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Bolo Souza Leão
Cassava and coconut cake
Bolo Souza Leão: Recife's dense, custardy cassava cake with coconut milk, egg yolks and butter
Named after a sugar-planter family of nineteenth-century Pernambuco, this cake is closer to a set pudding than a sponge: fresh grated cassava, coconut milk, a clove-scented syrup, butter and a generous number of egg yolks, baked slowly in a water bath until glossy and firm. In Recife it is a centrepiece at weddings, christenings and Christmas, sliced thin and eaten at room temperature with coffee. The texture is smooth, slightly sticky and very rich, so a small piece is enough. Use only sweet cassava (aipim/macaxeira) and bake it fully; cassava must never be eaten raw. The mistake people make is not squeezing the grated cassava dry, which leaves the cake watery and grey in the centre. Chef's tip: strain the batter through a fine sieve before baking; it removes the fibres and gives that silky, flan-like slice.
- Total time
- 100 min
- Difficulty
- medium
- Serves
- 12
Ingredients
For the syrup
- 14 oz sugar
- ¾ cup water
For the cake
- 2 ¼ lb fresh cassava (aipim)peeled, cored and finely grated; or 500 g frozen grated cassava, thawed
- 1 ¾ cups coconut milk
- 3 ½ oz unsalted buttermelted, plus extra for the tin
- 1 pinch salt
To serve
- ¾ cup whipped cream (optional)
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What you'll need
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Method
0/7 doneStep 1: Put 14 oz sugar, ¾ cup water, 4 whole cloves and 1 cinnamon stick in a pan and boil over a medium heat for 8 minutes, until it is a light syrup that coats a spoon. Remove the spices and leave to cool.
8 minStep 2: Wrap the grated 2 ¼ lb fresh cassava (aipim) in a clean cloth and twist hard over a bowl to squeeze out as much liquid as you can. You should have about 500 g of dry pulp; discard the liquid.
Step 3: Heat the oven to 350°F (325°F fan). Butter a 22 cm ring tin or deep round tin well and put the kettle on.
Step 4: Blend the cassava pulp with 1 ¾ cups coconut milk until smooth, then pour through a fine sieve into a bowl, pressing hard with a ladle. Discard the fibres left in the sieve.
Step 5: Whisk in the cooled syrup, 3 ½ oz unsalted butter, 8 egg yolks and 1 pinch salt until the batter is even and pale yellow.
Step 6: Pour into the tin, set it in a roasting tin and add hot water to come halfway up the sides. Bake for 60–70 minutes, until the top is golden, the cake is firm at the edges and a skewer in the centre comes out clean.
65 minStep 7: Cool completely in the tin, then chill for at least 2 hours so it sets fully. Run a knife round the edge, turn out and slice thinly; serve with ¾ cup whipped cream if you like.
Nutrition per serving
- Calories
- 360 kcal
- Protein
- 3 g
- Carbs
- 54 g
- Fat
- 15 g
- Fibre
- 1 g
Nutrition values are estimates.
KrazyBadal
Good to know
- How long does bolo Souza Leão take?
- About 100 minutes in total: 30 minutes to prepare and 70 minutes to cook.
- How many people does it serve?
- 12 as written. Change the servings above the ingredients and every amount scales to match.
- Is it vegetarian?
- Yes. It has no meat or fish.
- Is it gluten free?
- Yes, as written. Check the labels on stock, sauces and spice mixes, which sometimes contain gluten.
- What can I use instead of sugar?
- Caster sugar, same amount.
- What can I use instead of whole cloves?
- Ground cloves, ¼ tsp for every 3 whole cloves.
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