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Quesadilla salvadoreña
Sweet cheese pound cake
Quesadilla salvadoreña: sweet rice-flour and cheese pound cake with sesame
Ask for a quesadilla in San Salvador and you get cake, not a folded tortilla: a dense, buttery loaf made with rice flour, thick cream and grated hard cheese, with a crackly top of sesame seeds. Salvadoran families eat a slice with hot coffee on Sunday afternoons, and every bakery has its own version. It is sweet and salty at once, moist and close-textured. The usual mistake is overmixing after the flour goes in, which makes it rubbery. Hard cheeses like parmesan and many queso duro are made with animal rennet, so choose a vegetarian hard cheese if needed. Chef's tip: check your baking powder is gluten free if you are baking for a coeliac; the rice flour already is.
- Total time
- 65 min
- Difficulty
- medium
- Serves
- 10
Ingredients
- 4 oz buttersoftened
- 7 oz caster sugar
- 3 eggsat room temperature
- 1 cup soured cream or crema
- 4 oz hard cheese, finely gratedqueso duro or a vegetarian parmesan-style cheese
- 9 oz rice flour
- 1 pinch salt
- 2 tbsp sesame seeds
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Method
0/6 doneStep 1: Heat the oven to 350°F (300°F fan). Butter and line a 23 cm round or square tin.
5 minStep 2: Beat 4 oz butter and 7 oz caster sugar until pale and fluffy. Beat in 3 eggs one at a time, then 1 cup soured cream or crema and 4 oz hard cheese, finely grated.
5 minStep 3: Whisk 9 oz rice flour, 2 tsp gluten-free baking powder and 1 pinch salt together and fold them into the batter just until no dry flour shows.
Step 4: Scrape into the tin, level and scatter 2 tbsp sesame seeds evenly over the top.
Step 5: Bake for 40–50 minutes, until deep golden, springy in the centre and a skewer comes out clean.
45 minStep 6: Cool in the tin for 15 minutes before turning out. Serve warm or at room temperature.
Nutrition per serving
- Calories
- 340 kcal
- Protein
- 8 g
- Carbs
- 40 g
- Fat
- 17 g
- Fibre
- 1 g
Nutrition values are estimates.
KrazyBadal
Good to know
- How long does quesadilla salvadoreña take?
- About 65 minutes in total: 15 minutes to prepare and 50 minutes to cook.
- How many people does it serve?
- 10 as written. Change the servings above the ingredients and every amount scales to match.
- Is it vegetarian?
- Yes. It has no meat or fish.
- Is it gluten free?
- Yes, as written. Check the labels on stock, sauces and spice mixes, which sometimes contain gluten.
- What can I use instead of butter?
- The same weight of ghee or coconut oil (for frying and most baking).
- What can I use instead of caster sugar?
- Caster sugar, same amount.
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