Saint Nicholas Braided Cake
A festive braided yeast cake with nuts, cinnamon and port.
- Origin
- Santa Maria da Feira · tradition of the Lóios friars
- Place
- Santa Maria da Feira
- Region
- The North
- Category
- Festive & Seasonal
- Season
- Recovery recipe · special occasions
- Evidence
- Well documented
Bolo de São Nicolau is a braided raised cake from Santa Maria da Feira, brown and rich in nuts, visually related to a festive regueifa or a bolo-rei without candied fruit. Its dough combines eggs, sugar, flour, milk, butter, cinnamon, port and baker's yeast.
After proving with the nuts incorporated, the dough is divided and braided, brushed with egg and scattered with finely chopped almonds before baking. Kneading and fermentation time determine the lightness of the crumb.
- flour
- eggs
- sugar
- nuts
- baker's yeast
- butter
- milk
- cinnamon
- port
- almonds
Buttery and moderately sweet, with nuts, cinnamon, port and a toasted-almond crust.
Recipe-recovery efforts may produce braids of different sizes and forms; nut proportions depend on each interpretation.
Look for culinary-revival events, confraternities and traditional pastry shops in Santa Maria da Feira; it is not continuously available.
Coffee, black tea or a small glass of port.
The tradition recorded by DGADR attributes the cake to the Lóios friars. It was sold in Feira pastry shops until the mid-twentieth century, then disappeared from regular production. The current official record classifies it as a recipe being recovered. A national list of traditional products corroborates the name Bolo de S. Nicolau but provides no independent proof of Lóios authorship or chronology; those details remain attributed to the DGADR record.
Well documented
Identity supported by institutional, specialist or corroborating sources.
- tradicional.dgadr.gov.pt/pt/cat/doces-e-produtos-de-pastelaria/129-bolo-de-s-nicolau (opens in a new tab)
- eubrdialogues.com/sites/default/files/acoes/documentos/049xlix_lista_de_produtos_tradicionais_portugueses_v_19_0.pdf (opens in a new tab)
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