Bolo de Bolacha
Portuguese Coffee and Biscuit Cake
No oven is involved. Plain Maria biscuits are dipped in strong coffee and stacked with coffee buttercream, and a night in the fridge turns the layers into something you can slice. It is rich, cold and not as sweet as it sounds, because the coffee is left bitter.
It is one of the standard desserts of Portuguese homes and tascas. Both magazine recipes read build it from Maria biscuits, coffee and a buttercream made with icing sugar and raw egg yolks, finished with crushed biscuit.
Ingredients
Ingredients
- 300 g unsalted butter, very soft
- 200 g icing sugar, sifted
- 2 large egg yolks
- 3 tbsp very strong coffee, cold
- 300 g Maria biscuits
- 300 ml strong black coffee, cold, unsweetened, for dipping
Method
- Make the buttercream Beat the butter with an electric whisk for 3 minutes until pale. Add the icing sugar in three lots, beating after each. Beat in the yolks one at a time, then the 3 tbsp of coffee, a spoonful at a time, until the cream is smooth and light.
- Crush some biscuits Set aside 50 g of the biscuits and crush them to fine crumbs in a bag with a rolling pin.
- Build the layers Pour the dipping coffee into a shallow bowl. Dip a biscuit for 1 second on each side, so it is wet but not falling apart. Arrange seven biscuits on the plate, one in the middle and six around it. Spread with a thin layer of buttercream. Repeat until the biscuits are used up, keeping back enough cream to cover the top and sides.
- Cover and chill Spread the remaining buttercream over the top and sides and coat with the biscuit crumbs. Chill for at least 4 hours, or overnight, until firm enough to slice.
- Serve Take out of the fridge 15 minutes before serving and cut into thin wedges with a knife dipped in hot water.
Food safety
The buttercream contains raw egg yolks. Use British Lion-marked eggs, which UK food safety advice considers safe to eat raw, and keep the cake refrigerated. Eat within 2 days.
The butter must be properly soft or the coffee will not blend in and the cream will look curdled. If that happens, warm the bowl briefly over hot water and beat again.
A quick dip is enough. Soaked biscuits collapse.