Bolo de Massa de Pão

Description: Cake prepared with bread dough, sugar, eggs, honey, coffee, olive oil, a glass of Port wine, a spoonful of chocolate, a teaspoon of bicarbonate of soda, fennel, cinnamon and orange zest. It is a large, round-shaped cake, with or without a hole, dark in color and with a moist interior texture.

Region: Algarve.

Other denominations: Honey Cake. Rotten cake.

Particularity: Large, dark-colored cake made with bread dough.

History: It is said that this traditional cake from the mountainous ar-eas gave rise to the famous Madeira Cake, which is most likely nothing more than an oral tradition, based on the fact that a large part of the Madeiran population is of Algarve origin. The cake is actually part of the traditional mountain confection of cakes made from bread dough.

Use: It is done throughout the year, but it is more common to be done on the occasion of any festive date.

Know-how: All the other ingredients are added to the bread dough and only at the end is the olive oil added. The ingredients are first mixed by hand, until it is possible to stir the dough with a wooden spoon. The dough will be baked, either in a greased pan lined with parchment paper, or in a hole pan that is also greased and lined.

Source: Produtos Tradicionais Portugueses, Lisboa, DGDR, 2001