174 Portuguese cakes and sweet breads
The catalogue’s largest family: pão-de-ló, broas, celebration cakes, yeast doughs, biscuits and baked regional specialities.
“Bolo” is an extraordinarily broad category in Portugal. It includes runny-centred or dry pão-de-ló, dense honey-and-nut cakes, festive yeast doughs, broas, biscuits and small cakes associated with particular towns, saints or trades.
Diversity comes from ingredients and oven technique alike: whipped eggs lift pão-de-ló; fermentation creates sweet breads; honey, olive oil, pumpkin, chestnut, almond and spice mark regions and seasons. No family better shows the scale of Portugal’s sweet archive.
174 Portuguese cakes and sweet breads
Open each record for origin, ingredients, flavour, history, variations, season, where to try it and sources.
Portuguese icon Vieira do Minho Cone Wafers
Paper-thin crisp wafers, iron-baked and rolled by hand while still hot.
The North
Portuguese icon Oliveira de Azeméis Beijinhos
Small, irregular regional cakes, golden beneath a thin white coating.
The North
Portuguese icon Saint Benedict Chestnut Biscuits
Ridged chestnut-and-honey biscuits inspired by the sanctuary of São Bento da Porta Aberta.
The North
Portuguese icon Valongo Trilobite Biscuit
Cocoa, ginger and Valongo's biscuit craft moulded into a Palaeozoic fossil.
The North
Portuguese icon Viana Biscuits
Thin milk-and-butter biscuits, dry and crisp, documented for more than a century.
The North
Portuguese icon Lamego Filled Bread
Lamego's low rectangular enriched bread, filled with cured meats or fish.
The North
Portuguese icon Vizela Bolinhol
The rectangular sponge cake dressed in sugar.
The North
Portuguese icon Love Cakes
Soft little balls of egg and sugar, scented with lemon — the sweet of Penafiel's São Martinho fair.
The North
Portuguese icon Armamar Apple Cakes
Small round mountain-apple, walnut and coconut cakes, flour-dusted, fissured and oven-baked.
The North
Portuguese icon Cinfães Butter Cakes (Matulos)
Yeasted butter cakes, baked golden and coated in a pale sugar glaze.
The North
Portuguese icon Trás-da-Matriz Cakes
Simple Ponte de Lima cakes scented with olive oil and orange.
The North
Portuguese icon Ponte da Barca White Cake
A pale sponge-and-egg cake tied to Ponte da Barca’s older sweet tradition.
The North
Portuguese icon Santa Maria da Feira Almond Cake
Two moist almond layers joined with egg-and-butter cream.
The North
Portuguese icon Valongo Biscuit Cake
Chilled layers of traditional Valongo biscuits, coffee and yolk-enriched buttercream.
The North
Portuguese icon Arcos de Valdevez Almond Disc Cake
Thin almond-meringue discs stacked with generous layers of ovos moles.
The North
Portuguese icon Terras da Nóbrega Honey Cake
A rectangular honey-and-walnut cake created in Ponte da Barca to celebrate the area's produce.
The North
Portuguese icon Cávado Breeze Pastries
Vanilla boats with egg custard and a chocolate cap.
The North
Portuguese icon Cães do Marco Sweet-Dough Dogs
Little white dough dogs, keepsakes from the old fairs of Marco.
The North
Portuguese icon Caladinhos
Light egg, sugar and flour cakes—round, pale and delicately crisp.
The North
Portuguese icon Ponte da Barca Capuchinhos
A hand-folded square puff-pastry parcel filled with egg, honey and chestnut.
The North
Portuguese icon Arouca Cavacas
Oval regional cakes, wrinkled by a wood-fired oven and covered with a white sugar shell.
The North
Portuguese icon Margaride Cavacas
Small round yolk cakes, light as sponge and hand-swirled with white icing.
The North
Portuguese icon Resende Cavacas
Sponge cake drenched in syrup, dressed in white sugar.
The North
Portuguese icon Marco Cavacas
Pale ridged cavacas sold in large and small sizes around Marco.
