in the composition of this cake.
For more traditional Romanian dishes, check out the articles below:
- The most delicious traditional Romanian food
- The most delicious Romanian soups
- The most delicious traditional Romanian desserts
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