Bolo de Mel – Madeira Honey Cake
Bolo de mel which translates to “honey cake” also commonly known as the Madeira Honey Cake is from the Madeira Islands. Thanks to Lina from Lin’s Recipe and her innovative idea of reviving rare recipes, I had the opportunity to dig up details on this wonderful nutty cake. And trust me google didn’t provide me much and translations were not the best to follow. So with a month in hand to research and read from all sources, I finally settled down with this recipe, which I guess comes closest to the traditional one. I was quite intrigued to read about the origin of the cake. I will save you the trouble of researching and will sum it up here for your reading.
Madeira Island is an island set in the Atlantic Ocean, 550km of the coast of Morrocco and 970km from Portugal. This cake is considered to be Madeira’s oldest dessert. To the Portuguese, honey is ‘molasses’ and also an essential ingredient in this cake. This dark spicy loaf made with molasses is a specialty of Madeira. Started up by Renato José dos Santos, who baked and decorated wedding cakes at Fábrica da Estrela before it caught fire in 1964. He then proceeded to open his own factory in Rochinha Madeira, baking bolo de mel, sugared almonds, torradas (toasts) and broas (breads with cornmeal, also made with molasses). Some say this cake recipe was formed after the spices started making way into the country when the sea route to India was discovered.
This cake is usually made for Christmas, but it can also be found all year round on the island. It is a custom to make enough of this cake in order to have some during the whole year. Once cooled and thoroughly wrapped it remains good until next Christmas without losing quality or taste. Another tradition around this dessert is that it is not cut with a knife, but by hand – a tradition that is very respected among locals.
For the recipe itself, I made a few alterations since I didn’t not have everything in hand. There were some recipes which used a starter’s dough. But I am proofing the cake dough twice to achieve the same result. Also, the original recipe calls for lard or vegetable shortening. Since I didn’t have any, I replaced it with equal amount of butter.
The result was a lovely nutty, rich and moist cake. This absolutely surprised me since I thought it would a very dense cake. The taste is very close to Rich Plum cake we make in India – but the honey gives a very unique and distinct flavour. Hope you enjoy the cake as much I enjoyed learning and baking it!
INGREDIENTS:
45g or 1/3 cup finely chopped raisins, dates, or cranberries
45g or 1/3 cup finely chopped walnuts
45g or 1/3 cup finely chopped almonds
250g or 2 cups all-purpose flour, divided
1tsp baking soda
¼ tsp ground cloves
¼ tsp ground cinnamon
¼ tsp ground star anise
113g or ½ cup unsalted butter, at room temperature
55g or ¼ cup vegetable shortening
85g or ½ cup brown sugar
2 medium eggs
8 g or 1 package active dry yeast
175g or ½ cup honey
Few whole blanched almonds for garnish
METHOD:
- Take 125g of flour and mix all the chopped nuts and dry fruits, so it is all evenly coated. Set it aside.
- Meanwhile sift the remaining flour with the baking soda and ground cloves, cinnamon, star anise, yeast and set aside.
- Now cream together the butter, shortening, and brown sugar until fluffy.
- Add in the eggs, one at a time and mix well.
- Now add the honey and give it one final stir with the hand mixer, making sure you scrape the sides of the bowl from time to time.
- Add the sifted dry ingredients to this and fold gently using a spatula. At this point the batter is quite loose.
- Now fold in the fruits and nuts mixture that is coated with flour. The batter is now quite thick.
- Transfer the batter to a large well-greased bowl, covered with a clean dry cloth, and allow it to rise in a warm spot for 2 hours. Note: The batter will rise only slightly, but it will become spongy and light.
- Grease a 8 inch pan with butter and line with baking paper.
- After 2 hours stir the batter down and transfer it to the greased pan. I used a 8” pan because I wanted a tall cake.
- Using whole almonds make daisy type flower on the top of the batter which gives it, its signature look.
- Cover with a cloth and allow to rise again for 1 ½ hour.
- Toward the end of the second rising, preheat the oven at 170 degrees C.