The North
Portuguese icon Portuguese Cepo Chocolate Cake
A roulade slice with sweet egg cream, chocolate and a geometric golden window.
The North
Portuguese icon Tabosa do Carregal Fálgaros
A large unsweetened festive bake of flour, eggs and fresh cheese, made in the village's communal oven.
The North
Portuguese icon Braga Fidalguinhos
The interlaced biscuit that mocks the dangling legs of the nobility.
The North
Portuguese icon Viana Handkerchief Pastry
A sweet folded like a handkerchief, documented at pastry shops in the Viana do Castelo municipality.
The North
Portuguese icon Ponte da Barca Magalhães
A pointed open puff-pastry boat with a dense walnut-and-honey filling.
The North
Portuguese icon Ponte de Lima Maravilha Cake
Layers of sponge, apple, honey, cider and walnut beneath rice pudding marked with a cinnamon bridge.
The North
Portuguese icon Arouca Melindres
Small fluffy egg cakes covered all over with white sugar glaze.
The North
Portuguese icon Cabeceiras de Basto Miguelitos
Crisp yellow-bean and Vinho Verde rolls filled with egg and honey.
The North
Portuguese icon Braga Patience Biscuits
Tiny round, dry and crisp sugar-and-egg biscuits.
The North
Portuguese icon Arouca Glazed Sponge Cake
Light sponge cake sold in slices under a white sugar glaze.
The North
Portuguese icon Guimarães Lemon Sponge Cake
A light golden Guimarães sponge fragrant with lemon zest.
The North
Portuguese icon Margaride Sponge Cake
An exceptionally light, dry ring sponge, clay-baked and traditionally torn by hand.
The North
Portuguese icon Burguês Meringue Pão-de-ló
A square sponge cake with a creamy middle and a tall crown of crystallised meringue.
The North
Portuguese icon Celorico de Basto Pão-de-ló
A large ring-shaped sponge with a dark crust and a very moist golden centre.
The North
Portuguese icon Fafe Sponge Cake
A tall, dry and very fluffy yolk-rich sponge baked in paper inside earthenware forms.
The North
Portuguese icon Soajo Pão-de-ló
A tall ring sponge with a pale crust and a yellow crumb moister than the standard style.
The North
Portuguese icon Vale de São Domingos Sponge Cake
A rectangular, exceptionally soft and creamy sponge cake made individually with eggs, sugar and flour.
The North
Portuguese icon Vimioso Almond Tarts
A Trás-os-Montes tart with an almost transparent shell and moist egg-yolk-and-almond filling.
The North
Portuguese icon Arouca Pedras Parideiras Cakes
Small rye-and-walnut cakes with sugar glaze, inspired by one of Arouca's remarkable geosites.
The North
Portuguese icon Santo Tirso Pivetes
The small rustic dry biscuits sold by the bag at Confeitaria Moura.
The North
Portuguese icon Ponte da Barca Orange Queijadas
A small tart with a layered rim and golden orange centre, preserved for generations by the Pimenta family.
The North
Portuguese icon Oliveira de Azeméis Carrot Queijadinhas
Small shell-free queijadas with no cheese, moist with carrot and scented with orange and cinnamon.
The North
Portuguese icon Régua Rabelo Boat Cakes
Little sweet boats of rice, maize and almond, with a mast and sail above golden strands.
The North
Portuguese icon Régua Candies
Amber sugar-and-lemon candies, hand-cut and sold by the Rebuçadeiras.
The North
Portuguese icon Ul Sweet Regueifa
A cinnamon sweet bread opened by hand into a ring and baked in a wood-fired oven.
The North
Portuguese icon Citânia Rock Pastries
An almond-and-coconut pastry with a craggy crown recalling the stonework of ancient Citânia de Sanfins.
The North
Portuguese icon Pilar Rock Cakes
Small egg, coconut and almond cakes dusted white like pale rocks.
The North
Portuguese icon Braga Iron Biscuits
Thin gridded biscuits pressed in a hinged iron.
The North
Portuguese icon Braga Cream Tíbias
An elongated ridged pastry shell split and filled with cream.
