Toucinho do Ceu
A dense Portuguese cake of ground almonds, egg yolks and sugar syrup, baked for 40 minutes at 180C until golden.
Photograph credit: Toucinhoceu by Chedlund808 · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Wikimedia Commons · this resized copy is shared under the same licence
The name means bacon from heaven, and the cake has no bacon, though in old convent recipes pork fat was used. Toucinho do céu is a dense, moist Portuguese cake, rich in almonds and egg yolks, made in the convents where nuns had egg whites for starching their habits, and so cooked many yolks.
Boil sugar and water together for 5 minutes until the syrup is thick, then stir in the ground almonds and let the mixture cool for 10 minutes. Do not add the yolks while the mixture is hot, because they scramble in an instant. Beat the egg yolks and whole eggs together, then stir them in with a little lemon zest and a pinch of cinnamon.
Pour into a well buttered and floured tin and bake at 180°C / 355°F for 40 minutes, until the top is a deep gold and the cake has begun to pull away from the sides. It should still be very moist inside. Cool in the tin, turn out, and dust with icing sugar. Serve in thin slices, since it is very rich. It keeps for a week and tastes better after two days.
Toucinho do Ceu: Step by Step
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Heat the oven to 180°C / 355°F and butter and flour a 22 cm tin.
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Boil the sugar and water for 5 minutes until thick. Stir in the almonds and cool for 10 minutes.
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Beat the yolks and eggs together and stir into the almond mix with the zest and cinnamon.
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Pour into the tin and bake for 40 minutes until deep gold.
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Cool in the tin, turn out and dust with the icing sugar.
Related guide: Pan and tin size.
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Tips That Matter
- Cool the syrup mix before adding the eggs.
- Cut in thin slices.
- Leave for two days for the best flavour.
Serve It With
Coffee · Port · Whipped cream
Leftovers and Storage
Keeps for 1 week in a tin.
Nutrition per Serving
Per serving, calculated from the ingredient list with USDA FoodData Central figures (SR Legacy). A calculation, not a laboratory analysis: brands, cuts and how you measure change the real numbers. How the figures are worked out.
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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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