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Bolo de arroz
Portuguese rice-flour muffin cakes in their tall paper collars
Bolos de arroz are the tall, sugar-crusted cakes standing in their paper wrappers in every Portuguese café cabinet, from Porto's breakfast counters to the pastelarias of Lisbon's neighbourhoods. Despite the name they are mostly wheat flour, with a share of rice flour that gives a fine, slightly sandy, springy crumb, perfumed with lemon zest. People have one with a galão mid-morning or for lanche, the afternoon snack, peeling the paper down as they go. Chef's tip: wrap a strip of baking paper around the inside of each muffin hole so it stands 3 cm above the rim; the batter climbs up it and you get the tall, straight-sided shape.
- Total time
- 40 min
- Difficulty
- easy
- Serves
- 10
Ingredients
For the batter
For the top
Method
0/7 doneStep 1: Heat the oven to 375°F (350°F fan). Line a 10–12 hole muffin tin with paper cases, with a 6 cm strip of baking paper standing up around the inside of each.
Step 2: Beat 4 ½ oz unsalted butter, 6 ½ oz caster sugar and 1 lemon with an electric whisk until pale and fluffy.
4 minStep 3: Beat in 3 eggs one at a time, beating well after each, until the mixture is light and thick.
3 minStep 4: Mix 5 ½ oz plain flour, 3 ½ oz rice flour and 2 tsp baking powder. Fold half into the batter, then ¾ cup whole milk, then the rest of the flour, stopping as soon as no dry streaks remain. Overmixing is the common mistake here: it makes the cakes tough and domed with cracks.
2 minStep 5: Fill each case two-thirds full and sprinkle generously with 2 tbsp granulated sugar.
Step 6: Bake until risen well above the tin, golden on top with a crackly sugar crust, and a skewer pushed into the middle comes out clean.
25 minStep 7: Cool in the tin for 5 minutes, then on a rack. Keep in a tin for up to 2 days.
Nutrition per serving
- Calories
- 280 kcal
- Protein
- 5 g
- Carbs
- 40 g
- Fat
- 11 g
- Fibre
- 1 g
Nutrition values are estimates.
KrazyBadal
Good to know
- How long does bolo de arroz take?
- About 40 minutes in total: 15 minutes to prepare and 25 minutes to cook.
- How many people does it serve?
- 10 as written. Change the servings above the ingredients and every amount scales to match.
- Is it vegetarian?
- Yes. It has no meat or fish.
- What can I use instead of unsalted butter?
- The same weight of ghee or coconut oil (for frying and most baking).
- What can I use instead of caster sugar?
- Caster sugar, same amount.
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