The North
Portuguese icon Santo Tirso Tirsense
The small filled round tart of century-old Confeitaria Moura.
The North
Portuguese icon Oliveira de Azeméis Zamacóis
A highly puffed, yolk-rich little cake enclosed in a crisp white shell.
The North
Portuguese icon Teixeira Biscuit
The faithful companion of every Douro fair and pilgrimage.
Trás-os-Montes
Portuguese icon Douro Port-Soaked Cake
A rich egg-and-butter cake soaked while hot in a generous Port-wine syrup.
Trás-os-Montes
Portuguese icon Canelões of Peredo dos Castelhanos
Thin cinnamon wafers, iron-pressed and rolled while still warm.
Trás-os-Montes
Portuguese icon Moncorvo Dark Cinnamon Cake
A dark home-baked cinnamon and aguardente cake for weddings and christenings.
Trás-os-Montes
Portuguese icon Bragança Súplicas
Crisp on one side, pillowy on the other — the sweet once begged for at fairs and offered at weddings.
Trás-os-Montes
Portuguese icon Ílhavo Piped Butter Biscuits
Regional buttery biscuits piped into deeply ridged rings and curves.
The Centre
Portuguese icon Saint Friar Gil’s Saddlebags
The small saddlebag-shaped pastry created at Vouzela’s vocational school and recognised as an innovative sweet.
The Centre
Portuguese icon Arrufada de Coimbra
Coimbra's light, fragrant sweet bread, given by godparents at Easter.
The Centre
Portuguese icon Anadia Bairradinos
A Bairrada sparkling-wine, almond and egg sweet shaped like a cork.
The Centre
Portuguese icon Mondegão Olive-Oil Biscuit
A tall rustic biscuit scented with lemon and Mondegão olive oil.
The Centre
Portuguese icon Chestnut Biscuit
A brown biscuit that brings Penedono chestnuts into the pastry case.
The Centre
Portuguese icon Coimbra Academic Biscuits
Tiny butter-biscuit books filled with Coimbra peach preserve.
The Centre
Portuguese icon Guarda Biscuits
Rustic little volcano-shaped cakes baked in the bread oven's heat.
The Centre
Portuguese icon Escalhão Biscuits
Oval bran-flecked cakes with hot olive oil and brandy, baked in a wood-fired oven.
The Centre
Portuguese icon Louriçal Olive-Oil Biscuits
Pale figure-eight rusks made from bread dough and mild olive oil.
The Centre
Portuguese icon Alhadas Sweet Bread
An artisanal lemon-and-cinnamon sweet bread guarded by a secret family recipe.
The Centre
Portuguese icon Ançã Sweet Bread
A lightly sweet, soft golden Easter bread marked by little crests.
The Centre
Portuguese icon Loriga Black Cake
Portuguese with a faint English accent, stained with cinnamon.
The Centre
Portuguese icon Arouca Pumpkin Broa
A rustic yellow-golden sweet broa made with pumpkin from the Freita Mountains.
The Centre
Portuguese icon Loriga White-Maize Broa
A white-maize broa born in Loriga's communal ovens.
The Centre
Portuguese icon Arganil Sweet-Potato Broa
A tall sweet-potato and white-maize broa born in Côja's old communal ovens.
The Centre
Portuguese icon Paper-Thin Cacos Biscuits
Almost transparent biscuit squares, exceptionally thin, delicate and crisp.
The Centre
Portuguese icon Calafates Walnut Cakes
The rustic walnut cake honouring the craftsmen who maintained the Tagus boats.
The Centre
Portuguese icon Aveiro Chocolate Sponge Cartridges
A chocolate-sponge cylinder filled with ovos-moles and crowned with egg threads.
The Centre
Portuguese icon Luso Sugar-Glazed Cavacas
Airy egg-white and olive-oil cavacas baked in shallow moulds and dipped in sugar syrup.
The Centre
Portuguese icon Viseu Wine-Bowl Cavacas
Large hollow sugar-glazed cavacas once used for drinking wine at pilgrim fairs.
