Pão de Ló de Alfeizerão (Creamy Portuguese Sponge Cake)

on



This traditional, Portuguese version of a sponge cake is my absolute favorite. I fell in love with it the first time I tried it at my mother-in-law's house in the summer of 2009 when we first moved to Portugal. And now during this Easter break she decided to make this dessert for our Sunday Easter lunch when lent was finally over and we could go back to enjoying our sweet tooth's vices. 😋

The sponge cake is a cake that was created by the Genoese cook Giovan Battista Cabona. His original recipe was made with eggs, sugar and wheat flour and without yeast or syrup. In Italy, it is called Pan di Spagna, in honor of King Fernando VI of Spain. In Portugal, there are modified versions of the sponge cake recipe that have become symbols of these regions, such as Alfeizerão, Ovar, Guimarães, Margaride (Felgueiras) and Arouca. Fun fact for Pia who lives in Japan: The first Portuguese who arrived in Japan in the 16th century brought the recipe of a type of sponge cake called Pão de Castela that became one of the most typical sweets in Japan – Kasutera. Viva Portugal! 

The Alfeizerão version is very different from any other sponge cake I have ever tried in that it is not only super light and fluffy, but also very creamy in the middle and melts in your mouth when you take a bite. Perhaps it is because the recipe includes 2 dozens of eggs! Not kidding! 😲

The story goes that the Pão de Ló de Alfeizerão recipe has its origin in the Monastery of Santa Maria de Coz, a female Cistercian convent founded in the 12th century by the abbot of Alcobaça em Coz, Dom Fernando. At the beginning of the 19th century, persecutions of religious orders and the consequent closure of the convent led some nuns to take refuge in the village of Alfeizerão (a little over an hour drive north of Lisbon, close to the coast) and it was there that they shared the recipe with the local village women. The women started making the sponge cake during festive days. One day King Carlos paid a visit to Alfeizerão and was presented with this delicacy. However, for some reason the cake turned out incomplete (I suppose because it collapsed and was creamy in the middle), but luckily and contrary to expectations, it was a huge success. The King loved it! The Pão de Ló de Afeizerão was thus discovered.

I hope you all enjoy it and that you're able to make it to that "incomplete" perfection that makes it so darn delicious.

Beijinhos, Helena

Ingredients (2 cakes):

  • 24 eggs (5 of them use both egg white and egg yolk, 19 of them use only the egg yolk)
  • 350 g sugar
  • Barely 1 tablespoon of all purpose flour



Directions:
  1. Pre-heat the oven to 220ºC.
  2. Put the eggs and the sugar into a mixer and mix intensely for 10 min. until the batter is pale in color, fluffy and double in size.
  3. Sift the flour into the mix and fold with a spatula just until incorporated.
  4. Pour the mixture into two round pans (26cm/10in. diameter) lined with parchment paper.



  5. Bake each cake separately for 7 minutes.
  6. Remove from the oven and place over a cooling rack to cool completely.


  7. If you shake the pan carefully, it should be very jiggly in the middle.
  8. Let it rest for a few hours or serve the next day. Always leave it out, never keep it in the fridge.
  9. When you cut it open, it should have a soft, liquidy center kind of like the Petit Gâteau.

 

Comments

Post a Comment