Honey Cake with White Brigadeiro Filling Covered with Chocolate Ganache - Bolo Pão de Mel

Honey cake (pão de mel, in Portuguese) is a very typical treat in Brazil. The pleasure provided from this cake started early on the oven, when the smell of sweet and spices swirl around the kitchen and coming to you. This pleasure is completed after a very moist cake slice, with lots of honey and clove savor. 

This recipe is from the notebook that my dear friend Hugo gave to me. It was one of the first recipes that I tried and immediately it became one of my specialties. You can fill it with custards, brigadeiros, caramel creams, nuts or dried fruits. Today I used a white brigadeiro filling that harmonized perfectly with the chocolate and spices flavors. It is perfect for parties when prepared as cupcakes and mini discs.

Honey Cake

1 cup honey

1 Tb whole cloves, 1 cinnamon sticks, 1 Tb fennel seeds and 1 cup water to make an infusion.

1 cup brown sugar

1 cup cold whole milk

3 cups all purpose flour

3 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder

1 tablespoon cinnamon

1 teaspoon ground cloves

1 teaspoon ground ginger

Pinch of salt        

1 teaspoon baking soda

Grated nutmeg 

For the cake, preheat oven 350 F.
Make the spices infusion: in a small saucepan, combine the water, cloves, fennel seeds and cinnamon stick. Bring the mixture to a boil then lower the heat and simmer for a few minutes until the mixture is fragrant. Pour into a cup through a fine mesh sieve and discard the spices. Place honey, sugar and cocoa powder in a bowl and mix with a wooden spoon until well combine. Dissolve baking soda in milk. Then add the spices infusion, milk and flour and mix until well combined. Add remaining ingredients and mix until smooth.  Pour the batter in a greased and floured pan and bake for approx. 40 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the cake come out clean.

White Brigadeiro Filling

1 can sweetened condensed milk

4 egg yolks

1 can table cream or 8 fl oz/ 240ml heavy cream

Pour the condensed milk into a medium saucepan and place over low heat.

Add the eggs. Stir the mixture until it starts to show the bottom of the pan while you scrape it with a spoon. The mixture should be thick enough to show the bottom of the pan for a few seconds before the mixture back again. Transfer to a greased bowl. When the Brigadeiro mixture is at room temperature, add the cream and mix until combine. Place it in the fridge until decoration.

Chocolate Ganache

400g milk chocolate, chopped

200g dark chocolate, chopped

1 can table cream or 8 fl oz/240ml heavy cream

Melt the chocolate in the cream in a bain marie. Lower-fat crean like light cream, half-and-half, and evaporated milk tend to "break" or curdle when added to sauces. To prevent this from happening, heat the cream over low or medium heat in a bain marie before add the chocolate. Don't let the cream boil.  Whisk until you have a thick cream consistency. Pour over the cake. 


This recipe was featured on Foodbuzz Top 9 : June 10, 2011

Cupcakes and Cake Pops

For my second post, I'll write about the first sweets that I made.
Some weeks ago I got kids at home. To please then I decided to make cupcakes and cake pops:

The cupcake doesn’t look good, but it tasted great. I used a recipe from a book I bought recently: vanilla cake with chocolate chips and white chocolate frosting. I decided to give a Brazilian taste filling then with “brigadeiro”, a very popular creamy chocolate candy served in parties in Brazil. The “brigadeiro” was responsible for the almost success of my cupcakes. Almost success because my frosting was a disaster! My first attempt was the buttercream. I did everything wrong and I got a moistened stuff. I cried… So I decided to make a white chocolate ganache, which worked well.

Cake pops are a success here in the US. They are perfect to any occasion and are amazing additions to the dessert table at holiday parties, birthday parties, baby and bridal showers. Bakerella, who create those cute delights, is launching a book now, named “Cake Pops”. 

If you didn’t know cake pops, here are some photos from her website:

And here a video of her explaining how to make pops:

It’s really easy: bake a cake, mush it up with frosting, roll it into balls, insert a stick, dip it in chocolate and decorate with sprinkles.

I didn’t have problems with the cake pops because I made a very simple model, using a simple chocolate cake and, instead the frosting, I used “brigadeiro”, the same one that I used before. I made the balls and put in the fridge for several hours to become firm. Then I covered with melted chocolate and decorated with colored sugar.

To receive my dear guests, I prepared this table:

I made Brazilian cheese bread, but I forgot it in this photo. Cheese bread is another specialty of Brazilian gastronomy, but this will deserve its own post and, of course, some photos.

And this is my painting that I wish my cupcake looked like. I painted with pastel pencil for the first time and was a great pleasure. After several years without painting I restart one of my passions.

Brigadeiro

1 can sweetened condensed milk

4 tablespoon chocolate mix

 ½ tablespoon butter

In a medium saucepan over medium heat, combine chocolate, butter and condensed milk. Cook, stirring until it thickens, about 10 minutes. Remove from heat and let rest until cool enough to make balls with the cake or filling your cupcake.

In Brazil we used to do smalls balls with "brigadeiro". To do the balls cook the mixture until it thickens enough to show the pan bottom during stirring. Pour the mixture in a lightly greased dish and let it cool to room temperature. Now you are ready to form the little balls, remember to grease your hands with butter first. Roll it over chocolate sprinkles and place the balls in candy cups (small size).