The Centre
Portuguese icon Guarda D. Sancho
A rye-pastry crescent filled with egg cream and a hint of Serra da Estrela cheese.
The Centre
Portuguese icon Condeixa-a-Nova Escarpiada
Folded bread dough with olive oil, brown sugar and cinnamon, enclosing its own sweet syrup.
The Centre
Portuguese icon Montemor-o-Velho Sweet Corn Ears
Long ridged maize-and-wheat cakes shaped like golden ears of corn.
The Centre
Portuguese icon Tábua Sweet Farinheira
A sweet flour, sugar and cinnamon sausage, smoked for three days and marked with red cord.
The Centre
Portuguese icon Covilhã Parsnip Fidalgo
A long, crisp puff pastry filled with sweet parsnip and dusted with sugar.
The Centre
Portuguese icon Águeda Fuzis
Águeda almond rings finished in a white sugar glaze.
The Centre
Portuguese icon Góis Chestnut Gamelinhas
Small trough-shaped pastries filled with chestnut, walnut, honey, eggs and cinnamon.
The Centre
Portuguese icon Bussaco Walnut Morgado
Walnut, egg-white and heather-honey discs layered with yolk sweet, born in the Bussaco Palace pastry kitchen.
The Centre
Portuguese icon Covilhã Snow Cake
A long coconut pastry filled with egg cream beneath a snowfall of powdered sugar.
The Centre
Portuguese icon Albergaria Turcos Biscuits
The family of biscuits that became Albergaria-a-Velha’s best-known sweet.
The Centre
Portuguese icon Seia Chestnut Burr
A crisp handmade filo flower with an intense chestnut-paste heart.
The Centre
Portuguese icon Aveiro Savoy Fingers
Light lemon cake fingers topped with toasted almond slivers.
The Centre
Portuguese icon Figueiró dos Vinhos Sponge Cake
A tall golden convent sponge baked in a fluted ring mould.
The Centre
Portuguese icon Ovar Sponge Cake PGI
A PGI-protected broa-shaped sponge with a creamy centre called pito.
The Centre
Portuguese icon São Pedro do Sul Sponge Cake
A rectangular, yellow-crumbed sponge cake made slowly according to the traditions of the village of Sul.
The Centre
Portuguese icon Vagos Orange Sponge Cake
A rare pão-de-ló distinguished by orange and a lightly savoury edge.
The Centre
Portuguese icon Corn Sponge with Lemon Sauce
Moist corn sponge served in slices beneath a white lemon sauce.
The Centre
Portuguese icon Soure Cross-Cut Sponge Cake
A tall 24-egg sponge cut into a cross during baking to create a moister yellow centre.
The Centre
Portuguese icon Tábua Ring Sponge Cake
A yellow, airy ring sponge traditionally baked after the village broa.
The Centre
Portuguese icon Porto de Mós Tarts
A round almond-and-egg tart shaped after the millstones that give the town its name.
The Centre
Portuguese icon Loriga Crackling Biscuits
Pale crisp wheat biscuits blistered and folded by the wood-fired oven.
The Centre
Portuguese icon Carregal do Sal Golden Pine Cone
A rosemary-meringue pine cone on Carregal do Sal pine-nut nougat.
The Centre
Portuguese icon Montemor Pine-Cone Cakes
A pine-cone relief biscuit baked in iron moulds and filled with lemon-scented egg sweet.
The Centre
Portuguese icon Friar Ambrósio’s Pirilau
The brioche-like roll filled with quince paste that revived an irreverent Barquinha legend.
The Centre
Portuguese icon Pereira Queijada
The little fresh-cheese queijada with seven creases, sealed by hand one by one.
The Centre
Portuguese icon Highland Curd Tartlets
The best of the mountain's whey, turned into a Christmas sweet.
The Centre
Portuguese icon Raivas
The butter biscuit so fiddly to shape it drives bakers to fury.
The Centre
Portuguese icon Queen Saint Isabel Rose
A shortcrust-and-almond rose created in Coimbra to honour Queen Saint Isabel.
