Bolo de mel

Ingredients

Cake

• 500 gplain flour
• 400 gsugarcane molasses
• 200 gsugar
• 150 gbutter or lard
• 100 mlMadeira wine
• 7 ginstant yeast
• 100 mlwarm water
• 2 tspground cinnamon
• 1 tspground cloves
• 1 tspground fennel seed
• 1 tspground aniseed
• ½ tspgrated nutmeg
• ½ tspground allspice
• zest of 1 orange
• zest of 1 lemon
• ½ tspsalt

Fruit and nuts

• 100 gwalnuts, roughly chopped
• 100 galmonds, roughly chopped
• 100 gcandied citrus peel, chopped

To decorate

• whole almonds
• walnut halves

Directions

1. Warm the molasses gently with the butter until the butter has melted and the mixture pours freely, then set it aside to cool to lukewarm. Cold molasses is too stiff to disperse into flour and will leave dark streaks through the cake.
2. Whisk the yeast into the warm water and leave it for 10 minutes until it froths.
3. Combine the flour, sugar, all the spices, the salt and both zests in a very large bowl, mixing well so the spices are evenly distributed before any liquid goes near them.
4. Pour in the molasses mixture, the yeast liquid and the Madeira, and beat everything together into a thick, heavy, sticky mass. It should be closer to a stiff paste than to a cake batter.
5. Fold in the walnuts, almonds and candied peel.
6. Cover the bowl and leave it at room temperature for 12 hours, or overnight. This long rest is not a rise in the bread sense; it hydrates the flour and lets the spices bloom into the molasses.
7. Divide the mixture between three shallow 18 cm tins, lined and greased, filling each to about 3 cm deep, and press the whole almonds and walnut halves over the surface.
8. Bake at 170°C (340°F) for 40 to 50 minutes. A skewer should come out sticky rather than clean, because a bolo de mel baked until dry has been baked too long.
9. Cool completely in the tins, then wrap each cake in greaseproof paper and store it in a tin for at least a week before eating. Madeirans bake in November for Christmas, and the cake is said to keep a full year.
10. Break it into pieces by hand to serve. Tradition holds that it must never be cut with a knife.

Technique

• Mel de cana is sugarcane molasses, not bee honey, despite what the name suggests. Made with honey this becomes a completely different and much blander cake.
• It improves for weeks. A bolo de mel eaten the day it is baked tastes raw and disjointed.
• The spice list looks excessive and is not. Cut it back and you lose the character entirely.

Substitutions

• Black treacle or blackstrap molasses, the nearest widely available equivalent.
• Port or a sweet sherry in place of Madeira.

Variations

• With a tablespoon of aguardente added along with the wine.
• Baked as small individual cakes, reducing the time to 25 minutes.
• With a spoonful of cocoa, which some Madeiran families add and others consider heresy.

History

Baked for Christmas in Madeira since the sugar boom; tradition says it keeps a full year and must never be cut with a knife.

Frequently asked questions

What is Bolo de mel?

Bolo de mel is a dessert from Portugal: dark spiced Madeira cake of sugarcane molasses, nuts and candied peel, broken by hand. Baked for Christmas in Madeira since the sugar boom; tradition says it keeps a full year and must never be cut with a knife.

How long does Bolo de mel take to make?

Bolo de mel takes 40 min plus 12 hr resting of preparation and 50 min of cooking. The recipe makes 3 cakes of 18 cm. It is rated medium to make.

What can I substitute in Bolo de mel?

Yes, within limits. Black treacle or blackstrap molasses, the nearest widely available equivalent. Port or a sweet sherry in place of Madeira.

What is the most important thing to get right in Bolo de mel?

Divide the mixture between three shallow 18 cm tins, lined and greased, filling each to about 3 cm deep, and press the whole almonds and walnut halves over the surface.