UPDATE: “GUINEA-BISSAU: THE FOOD”

Several months ago, I attempted to make the Bolo à Moda da Guiné Bissau (Cake in the Style of Guinea-Bissau), and it didn’t turn out well at all. My springform cake pan was evidently bent, and all of the batter leaked out onto the bottom of my oven. I tried to fix it, but I think it is dead. I still haven’t thrown it out though. It’s probably ok for thicker doughs, just not liquid batter type of mixtures. Like this one. 

I think of it as a flan-cake.

However, a couple of weeks ago, I bought a 13”x9” baking pan when I was out. And last weekend as I was contemplating getting out of bed after waking up, I remembered that I never truly did go back and remake this cake. I got up and pulled out the recipe, and lo and behold, I actually had enough ingredients to make it! So, I tried this again using my new baking pan this time. It wasn’t quite the same shape as the recipe suggested, but I think the sun will continue to rise. (It did.)

My added additions that added more added flavor.

It seemed to me that because of the number of eggs it uses, it turned out more like a custard instead of a cake per se. And when it first came out of the oven, it smelled very much like flan. There was no topping listed on the recipe, and I’m sure it’s probably meant to be eaten as is. However, I took liberties to brush some simple syrup on top after it first came out of the oven. When it had cooled, I mixed some vanilla icing with some milk to make a weak icing of sorts and brushed it on, adding some sliced banana and some shaved chocolate for decoration. The family seemed to really like it (especially when chilled), and the kids wanted to eat it for breakfast (which I complied—it had bananas on it and is made with eggs, so it’s practically breakfast anyway). It made for a nice dessert, and I’m happy I remembered to go back and redo this. I might make this again and top it with raspberries and chocolate instead, or maybe I might add in some almond extract to the batter and top with crushed hazelnuts. The possibilities are endless.