Bolo de Bolacha
A Portuguese no bake cake of layers of Maria biscuits dipped in coffee and coffee buttercream, chilled overnight.
Photograph credit: Bolo de bolacha (image of Bolo de bolacha on Wikidata Q110776121) by Eu Amo Portugal · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Wikimedia Commons · this resized copy is shared under the same licence
Does a cake need an oven? Not this one. Bolo de bolacha is the Portuguese biscuit cake, a tall stack of Maria biscuits dipped in coffee and layered with a rich buttercream, and it is the cake most often made for children's birthdays, since nothing about it has to be baked.
The cream is just butter, sugar, egg yolk and strong coffee, beaten together until light and smooth. Use butter at room temperature, so that it whips, and beat for a full 5 minutes. Dip each biscuit in the cold coffee for only a second, no more, as it softens fast and falls apart in the dish. Lay the dipped biscuits in a single layer on a serving plate and cover with a thin layer of cream.
Repeat until you have used all the biscuits and cream, ending with a layer of cream. Cover and chill overnight so that the biscuits soften to a cake like texture. Decorate with crushed biscuits or chocolate shavings. Cut with a sharp knife, in slices as you would a gateau. It keeps for 4 days in the fridge.
What People Ask
How long does Bolo de Bolacha take to make?
25 minutes of preparation and of cooking, plus 8 hours of Chilling, so allow 8 hours 25 minutes from start to finish. The recipe serves 8.
How to Make Bolo de Bolacha
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Beat the butter and icing sugar for 5 minutes until pale. Beat in the egg yolk and the 2 tablespoons of coffee.
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Dip a biscuit in the cooled coffee for 1 second and lay it on a plate. Repeat to make a layer of biscuits.
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Spread with a thin layer of cream. Repeat with the biscuits and cream, ending with cream.
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Cover and chill overnight.
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Decorate with the chocolate and cut into slices.
Related guide: Prep, cook and total time.
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A Few Pointers
- Dip the biscuits for only a second.
- Beat the butter until light.
- Chill overnight for the best texture.
Serve It With
Coffee · Tea · Port
Storage
Keeps for 4 days in the fridge.
What's in a Serving
Per serving, an approximate calculation from the ingredient list. Treat it as a rough guide: part of the energy comes from foods, or weights per item, with no recorded source. How the figures are worked out.
Your notes on this recipe
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Compiled by Turab
Checked by script for timings, diet labels and nutrition arithmetic. How the recipes are checked. Found a mistake? Tell us.
First published ; last changed .
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