Português 
English (UK) 
Description: Dark-colored cake that is conferred by honey-de-cane, marquetry of cider, walnut and almond kernels. It is decorated, at the top, with almonds and walnuts. It is shaped like a low cylinder, with a variable diameter and weight. It is marketed wrapped in tracing paper or plastic. The ingredients are wheat flour, nuts, sugarcane honey, sugar, butter, corn flour, cured cider, spices and bicarbonate of soda.
Region: Autonomous Region of Madeira.
Other denominations: Sugarcane Honey Cake.
Particularity: Cake with a characteristic flavor, as a result of the use of sugarcane honey and different spices.
History: It is a characteristic Christmas cake, traditionally made, and its presence in every home is essential during this festive season. It was «invented» in Madeira, with the introduction of sugar cane. Its confection began in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, in a simpler way than that used in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, successively using European spices, those from India and finally soda (Diário de Notícias, 24/04/89). According to Eduardo Pereira, "... after discovering the Land of Spices... the impou cake, sea-soned with the strangest appetizers, tender and crumbly, flavored with oriental essences, ornamented with alfenin arabesques, marquetry of cider, walnut kernels, almonds and raisins...». In a menu relating to the triennium from 1813 to 1815, reference is made to a series of sweets, including the Sugarcane Honey Cake, in quantities measured by a bushel, to celebrate great religious solemnities and their octaves. The offering of the Sugarcane Honey Cake for Christmas was a Malga ostentation, an exquisite courtesy treat that extended and generalized. Tradition, taken as a rule in several Madeiran houses, dictates that this cake must be prepared on December 8 so that it is good at Christmas (Diário de Notícias, Funchal, 24/04/89).
Use: It is a traditional cake, indispensable at Christmas time. It should be broken by hand and accompanied by liqueurs or Madeira wine. This cake can be naturally preserved for several months, maintaining its excellent qualities.
Know-how: The different ingredients are mixed, not forgetting the sugarcane honey. For the end, there are fruits (walnuts, cider, al-monds) and spices (cinnamon, cloves, cloves, fennel powder, gin-ger). As far as this cake is concerned, there is a wide variety of family recipes that are religiously kept.
Source: Produtos Tradicionais Portugueses, Lisboa, DGDR, 2001
