Spanish (page 19)

Beginners’ Spanish I (SPAN 201): Following a Food Recipe

For my cultural portfolio activity I decided to bake “pastel de tres leches” (3 milk cake). I got the recommendation from my Mexican friend who told me that it is her favourite dessert as she grew up eating it. Before baking the dish I researched it online. I learned that it is a traditional Latin American dish, specifically originating from Mexico and Nicaragua. I thought it was interesting that it originated in two different places. I went online and looked through numerous different tres leches recipes which exposed me to many Spanish words I didn’t understand. I found it interesting how many “huevos” the recipes included. They all called for 5-6 eggs which is a lot for one cake in my opinion. Once I picked a recipe I read through the ingredients and wrote a shopping list for the grocery store, I was able to read all the ingredients without the help of an online translator with the exception of “polvo para hornear,” which I have sinced learned translates to “baking powder.” After shopping, I went home and began baking the dish. I found that reading the “receta” in Spanish was really difficult. Though I was able to read most of the ingredients without the help of a web translator, when it came to reading the directions there were many words I didn’t know and had to look up. However, I did understand a few of them such as “taza, azúcar, leche, crema, vainilla, gramos, and pastel.” The cogantes, as we learned about in class, helped me to be able to understand the recipe. I also ended up learning a few words from reading and translating them over and over. These words were “harina (flour), cucharadita (teaspoon), batir (whip/beat). Once the cake was done I brought some to myfriend who recommended the recipe. She really enjoyed the cake and I was relieved that I was didn’t make any mistakes caused by mistranslation of the recipe.

References

Wikipedia contributors. (2024, September 16). Tres leches cake. Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tres_leches_cake

Torta tres leches – Receta FÁCIL. (n.d.). recetasgratis.net. https://www.recetasgratis.net/receta-de-torta-tres-leches-8910.html