Christmas King's Cake - Bolo Rei (Portugal)

Name: Christmas King's Cake - Bolo Rei (Portugal)
Prep time: 45 min
Cook time: 45 min
Total time: 45 min
Yield: 8
Cuisine: Global
Ingredients: 2 teaspoons active dry yeast; 2 liters all purpose flour; 79 milliliters blanched slivered almonds; 296 milliliters butter at room temperature; 79 milliliters red and green candied cherries cut in quarters; 6 red and green cherries (3 + 3) whole with no seed for decoration; 6 eggs at room temperature; 237 milliliters candied fruits cut up in small pieces (pear, apricot, peach, lemon, orange, tangerine or whatever you prefer); 59 milliliters golden raisins; 8 servings icing sugar for decoration; 8 servings fruit jelly for decoration; 2 half candied pears or other candied fruit you like and cut in strips for decoration; 79 milliliters pinenuts; 79 milliliters Port Wine; 2 pinches salt; 237 milliliters fine sugar; 2 candied tangerine or orange cut in quarters for decoaration; 6 perfect walnut halves for decoration; 79 milliliters walnuts cut in pieces

Christmas King's Cake - Bolo Rei (Portugal) is a vegetarian dessert. This recipe serves 8. One portion of this dish contains roughly 21g of protein, 45g of fat, and a total of 1118 calories. 20 people found this recipe to be flavorful and satisfying. Christmas will be even more special with this recipe. From preparation to the plate, this recipe takes approximately 45 minutes. Head to the store and pick up salt, perfect walnut halves, butter, and a few other things to make it today.

Instructions

Warm up the milk to 96F .

Ingredients you will need

Milk

In a bowl dissolve the yeast with 1/3 of the warm milk until totally dissolved.

Ingredients you will need

Yeast

Milk

Equipment you will use

Bowl

Sift the flour and put 1 cup in a bowl. Make a well in the center and add the yeast with the milk, a pinch of sugar and sprinkle some flour on top. Leave for 10 minutes to rise the yeast. If it doesn't rise it's not active and you need to start with fresher yeast.

Ingredients you will need

All Purpose Flour

Sugar

Yeast

Milk

Equipment you will use

Bowl

If the yeast rises continue with your cake.

Ingredients you will need

Yeast

Put the remaining 6 cups of sifted flour in the bowl of a stand mixer.

Ingredients you will need

All Purpose Flour

Equipment you will use

Stand Mixer

Bowl

Add the flour and yeast from the bowl, the sugar and the remaining milk. Attach the flat beater and mix slowly at first so the flour and milk don't fly everywhere. When all ingredients are combined mix at medium speed to get a stiff dough.

Ingredients you will need

Dough

All Purpose Flour

Sugar

Yeast

Milk

Equipment you will use

Bowl

Add the butter at room temperature, a chunk at a time, the Port wine, the salt and the eggs one at a time, beating very well before you add the next one.

Ingredients you will need

Port

Butter

Egg

Salt

Mix on medium speed to obtain a smooth and shiny dough. At the beggining the dough is very sticky but as you beat it it starts to hold together like a ball, that unsticks from the sides.

Ingredients you will need

Dough

When the dough starts to unattach from the sides of the bowl change the flat beater to a spiral dough hook and beat at medium speed for 15 to 20 minutes. The dough will be very soft, elastic and very very sticky. Worry not!

Ingredients you will need

Dough

Equipment you will use

Bowl

Sprinkle the top of the dough with a little flour, cover with a clean tea towel and put on top of a wooden board, in a warm and draft-free place. Allow to rise for 1 1/2 hours or until doubled. Wash the dough hook and reattach it to the stand mixer for the next step.

Ingredients you will need

Dough

All Purpose Flour

Tea

Equipment you will use

Stand Mixer

Kitchen Towels

Put the bowl back in the stand mixer with the spital dough hook attached and deflate the dough.

Ingredients you will need

Dough

Equipment you will use

Stand Mixer

Bowl

Add all the nuts and candied fruit and mix to divide these evenly in the dough.

Ingredients you will need

Candied Fruit

Dough

Nuts

Take a 2 1/2 diameter cookie cutter and wrap it with a 5 inch wide strip of parchment paper all around. Tuck a bit of the parchment paper under and inside the cookie cutter so it doesn't open. Butter and dust the outside of the parchment paper.

Ingredients you will need

Butter

Wrap

Equipment you will use

Baking Paper

Cookie Cutter

Transfer the dough with the ingredients onto a lightly floured counter top, Dust your habds with flour and shape the dough into a long log. It's a sticky dough so just be patient, it's worth while!

Ingredients you will need

Dough

All Purpose Flour

Line a big square or round baking tray with parchment paper.

Equipment you will use

Baking Paper

Baking Pan

Transfer the dough and make it into a circle leaving a wide hole in the middle and attach the ends of the log (the dough is sticky so it will stick together very easily).

Ingredients you will need

Dough

Put the lined cookie cutter in the middle of the circle so the cake doesn't close in the center as it cooks.

Ingredients you will need

Equipment you will use

Cookie Cutter

Cover the cake with a clean tea towel and allow to rise on a wooden board in a warm and draft-free place for 1 hour or until double in size.

Ingredients you will need

Tea

Equipment you will use

Kitchen Towels

Pre-heat the oven to 275 F with rack in the middle.

Equipment you will use

Oven

Decorate the cake with the halved walnuts, the cherries and the strips of candied pear and bake for 30 minutes.

Ingredients you will need

Cherries

Walnuts

Pear

Equipment you will use

Oven

Remove the cookie cutter from the center and continue baking another 10 to 15 minutes until golden brown and it sounds hollow when you tap on it.

Ingredients you will need

Equipment you will use

Cookie Cutter

Put the cake on a cooling rack, spread the fruit jelly with a brush while still warm to give it a shiny finish. Allow to cool completely and dust with icing sugar.

Ingredients you will need

Powdered Sugar