The Centre
Portuguese icon Alhadas Olive-Oil Rings
Handmade olive-oil rings with eggs, lemon and cinnamon, baked until golden.
The Centre
Portuguese icon Águeda Glazed Egg Cakes
Light yolk cakes, spoon-shaped and finished with a thin sugar glaze.
The Centre
Portuguese icon Arganil Sequilhos
Light discs of egg, sugar and flour once served at catechism, weddings and pilgrimages.
The Centre
Portuguese icon Miranda do Corvo Súplicas
Small convent cakes of eggs and yolks, light as sponge and scented with cinnamon and lemon.
The Centre
Portuguese icon Alvaiázere Grass-Pea Tart
A creamy grass-pea tart on a crisp biscuit base.
The Centre
Portuguese icon Nandufe Tortas
Nandufe's long curved bread-cake, soft and mottled by a wood-fired oven.
The Centre
Portuguese icon Aveiro Veneza Cakes
A tall cake in a white paper collar, crowned by a pale, delicately cracked surface.
The Centre
Portuguese icon Viseu Viriato
Viseu's V-shaped sweet bread folded with an egg-and-coconut filling.
The Centre
Portuguese icon Cavacas das Caldas
Hollow, crackly shells dressed in glossy white sugar.
The West
Portuguese icon Peniche Esses
An almond S that melts slowly, crisp-shelled with a tender heart.
The West
Portuguese icon Póvoa Horseshoes
The sweet horseshoe that perfumes the feasts of Póvoa with lemon, aniseed and cinnamon.
The West
Portuguese icon Lourinhã Paimogo Cake
A small creamy yolk, almond and vanilla cake inspired by Paimogo beach.
The West
Portuguese icon Alfeizerão Sponge Cake
A low, concave sponge with a crisp exterior and creamy heart.
The West
Portuguese icon Rio Maior Sponge Cake
A toasted round sponge with a creamy centre locally called ló.
The West
Portuguese icon Painho Sponge Cake
A moist, tender, yolk-rich sponge from the foot of Montejunto.
The West
Portuguese icon Agualva Cinnamon Triangles
Dark cinnamon triangles with lemon, airy crumb and a coat of sugar.
Sintra
Portuguese icon Amendoados
Small crumbly cakes crowned generously with chopped almonds.
Lisbon
Portuguese icon Azeitão Almond Meringues
Rustic hand-shaped almond meringues with a white, delicately cracked shell.
Lisbon
Portuguese icon Cascais Sands
Beach sand that melts on the tongue.
Lisbon
Portuguese icon Barreiro Butter Bun
Barreiro's giant sweet bun, soft and split by a band of buttercream.
Lisbon
Portuguese icon Setúbal Piedade Biscuit
The thin, hard, aromatic biscuit associated with Setúbal’s Sant’Iago Fair since the nineteenth century.
Lisbon
Portuguese icon Lourinhã DOC Brandy Bonbon
A dark-chocolate bonbon with a Lourinhã DOC brandy heart.
Lisbon
Portuguese icon Setúbal Moscatel Chocolate
A dark-chocolate gem with a Moscatel de Setúbal heart.
Lisbon
Portuguese icon Paço de Arcos Cacetes
A long Paço de Arcos cake shaped in the image of a field-hockey stick.
Lisbon
Portuguese icon Santa Coina Requeijão Cakes
A moist little cake of Azeitão sheep's-milk requeijão, almonds and egg yolks.
Lisbon
Portuguese icon Azeitão S Biscuits
Thick S-shaped biscuits, crisp and deeply scented with cinnamon.
Lisbon
Portuguese icon Portuguese Garibaldi Chocolate Cake
Two thin sponge sheets enclosing a wall of chocolate beneath a crosshatched fondant cap.
Lisbon
Portuguese icon Cego's Mémé
A crisp filo nest filled with sheep's-milk requeijão and egg-yolk cream.
Lisbon
Portuguese icon Oeiras Biscuit Fingers
Lemon-and-cinnamon sponge strips baked a second time until hard and crisp.
Lisbon
Portuguese icon Pão de Deus
A pillowy milk bun crowned with toasted coconut and sugar.
