Santa Clara Toucinho do Céu from Portalegre
Also known as: Santa Clara Toucinho do Céu · Portalegre Almond-Yolk Cake
Portalegre's creamy version, where almond and yolk gain the richness of butter.
- Origin
- Convent of Santa Clara · Portalegre · Upper Alentejo
- Region
- Portalegre · Upper Alentejo
- Season
- Year-round; celebrations and convent-sweet fairs
Toucinho-do-Céu de Santa Clara de Portalegre is a low, dense convent cake built from sugar syrup, ground almonds and eggs. The version attributed to Portalegre's Poor Clares is distinguished by cow's butter, which makes the paste creamier than other Portuguese interpretations. Baked in a round mould and served in small slices, it has a golden exterior, a dusting of sugar and a moist almond-and-yolk centre. It is neither the Trás-os-Montes version from Murça nor Guimarães's gila-filled cake, but part of Portalegre's own convent lineage.
- sugar
- ground almonds
- egg yolks
- eggs
- cow's butter
- icing sugar
Very sweet, buttery and intensely almond-rich, with silky yolk and a compact, moist, creamy texture.
Portalegre tradition distinguishes Santa Clara's butter-enriched formula from the São Bernardo version, described with toasted ground almonds, yolks, some whites and flour, without gila. Elsewhere in Portugal, gila, lemon and different proportions of eggs and almonds produce markedly different cakes.
At convent-sweet shops in Portalegre and at the city's Traditional and Convent Confectionery Fair, held in the former Convent of Santa Clara.
Espresso, black tea or a small glass of Alentejo fortified wine.
The Convent of Santa Clara and the Monastery of São Bernardo are the two historic centres of Portalegre confectionery. The municipality attributes toucinho-do-céu to the Poor Clares, together with lampreia de ovos, mimos, manjar branco, pastéis de Santa Clara and queijo dourado. Part of this recipe collection left the convent through the Cardoso family. A woman educated at Santa Clara passed the recipes to the family; the mother and later her daughters made them for sale, until Judite Cardoso taught the secrets to a group of trainees in a municipal and tourism-led preservation project. Santa Clara's Toucinho do Céu represented Portalegre among the 2019 Seven Wonders of Portuguese Sweets nominees.
Sources: cm-portalegre.pt · allaboutportugal.pt · lumeear.blogspot.com · cm-portalegre.pt · sulinformacao.pt
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