The Region of Valencia’s irresistible sweet treats

The Region of Valencia’s typical gastronomy promises all sorts of sweet treats. Our destination has a long tradition of desserts, pastries, cocas and cakes. Alicante, for instance, is renowned for its nougat (turrón in Spanish), a Designation of Origin product that has a museum dedicated to it. Shall we take a look at some of the delicious artisanal sweet treats that you can enjoy during your time with us? 

The Region of Valencia’s sweet treats

A good place to start our exploration of the sweet treats of the provinces of Castellón, Valencia and Alicante is with coca de llanda, a sort of sponge cake which goes by all sorts of different names. Coca de Castellón is a special variety of it that is made with potato. 

Almonds are a popular ingredient and make their way into nougat, as well as tortas cristinas, Dionisio marzipan and delicious tortell de reis, which is eaten for Epiphany in Vila-real and many other destinations. 

Other ingredients that you’ll see time and time again in our sweet treats are sweet potato – pastelitos made with the vegetable are pretty much omnipresent in our bakeries – and pumpkin, which flavours arnadí and buñuelos, a sort of doughnut eaten at Fallas. Arrop i tallaetes is a popular dessert in La Vall d’Albaida and La Vega Baja, and is made with slowly cooked grape must. 

Some destinations have sweet treats and cakes that have come to be synonymous with them, such as fadrinet, made for Fiestas de la Magdalena, pastel jericano from Jérica, flaons from Morella, plat de glòria from Alcàsser, congrets from Llíria and cachaps from Paterna. Panquemado from Alberic is another classic that has counterparts in pretty much every town and village in the Region known as panou, toña and all sorts of other names. 

Monas de Pascua (eaten at Easter), rollitos de anís or rollitos de cazalla enjoyed all year round, fartons dunked into a glass of horchata, mantecados, chocolates from Villajoyosa, Sueca and Torrent: the variety is extensive and delicious. Discover our sweet treats bite by bite, learn which traditions and festivities they’re connected to and be blown away by the diversity of the creations on offer. Fall in love with the Region of Valencia’s sweet treats.