Lisbon
Portuguese icon Malveira Trouxas
Small sponge-cake pillows rolled around vanilla and almond cream.
Lisbon
Portuguese icon Setúbal Wafer Boats
Vanilla-wafer boats filled with bitter-orange preserve.
The Alentejo
Portuguese icon Alentejo Crackling Bread
A small Alentejo bread roll filled with cracklings and baked alongside the household loaf.
The Alentejo
Portuguese icon Boleima
Alentejo bread dough enriched with olive oil, lard, sugar and cinnamon.
The Alentejo
Portuguese icon Alentejo Água-mel Cake
A dark, moist rural cake lifted with whipped egg whites and scented with água-mel, olive oil, lemon and cinnamon.
The Alentejo
Portuguese icon Arronches Olive-Oil Cake
The olive-oil dry cake that took Arronches into the Seven Wonders national selection.
The Alentejo
Portuguese icon Alcácer do Sal Pine-Nut Cakes
Whole pine nuts held in golden sugar on a wafer-thin base.
The Alentejo
Portuguese icon Évora Crystallised Scorzonera Sweet
Évora's nearly lost root, crystallised with sugar and citrus peel.
The Alentejo
Portuguese icon Alentejo Pork-Crackling Sweet Bread
A large dark sweet bread of brown sugar, cinnamon and pork cracklings.
The Alentejo
Portuguese icon Redondo Escarapiada
The rustic cake that sweetens bread dough with lard, eggs, cinnamon and lemon.
The Alentejo
Portuguese icon Estremoz Gadanha Cakes
A small Estremoz egg-and-almond cake baked in an individual mould.
The Alentejo
Portuguese icon Vendas Novas Granadas
The egg-yolk, coconut and pine-nut sweet shaped by Vendas Novas' artillery tradition.
The Alentejo
Portuguese icon Estremoz Guizo
The little egg, almond and gila cake with a deeply toasted top.
The Alentejo
Portuguese icon Alpiarça Sponge Cake
The Portuguese route's creamiest sponge, with a flowing egg-rich centre.
The Alentejo
Portuguese icon Marvão Chestnut Tart
A thin rectangular tart with glossy Marvão-Portalegre PDO chestnut cream.
The Alentejo
Portuguese icon Almeirim Friar Tart
The black-eyed-pea tart linking Almeirim's sweets to the Stone Soup legend.
The Alentejo
Portuguese icon Safara Gila Pastries
Crisp olive-oil pastry layers hold translucent threads of gila squash.
The Alentejo
Portuguese icon Beja Flint Biscuits
Small flint-hard popular biscuits made from bread dough, lard and egg.
The Alentejo
Portuguese icon Portalegre Queijadas
Upper Alentejo's little tart with a paper-thin shell and a requeijão heart.
The Alentejo
Portuguese icon Beja Requeijão Tarts
Beja's sheep-curd queijada with cinnamon and a paper-thin, lightly salted shell.
The Alentejo
Portuguese icon Arronches Little Cheese Dessert
The contemporary dessert that turns cheese, bread and jam into a little sweet cheese.
The Alentejo
Portuguese icon Almond Spiky Biscuits
Bristling peaks of almond, slow-baked until they sing of bittersweet.
The Algarve
Portuguese icon Algarve Nut Sweet Bread
An upland sweet bread enriched with olive oil, spices and walnuts or almonds.
The Algarve
Portuguese icon Algarve Bread-Dough Cake
A large dark moist bread-dough cake with honey, coffee, port and spices.
The Algarve
Portuguese icon Olhão Folar
Leaf upon leaf, sweetness upon sweetness — Olhão's Easter in caramelised layers.
The Algarve
Portuguese icon Portimão Almond Tartlet
An Algarve tartlet recovered from Portimão's sweet memory.
The Algarve
Portuguese icon Carob Tart
The Algarve's own "chocolate", born from the pods hanging on carob trees.
The Algarve
Portuguese icon Almond Tart
A golden tart of flaked almond and egg-rich cream — the Algarve's almond groves in a slice.
