Bolo Polana

the dense, buttery, golden cake of ground cashews and mashed potato perfumed with lemon, the most famous sweet of the Mozambican capital, named for the elegant Polana quarter of Maputo

Origin: Mozambique

From the journey of Cashew.

Bolo Polana is the signature cake of Maputo, named for the gracious Polana neighbourhood of the Mozambican capital, and it is a delicious emblem of the country's Portuguese-African heritage and of its great crop, the cashew. It belongs to the Iberian tradition of dense, moist cakes bound not with much flour but with ground nuts and even mashed potato, a technique the Portuguese carried around the world. Here ground cashews and smooth mashed potato are beaten with butter, sugar, and egg yolks, brightened with lemon zest, lightened with whisked whites, and baked into a rich, golden, fudgy cake that is somewhere between a cake and a confection, intensely buttery and nutty with a tender, almost custardy crumb. It is the cake of celebration in Mozambique, served at gatherings and on special days, and a perfect demonstration of how completely the Brazilian cashew was naturalised into the cooking of the East African coast.

Ingredients

The Cake

  • 250 g raw cashews, finely ground
  • 250 g floury potatoes, boiled, mashed smooth, and cooled
  • 200 g butter, softened
  • 200 g caster sugar
  • 5 eggs, separated
  • 1 lemon, zest of
  • 2 tbsp plain flour (or cornflour, to keep it gluten-light)
  • 1 tsp baking powder
  • 1 pinch salt

To Finish

  • icing sugar, to dust

Method

  1. Heat the oven to 170°C and grease and line a 23cm round cake tin. Grind the cashews to a fine meal, keeping a little texture.
  2. Beat the softened butter with the sugar until pale and creamy, then beat in the egg yolks one at a time, followed by the lemon zest.
  3. Beat in the cooled mashed potato until smooth, then fold in the ground cashews, the flour, baking powder, and salt.
  4. Whisk the egg whites to soft peaks and fold them gently into the batter in two or three additions.
  5. Spoon into the tin, level the top, and bake for 40 to 50 minutes, until golden and just set with a faint wobble; a skewer should come out with a few moist crumbs.
  6. Cool in the tin, then turn out and dust with icing sugar. Serve at room temperature.

Notes

Some versions use a little ground almond alongside the cashew, or add a splash of port or vanilla. The mashed potato is traditional and gives the cake its characteristic dense, moist crumb; do not be tempted to leave it out. Keep the cake covered at room temperature for up to three days.

The Gastrographer

The Gastrographer

Mapping Culinary History

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Journey Point Map Key

Ingredient originTrade or transit route
Became a culinary stapleColonial / trade control
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