Pio-Nonos

This recipe for Pio-Nonos appears in the 6th notebook ('6o Cuaderno') compiled by Carmen Volante in 1904. The manuscript is a fascinating artifact of early 20th-century home cooking in the Spanish-speaking world, containing a wide array of dishes from savory to sweet. Pio-Nonos, named after Pope Pius IX, was a fashionable dessert in Europe and South America during the late 19th and early 20th centuries—a testament to the era’s love for layered, jam-filled sponge cakes. The recipe reflects both continental culinary influences and the domestic tastes of the time. Through its handwritten pages, this cookbook offers us a taste of historical domestic life, a time when detailed methodology was passed down orally or through succinct notes, making each recipe a small adventure for the resourceful cook.

At the turn of the 20th century, this cake would have been made using basic kitchen equipment: a large mixing bowl for hand-beating the eggs and sugar (likely with a sturdy wooden spoon or whisk), a sieve for the flour, and a metal baking tin or rectangular mold. The oven would likely have been fueled by wood or coal, with careful monitoring to maintain a gentle, 'not too hot' heat. For preparation, cooks used kitchen knives for slicing and kitchen spatulas or large spoons for spreading the jam and cream. The sugar glaze would be mixed in a separate bowl and poured or brushed by hand.