The Algarve
Portuguese icon Orange Roll
A sheet of cake, almost all egg and orange juice, rolled into a tight spiral.
The Algarve
Portuguese icon Porto Santo Toasted Biscuits
Porto Santo's savoury biscuit, baked and then slowly toasted for hours.
Madeira
Portuguese icon Porto Santo Jewish Unleavened Bread
A thin unleavened bread of barley flour, water and salt, cooked directly on a griddle.
Madeira
Portuguese icon Madeira Black Cake
Cane honey, Madeira wine and beer in a dark, moist festive cake.
Madeira
Portuguese icon Madeira Cream Puffs
Hollow, golden choux puffs split open and loaded with cream and chantilly.
Madeira
Portuguese icon Madeira Beer Sticks
Madeira's Christmas broa shaped into a crisp, gently sweet stick.
Madeira
Portuguese icon Porto Santo Sponge Cake
An island pão-de-ló scented with lemon and sugar-cane spirit.
Madeira
Portuguese icon Madeira Queijada
The goat's-curd queijada born in Funchal.
Madeira
Portuguese icon Brandy Biscuits
Crisp Santa Maria rings kneaded with eggs, rich fats and a glass of brandy.
The Azores
Portuguese icon Ear-Shaped Biscuits
Santa Maria's triangular enriched biscuits, clipped at the tips like little ears.
The Azores
Portuguese icon Azorean Griddle Bread
An Azorean maize round of flour, water and salt, cooked on earthenware and eaten hot.
The Azores
Portuguese icon Azorean Curd Cake
A nearly forgotten curd cake with maize, anise, lemon and brandy.
The Azores
Portuguese icon Azorean Crackling-Foot Cake
An old Azorean corn cake enriched with sugar and crackling sediment, dry and lightly toasted.
The Azores
Portuguese icon Azorean Sweet Muffins
Raised sweet-bread discs slowly cooked on both sides on a griddle.
The Azores
Portuguese icon Azorean Glazed Cavacos
Elongated light pastries recognised by their hard-set white sugar glaze.
The Azores
Portuguese icon Nevadas
Coated in coconut as white as island snow.
The Azores
Portuguese icon Ponta Delgada Queijada
A sweet hydrangea of cheese, pineapple, orange, cinnamon and egg custard.
The Azores
Portuguese icon Graciosa Queijadas
The cheeseless Azorean queijada: milk cooked for hours until it turns amber.
The Azores
Portuguese icon Furnas Taro Queijadas
A soft little tart made with taro from Furnas's volcanic wetlands.
The Azores
Portuguese icon Vila Franca do Campo Queijadas
São Miguel's convent relic, born of curdled milk and golden yolks.
The Azores
Portuguese icon Dona Amélia Queijadas
The dark, spiced sweet the ladies of Angra offered to a queen.
The Azores
Portuguese icon Portuguese Brioche Almofada
A soft pillow of light brioche, fresh buttercream and icing sugar.
Nationwide
Portuguese icon Portuguese Argentino Egg-Cream Brioche
A brioche boat carrying egg-yolk cream and two cherry halves.
Nationwide
Portuguese icon Maria Biscuit in Portugal
The thin, mildly sweet round biscuit that spans Portuguese generations and underpins dozens of desserts.
Nationwide
Portuguese icon Rice Muffin
The golden, paper-skirted cylinder that lives on every counter in Portugal.
Nationwide
Portuguese icon Biscuit Cake
Maria biscuits soaked in coffee and butter cream — no oven required.
Nationwide
Portuguese icon Orange Cake
Everyone's Sunday cake: airy, orange-scented and still warm from the oven.
Nationwide
Portuguese icon Portuguese Checkerboard Cake
Twelve vanilla-and-chocolate sponge blocks assembled as a checkerboard and coated in chocolate.
Nationwide
Portuguese icon Portuguese Candied-Fruit Caracol
The brioche, cream and candied-fruit spiral that colours Portuguese pastry counters.
Nationwide
Portuguese icon Portuguese Contraplacado Layer Cake
Roulade sponge, cream, chocolate and egg yolk stacked like laminated wood.