- I made a baking strip using a thin muslin cloth dipped in cold water and wrapped it in aluminium foil to make a long strip. I then wrapped this strip around the baking tin so the cooking and rise of the caking is more even.
- When the batter looks properly risen, bake for 60 to 70 minutes or until it begins to pull away from the edges of the pans and feel springy to the touch.
- Cool the cake right side-up for 10 minutes, loosen the sides with a knife and turn the cake out. Allow to cool before cutting.
- These cakes keep well in the freezer for about six months if wrapped in foil and plastic wrap. The cake can be drizzled with Madeira wine before freezing and after defrosting.
- In Madeira, the popular way to frost these cakes is to sift confectionery sugar on the top.
- Enjoy 🙂
Do try this and do not forget to like, comment and share if you like what you see here. 🙂 I look forward to seeing how it turned out for you – so do share pictures with me.
I hope Lina and other judges for this challenge Suzanne and Jhuls enjoy this cake 🙂 Do head over and check their amazing blogs for some inspiration.
I would like to take this opportunity to share this wonderful and unique recipe with my co-bloggers at Fiesta Friday hosted by Angie, Margy @ La Petite Casserole and Su @ Su’s Healthy Living.
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Love & Hugs,
Trupti
Yummy! What a delicious cake!
thank you so much Daniela 🙂
Beautiful cake! Did you cut it with a knife, or tear it with your hands?! 😉
thank you 🙂 I did both 😛 to keep the tradition I cut by hand and ate myself and cut some neatly that i distributed in office to try 🙂
Your cake looks very delicious Trupti 😀
thanks a bunch dear Irene!
Such a beautiful cake Trupti 🙂 And all the research you did – great job! 🙂
Oh thank you so much CH 🙂 I was really so happy to achieve this one… it was one of the best cakes I have made or had.
This looks utterly delicious.. Well done 👍👍
Thank you so much Anjali 🙂
looks wonderful Trupti!
thanks a bunch dear Lynn 🙂
Most welcome! You always bring us such yummy food!
aww.. thanks Lynn! you are a sweetheart! and I learn so much from you as well..
thanks dear xxx
Trupti, that looks so inviting!
thank you Ranjana 🙂
What a beautiful cake! I love the history you shared about it (and that honey refers to molasses, which I never realized!). It rose and puffed wonderfully. It’s not often you see a yeasted cake! 🙂
I am so glad to hear that from you 🙂 thanks a ton my dear ‘Tea’ :*
Wow! You have done a wonderful job! A very good choice…Such beautiful pictures too! I really want to try this after reading your post..it was a pleasure having you as a participant! Wish you all the best for the results! Just a link of a post of Suzanne’s and Jhuls’ so that they get notified ☺
Thank you so much Lina :* really happy to hear that! It is a lovely cake to try out. I am hoping I get to visit these islands and try it first hand. I have already linked our lovely judges in the post as well.
Oh great! I loved the history you have posted! Glad you have done the research well!
I enjoyed it so much 🙂 thanks to you!
Looking forward to see you in the next challenge too ☺
Whoa! Beautiful! I wouldn´t mind seeing this on my table right now!!
😘😘🎂🎂sending you some dear!
Thank you! Your photos are just lovely xxxxxxxx
☺️☺️thanks so much
This looks delicious! I love all of your research too!
Thank you so much Cynthia 😘
Beautiful cake and wonderful history… awesome research. Very impressive!
Thank you a bunch! ☺️❤️
You have inspired me to research more for my next cake challenge over at Lin’s. The cake looks divine and I can’t understand how you waited to take a photo before diving in and tasting it! That took willpower!
Thank you so much for your kind words.. yes it was extremely difficult – the aroma was so fantastic. My husband couldn’t wait to eat it – he was impatient through out the photo clicking session 😛
Fabulous work dear!! All the best 🙂 <3
thank you so much dear! good luck to you too!
