The Portuguese have a way with the sweet things – they do things to sugar in such an sneaky way that one can be forgiven for being suspicious of them and their Chrismas cake is no exception.  Bolo Rei is a sweet cake that pretends to be a bread and decorated with candied fruit and nuts, but  not quite . The cake was, once upon a time, made exclusively for Christmas and for Kings Day but it was so good that they don’t reserve it only for these two days anymore.  Nowadays one can buy it anywhere from the end of November to the middle of January, by which time everyone has had so much that they simply can’t anymore.

It was inspired, some time in the 19th century, by the French Galette des Rois and very quickly became popular in Lisbon, Porto and the rest of the country. Inside the the cake, for the sake of the children, a fava bean is hidden. There are many traditions associated with the bean, some say that whoever gets the bean, has to buy the next cake, others that the finder of the bean is the King of the celebration, or has to host the celebration and so on Nowadays, many parents have discarded the bean in favour of a little gift for the children.

Ingredients

• 750g plain flour
• 30g baker’s yeast
• 150 g butter
• 150 g caster sugar
• 150 g crystallized fruits chopped roughly
• 150 g dried fruits and pine nuts or walnuts
• 4 eggs
• 1 lemon, zest only
• 1 orange
, zest only
• 100 ml Port
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 dried fava bean
• 1 toy wrapped in greaseproof paper

Decoration

• 1 egg yolk
• large pieces of crystallized fruits
• Handful pine nuts and halved walnuts
• 3 crushed sugar cubes (sugar crystals)

Method

• Soak the chopped crystallized fruit & dried fruit in the port
• Dissolve the yeast in 100 ml tepid water and add a cup of the flour, mixing well – leave it to rise in a warm place for 15 minutes
• Meanwhile, cream the butter and sugar and the lemon and orange zest
• Add the eggs one by one, mixing well between each addition and then the yeast & flour and the remaining flour and the salt
• Make sure the everything is well combined
• Mix and knead the dough so that it is smooth, shiny and elastic.
• If it’s a little stiff, add a little warm milk.
• Mix in the soaked fruits and mould into a ball.
• Smother the dough in a little flour and cover with a clean cloth.
• Leave in a warm place for 5 hours to rise where it should double in volume.
• When well risen, knead the dough back into a slightly flattened ball on a greased baking tray.
• Open a hole in the centre of the ball and stand an empty jam jar in the gap, in order to keep the ring open during cooking.
• Add the broad bean and trinket by pushing them into the dough at random positions.
• Glaze the dough with egg yolk and arrange the large pieces of crystallized fruit on top of the ring.
• Finally sprinkle the nuts and crushed sugar on top of the dough and cook at 180°C for 40 min or until firm and golden.
• Test with a skewer – it should slide out clean when fully cooked.