As soon as the first Christmas decorations hit the Portuguese shops you’re bound to see it in most cafés, pastry shops and supermarkets: “bolo rei” (“king cake”).
“Bolo rei” has a soft texture (similar to brioche) and it’s filled with candied fruits and hazelnuts, pine nuts, sultanas and almonds. The top is decorated with brightly coloured candied fruits and lumps of sugar to give the appearance of precious stones in a crown. When it’s well made it’s delicious!
Although this cake is a fairly recent import, it conquered a place at the table of most Portuguese families around this time of the year. Originally a French recipe (galette des rois), first produced in Portugal in the late 19th century by Confeitaria Nacional (in Lisbon), there are several variants today. The most famous one is “bolo rainha” (“queen cake”), which is like “bolo rei” but without the candied fruits. Then there’s the variant with “fios de ovos“, the one with chocolate, the one with red fruits and… When does it stop being “bolo rei”, anyway?!
Until the mid 1990’s “bolo rei” came with two extras: a dried fava bean and a small metal trinket. If your slice had the fava bean, that meant you’d have to pay for next year’s “bolo rei”; if you got the prize, well, so much the better for you (only kids usually cared about it, obviously). Apparently, there were cases of people choking or breaking teeth with these things, so they became strictly forbidden (food’s not supposed to be dangerous).
If you ever come across “bolo rei” do give it a try! 😉
Enjoy!
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