Thanks sweetie 🙂
Reblogged this on MAXIMUSOPTIMUSDOMINUS.
thank you Joe 🙂
I had my honeymoon is Madeira 🙂 x
Really ? So cool
Yes 🙂 your post made me smile x
I’m glad it made your day 🙂 so have you tasted it ?
Madeira cake – yes, but I’m not sure if I’ve had it with honey x yours does look lovely
Thank you so much 😘😘
Yummy😋
Thank you 🙂
Love your very unique cake! The accompanying post is very informative.Would have loved to taste it! Thanks for bringing it to FF! Earlier, I was unable to comment on your post.
Thank you so much 🙂 I wish I could let everyone try this 🙂 it’s yummy!
When you are feeling down, it is really comforting to see beautiful photos like this. Now, I am feeling a lot better.
Your cake looks absolutely gorgeous, Trupti. I’ve heard Madeira Cake, but didn’t know about the honey. Your photos are beautifully captured and your cake indeed captured my heart.
I am glad that you participated in Lin’s Rare Recipe Challenge – you did an amazing job! 🙂
That’s the sweetest thing for you to say! I so enjoyed doing this.. 🙂 btw why you feeling low my girl?
I am having a situation, but everything will be okay, I know. 🙂 Thanks for asking, my friend.x
Awww sending you warm hugs! I hope everything will be just fine for you 😘
Thank you, it means a lot. ❤️
What a fun challenge and what a lovely cake! Awesome job as always Trupti!
thank you so much my dear Lynn! you are always so encouraging.. Yes the challenge is really fun! 🙂 thanks to Lina.
Yes she is a great gal!
Loved read about Madeira Island.. great research and amazing cake.
Thanks Sri ☺️
I love the almond sun on top! Great job…the cake looks delicious Trupti!
Thank you soooo much dear ☺️
Looks lovely. I’ m sure honey must have given this cake unique sweet taste and aroma.
Thank you ☺️! Yes it surely was!!
This is so good.Thanks for the recipe.
Thank you so much for liking it. Do try it
My pleasure.I will definitely try this.
There is no honey in bolo de mel, which has to be one of the huge alterations you have made. Both honey and molasses are refered to as mell, with the full name of molasses being “Mel de cana”- Cane honey (ie sugar cane “honey”). Madeira was the location closest to Europe where sugar can flourished, hence molasses, a by product of sugar production, being so frequently used in our gastronomy. While I have no doubt this is a delicious cake, it is not remotely like Madeira’s bolo de mel.
That’s very interesting fact and thanks for sharing. 🙂 Like I also mentioned – getting information on the net about this recipe was very difficult – and as part of my trial and error this combination of ingredients worked best. Also considering the fact, i didn’t have all ingredients. I would love to taste the original cake some day! 🙂 thanks for stopping bu Juliana
Just few hours ago did this cake. The cake taste very nice, very delicious, but this is NOT the original cake recipe. Madeira island cake taste different and they not use the yeast.
Its to difficult to find original cake recipe. Anyone can share it?
Thank you for trying it Andris. I agree with you – it may not be the original recipe and was extremely difficult to find good material on internet. never having tried this before I have no reference. Tried this as part of a challenge and I had a lot of fun doing this.
What a scrumptious looking cake!! Looks like a Christmas plum cake; thanks for the share 🙂
Thank you dear 🙂
Interesting cake! Looks good with all the nuts!
Thank you so much Uma!
Never heard of this before, but seems like an interesting recipe.
I hadn’t either 😉but loved how it tastes
Awesome cake and you have explained beautifully 😊
Thanks so much Lathiya 👍🏼😊
This cake sounds delicious and scrumptious, would love a slice with a hot cuppa.
Absolutely it was so wonderful 😊 thanks for stopping by
I am drooling with your cake. Delicious one.
Trust me it was delicious 😊 thanks Jayashree
Thanks for a gorgeous recipe
Do u mean regular veg oil for shortening.
No shortening could be something like Dalda ( what we get in INdia – atleast thats the brand I know of) Else you could replace shortnening with more butter.