This is the recipe for the traditional madeira honey cake (made usually on Christmas but also all round the year on the island of Madeira and named originally in Portuguese, bolo de mel.
Ingredients:
- 9 ounces (250 g) bread dough from the baker's shop
- 90 ounces (2.5 kg) flour
- 35 ounces (1 kg) sugar
- 26 ounces (750 g) '\'banha'', this is pork fat
- 17 ounces (500 g) butter
- 1 ounce (25 g) erva-doce, this is anise herbs, mashed and sifted
- 1.75 ounce (50 g) canela, which is cinnamon
- 1 ounce (25 g) cravinho da india, which are cloves in powder form
- 17 ounces (500 g) walnut, cut into halves
- 9 ounces (250 g) almonds, ground in the cutter
- 1.75 ounce (50 g) candied lemon peel, cut into cubes
- 60 ounces (1.8 l) pure honey
- 5 Tablespoons of bicarbonate of soda, (dissolved in the Madeira Wine)
- 1 cup of Madeira Wine
- juice and zest of 4 orangess
In Madeira these honey cakes are made on 8 December, the day of Mary's Conception, because tradition says this cake is only good for Xmas if it is made on this day.
It is a custom to make enough of this cake in order to have some during the whole year. Once cooled down and thoroughly wrapped into vegetable paper it remains good until next Xmas without losing quality or taste.
Another tradition surrounding this cake is that it is not cut with knives but by hand and also eaten by hand, nothing more than a usual tradition but very respected among Madeira locals.