Dona Amélia cakes
Terceira island presents itself as a true charm when it comes to gastronomy, promising to delight anyone.
If you had already been delighted with its famous Alcatra, it’s because you haven’t had the opportunity to try the Dona Amélia cakes yet. Dona Amélia cakes, or also known as Dona Amélia cheesecakes, are dark corn cakes, covered with confectionery sugar and have an intense aroma of cinnamon and cane honey.
Conventual sweet from Terceira island adapted to another existing sweet (Bolo da Índia), which was also made with spices in 1901. It acquired its name when Queen D. Amélia and King D. Carlos visited the Azores for the first time. The inhabitants of the island offered the cake to the king and queen as a way of thanking them for their visit and they thought it would be good to give the queen’s name to the sweet, in the form of a tribute. It is known that the queen loved the cakes so much that they were named after her.
Although it is adapted from an existing recipe, the candy presents its greatest richness through the spices it uses in its confection (cinnamon and nutmeg), which very well make reference to the importance that Terceira island had in the development of the spices trade throughout the history of the kingdom of Portugal.
The most interesting, besides its magnificent flavour, is that in this article you will learn how cakes can be made without confection. Wonderful, don’t you think?
Ingredients:
500g of sugar;
9 egg yolks;
4 egg whites;
200g melted butter;
200g cornflour;
1 tablespoon cinnamon powder;
6 tablespoons cane honey;
100g sultanas;
50g of cider, as thin as possible;
1 little salt;
1 dessert spoon of nutmeg;
Preparation:
To start, first beat the yolks with the sugar, thus creating a thick dough. Then add the cinnamon, sultanas, cider, nutmeg, lemon zest and salt. When you have added all these ingredients, beat again until a uniform mixture is obtained. As you beat the sweet paste, choose to add the butter, the egg whites, the flour and the honey.
When all is well beaten and you see that the paste is in a finished mode, start by putting the paste into cheesy forms. The tins should be well greased (in butter preferably and with flour). Once all these steps have been completed, take the tins to the oven. When properly baked, remove them carefully from the tins and sprinkle icing sugar on top to taste.
Dona Amélia cakes – CRAA