Cuerno de Chocolate – 80’s-90’s bun

I am sure that many of you have eaten this Cuerno de Chocolate (Chocolate Horn) –  80’s-90’s bun countless times throughout your childhood…. There are things that, just by seeing them, immediately take you back to a moment in your life and, for a few moments, you relive emotions, feelings, experiences, memories and even aromas and textures. I find it fascinating how we are able to store memories and relive them just by looking at an image.

That is what I feel every time I see one of these pastries that accompanied us at break time or on the way home from school, when we passed by the bakery in your neighbourhood and you ate them while watching Sesame Street, the Crystal Ball or on the way to the park. It’s true that my mother didn’t always buy me these industrial buns, even though I asked for them countless times. She always used to make me sandwiches or fruit, but when she bought them for me I was very happy. You had the feeling that it was the best day of your life, hahaha.

I have created a collaborative playlist on Spotify with songs from the 80-90’s so we can add songs from those years and enjoy while we cook. You can check it out and join in at this link.

Remembering buns from the 80’s and 90’s.

I have an image in my memory of each and every day that I went to school and we passed by the bakery in my neighbourhood. It was a big shop in a narrow street between housing blocks, with big glass doors and signs hanging on them. Whenever you passed by there was that wonderful smell of doughnuts and bread. Who wouldn’t want to eat one of those as you walked past? It was very difficult. But your mother was already there to say no to you. Except for the days when you managed to get her to say yes.

Without a doubt, my favourite sweet treat was glacé doughnuts that they sold in yellow cardboard boxes (very big and with a lot of doughnuts inside) that they brought every day. That’s why they were so incredibly tender. They were wrapped in brown paper in which the sugar got soggy and moist when you held them in your hand. I liked them so much… They are no longer like those of those years. Later, whenever I was allowed to, I ate many other buns such as Bollycao, Donettes, chocolate palmiers… And others that I ordered just for the dolls, like Phoskitos, hahaha. Damn, I didn’t like them at all! But I wanted to have the “Dragons & Dungeons” dolls that came with them.

I was very little and, therefore, very innocent. I never ate these buns, because I didn’t like them at all, and I left them in my backpack. One day my mother opened it and found a pile of smashed buns in there…. They scolded me a lot and, of course, I told them that I wanted and needed to have those dolls. Hahaha, my goodness. They never bought them from me again.

It is possible that in each country there were some typical buns, apart from the ones we surely share everywhere because they are well known brands. So if you want to share them with me, I would be delighted to read and learn about these sweets that accompanied you in your childhood.

Musical break.

Without a doubt the music that surrounds the 80’s and 90’s is simply great, at least in my opinion. I still have 4 hour VHS tapes with video clips recorded. I really liked to record videoclips with the songs I liked so I could dance at home and learn the dances with my friends, when there were dances of course haha.

It’s a poem to imagine us in my room, dressed up and making video clips singing songs… Great memories!

It’s hard for me to choose a song from those years because I like so many of them. But there was one group I listened to a lot and that was Roxette. Of all their songs, I think the one I listened to most was “It must have been love“. So I leave you with this song 🙂

Cuernos de chocolate.

It is possible that these buns were already sold when I was a child, although I don’t remember them very much if I’m honest. I almost have a better image of them when I was finishing school and going to high school. It was one of those buns that were always in the cafeteria and that many people bought along with the chocolate horn I’m leaving you with today, huge palmiers, napolitanas, croissants and sandwiches of all kinds. Ok, and the famous chocolate triangle filled with custard.

This bun, which weighed at least half a kilo or more, was immense. I could never eat a whole one. In fact, several of us bought it to eat it because there was no end to it…. At home they have already told me that I have to make it because they liked it so much, so I will bring it to you for sure 😉

To make these cuernos de chocolate I have based them on my recipe for Mexican conchas, but I have modified a few things. It’s a dough that is very tender and spongy, but at the same time holds its shape very well. So it was ideal for making them. The shape, which resembles a conch, is the same as the one we use to shape a croissant.

I had doubts about the filling for the bun, I didn’t know which option to choose, but in the end I decided on a chocolate custard. I know it’s not the traditional filling, as it fell out and dripped when I took a bite. But the result is so great, that I think it’s well worth a change.

The chocolate custard is much smoother, creamier and not so sweet, and the end result is not at all cloying. Finally, I decided to make the coating by mixing 70% dark chocolate and milk chocolate to give it a sweet touch, but just enough. The end result is an incredibly tender, fluffy bun, with a rich, silky and creamy filling, accompanied by a thin, very crunchy coating that makes you melt with love at the first bite.