There are many ways to explore Asturias: following its coastline, hopping between mountain villages, seeking out cider houses or visiting its cities. But there is another, much sweeter route: one that links century-old confectioners, pastries with names of their own and recipes that can change almost from one municipality to the next.
In Asturias there is a perfect word for anyone who never says no to dessert: llambión. It simply means someone with a sweet tooth. And few regions can claim the term with greater justification. Practically every city, town or municipality has its own sweet speciality, and the confectionery tradition forms part of the Principality’s gastronomic identity.
Autumn, when lingering over your coffee and enjoying an indoor afternoon snack become all the more appealing, is a wonderful time to discover it. Work up an appetite: we are setting off on a route through the sweetest side of Asturias.
Oviedo: carbayones, moscovitas and confectioners with history
We could start in Oviedo, a city where stepping into a confectioner’s shop almost feels like part of the sightseeing. In fact, its pastry-making tradition is so deeply rooted that the city now celebrates Oviedo Llambión, an initiative specifically designed to showcase its sweet culture and its many pastry shops.
Two names are essential here. The first is the carbayón, made with a puff-pastry base filled with almond, egg yolk and sugar and topped with icing. It was created in the early decades of the 20th century as a sweet representing Oviedo and took its name from the popular nickname for the city’s inhabitants: carbayones, which in turn comes from carbayu, the Asturian word for oak.

To try one, a classic option is Camilo de Blas, a historic confectioner’s shop in central Oviedo.
The second great icon is the moscovitas, wafer-thin Marcona almond biscuits coated in chocolate that have become one of Oviedo’s most recognisable edible souvenirs. Their home is Confitería Rialto, another of those establishments that help explain why confectionery plays such an important role in the city.

A llambión tip: if you want to take an edible souvenir home, moscovitas are probably one of the easiest options to transport.
Gijón: princesitas and cakes for an afternoon treat by the Cantabrian Sea
Our next stop is Gijón. The city also has a long pastry-making tradition and a small universe of sweets of its own. Among the most distinctive are the princesitas, made with marzipan and orange truffle, but there is another name worth remembering before you enter a confectioner’s shop: tarta gijonesa, a cake dominated by the flavour of turrón. Then there is the charlota, found in different parts of Asturias but perfectly suited to a Gijón afternoon snack: sponge cake, cream and almonds, a chocolate coating and a cherry on top. It is one of those deliberately classic desserts that needs no reinterpretation to remain a favourite.

The plan can be as simple as strolling through Cimavilla and along the seafront, then saving your mid-afternoon break for discovering one of the confectioners in the city centre.
Luanco and Candás: the little battle of the marañuelas
We move on to two seaside towns just a few kilometres apart: Luanco and Candás. Both share one of Asturias’s most distinctive sweets, but each defends its own version. We are talking about marañuelas, biscuits made essentially with flour, butter, sugar and egg, traditionally associated with Easter and with the maritime culture of Asturias’s central coast.

And this is where the debate begins. In Candás the whole egg is used, while in Luanco traditionally only the yolks are added. The result is a difference in texture: the Candás version is generally softer, while the Luanco version is closer to a firm biscuit.
The solution for travellers? Try both and avoid taking sides, especially if there is an Asturian nearby!
Beyond the rivalry, marañuelas also tell us something about these towns’ relationship with the sea. They are substantial sweets, traditionally prepared around Easter and linked for generations to fishing families. Today they are made all year round, and both the Candás and Luanco versions carry the Alimentos del Paraíso Natural quality label, an official certification of the Principality of Asturias.
Avilés: a stroll among arcades and confectioners
The next stop is Avilés. Its historic centre, with arcaded streets such as Galiana, Rivero and La Ferrería, is particularly well suited to that quintessentially autumnal activity of alternating walks with strategic stops in cafés and pastry shops. The city has an important confectionery tradition, and its most emblematic sweet is the Bollo de Avilés or Mantecado de Avilés, especially associated with Easter. It is a buttery sponge cake covered with a distinctive white icing and traditionally tiered.
Three sweets you will find all over Asturias
Not every Asturian dessert belongs to a specific town. Three of them appear again and again across the region and deserve a place on any llambión itinerary.
Casadielles are one of them: fried pastries traditionally filled with walnuts, sugar or honey and a touch of anise. Crisp on the outside and rich on the inside, they are one of the great classics of Asturian confectionery.

Frixuelos, the Asturian version of a crêpe, were traditionally served simply sprinkled with sugar, although today they also come filled with custard, whipped cream, chocolate or jam. And then there is arroz con leche, rice pudding, ubiquitous on Asturian restaurant menus and especially associated with Cabranes, where a festival dedicated to this dessert has been held for decades.
A word of warning: ordering one “to share” and ending up eating almost all of it yourself could also be considered an Asturian tradition. At least among llambiones.
Beyond the classics: panchón, bartolos and carajitos
If you have more time, it is worth venturing beyond the three main cities, because the sweet map of Asturias is full of small local specialities.
In the municipality of Aller, for example, you will find panchón, a mountain dessert traditionally made from bread that is crumbled and mixed with butter and sugar or honey. It is a hearty, humble recipe, deeply connected with local popular celebrations.
In Laviana, look out for bartolos, small puff-pastry and almond tarts that have become one of the characteristic sweets of the Nalón valley.
But perhaps the most amusing story can be found in Salas. This is where the Carajitos del Profesor were born, hazelnut biscuits whose story begins in 1918 at Casa del Profesor, then a restaurant and café frequented by local residents. According to the confectioner itself, one regular began asking for the biscuits with the spontaneous phrase —“dame un carajo de esos” (give me one of those damned things) — and the name stuck. More than a century later, the family still makes them in Salas.
They are also a good example of what makes this route especially interesting: behind many Asturian sweets there is not just a recipe, but also a family, a business and a local story.
A weekend route for true llambiones
If you have two days and want to fit in several of these specialities without turning the trip into a sugar endurance test, you can organise it like this:
Saturday: Oviedo – Gijón – Candás or Luanco. Start the morning in Oviedo with a carbayón and take a leisurely walk through the historic centre. Before leaving, buy a box of moscovitas to take away. Continue to Gijón, where you can have lunch and stroll beside the Cantabrian Sea before saving room for an afternoon princesita or a slice of tarta gijonesa. In the afternoon, follow the coast to Candás or Luanco and end the day by trying their marañuelas.
Sunday: Avilés – Salas. Spend the morning in Avilés’s historic centre and stop at one of its confectioners to try the mantecado. Then, if you want to discover one of the region’s most distinctive sweets, continue to Salas in search of the Carajitos del Profesor.

And if you have an extra day or two, you can take the route inland to try panchón in Aller or bartolos in Laviana.
Travelling through Asturias by following its sweets ends up revealing more than a collection of recipes. Among old confectioners, local specialities and small rivalries between towns, another way of getting to know the region emerges: the Asturias that is told around a table, with a coffee in front of you and, almost inevitably, something sweet alongside it.
After all, being a llambión here does not seem like a flaw. More like an excellent excuse to travel.









