Nationwide
Portuguese icon Portuguese Croissant
In Portugal, a crescent of soft brioche or French-style laminated dough—plain, sweet or savoury.
Nationwide
Portuguese icon Portuguese Esquimó Chocolate Cake
Chilled sponge, buttercream, a thin chocolate shell and fios de ovos.
Nationwide
Portuguese icon Portuguese Chocolate Slice
A dense half-moon of pastry trimmings completely coated in chocolate.
Nationwide
Portuguese icon Portuguese Ferradura Horseshoe Brioche
Horseshoe-shaped brioche filled with egg-and-almond cream and marked by two pale almonds.
Nationwide
Portuguese icon Portuguese Napkin Cake
A thin sponge sheet folded into a triangle, filled with cream and coated with sugar.
Nationwide
Portuguese icon Portuguese Indiano Buttercream Cake
Two sponge halves, buttercream and coffee or chocolate fondant.
Nationwide
Portuguese icon Portuguese Madeleine
A small buttery shell cake scented with citrus.
Nationwide
Portuguese icon Portuguese Moinho Windmill Pastry
Four laminated-brioche blades turn around pools of egg-yolk cream.
Nationwide
Portuguese icon Portuguese Orelha Brioche
Egg-cream-filled brioche decorated with almond and two cherry halves.
Nationwide Portuguese icon Pão de Ló
Egg yolk, sugar, flour — and three towns that argue over how done it should be.
Nationwide
Portuguese icon Portuguese Coconut Tart
A sweet-pastry shell, moist coconut paste and half a cherry on top.
Nationwide
Portuguese icon Portuguese Deer Hoof Cake
An angled slice of filled sponge roll, stood upright on coconut and marked with cinnamon.
Nationwide
Portuguese icon Portuguese Chocolate Pyramid Cake
A cone of cake crumbs bound with syrup, coated in chocolate and crowned with cream and cherry.
Nationwide
Portuguese icon Portuguese Queque Cake
A small butter cake whose fluted form opens into a golden crown.
Nationwide
Portuguese icon Portuguese Chocolate Mouse Cake
Pastry-trimmings cake shaped like a mouse, chocolate-coated and marked with icing.
Nationwide
Portuguese icon Portuguese Rocha Fruit Cake
A small dense irregular cake packed with candied fruit and raisins.
Nationwide
Portuguese icon Portuguese Almond Russo Cake
Two moist almond-cake slabs, fresh cream and diamonds drawn across a field of icing sugar.
Nationwide
Portuguese icon Portuguese Sabóia Mosaic Cake
Cake-trimming rolls and buttercream form a mosaic beneath egg-yolk sweet and sugar.
Nationwide
Portuguese icon Chocolate Salami
A "sausage" you slice into rounds that tastes of chocolate and childhood.
Nationwide
Portuguese icon Portuguese São Marcos Cake
A chilled square of sponge and chantilly beneath a glassy layer of burnt egg-yolk cream.
Nationwide
Portuguese icon Meringues
Clouds of egg white and sugar that crackle lightly and melt on the tongue.
Nationwide
Portuguese icon Portuguese Almond Tartlet
Sweet pastry covered with toasted sliced almond and a glossy jelly finish.
Nationwide
Portuguese icon Portuguese Egg-Cream Brioche Braid
Braided brioche over egg cream, marked by two cherry halves.
Nationwide
Portuguese icon Portuguese Trinitá Egg-and-Almond Pastry
A brioche square whose four folded corners hold egg-and-almond cream beneath a round cap.
NationwideQuestions about this family
What are cakes & sweet breads?
The catalogue’s largest family: pão-de-ló, broas, celebration cakes, yeast doughs, biscuits and baked regional specialities.
How many sweets are in this category?
The catalogue contains 221 specialities in this family. Every record includes origin, ingredients, flavour, history, variations, season, where to try it and sources.
Where should I begin?
A useful first selection is Pão de Ló, Pão de Deus. The complete collection below also reveals lesser-known local specialities.