Bolo de bolacha is a Portuguese “cookie cake”: coffee-soaked Maria biscuits layered with fluffy butter cream. It is a classic of Portuguese home baking and a fixture at birthdays and weekend family lunches.
It is incredibly simple, with no oven involved, but the result feels special: moist, aromatic layers that melt in your mouth.
The one thing this cake demands is patience. It needs a good rest in the fridge, at least 3 hours but ideally overnight, so the biscuits soften into something truly cake-like and the layers hold together when sliced.
Decorate it with crushed biscuits, melted chocolate or whipped cream, whichever your family likes best.
Bolo de Bolacha Recipe
Ingredients
- 2 packages Maria biscuits (about 14 oz total)
- 2 cups hot, very strong coffee
- 1 egg yolk
- 1 cup powdered sugar
- 1 cup (2 sticks) butter, at room temperature
Instructions
- Let the butter come to room temperature — soft, but not melted. (A few seconds in the microwave works in a pinch.)
- Beat the butter with a mixer until fluffy and pale.
- Lower the speed and add the powdered sugar, then beat again on high until light and creamy.
- Add the egg yolk and 2 tablespoons of the coffee, and mix gently until combined. Set aside.
- Pour the remaining coffee into a deep plate.
- Dip the biscuits into the coffee one at a time, wetting both sides, and arrange a layer on a serving tray.
- Spread cream over the biscuits and smooth it with a spatula.
- Repeat the layers until you run out of biscuits, reserving some cream for the outside.
- Coat the top and sides of the cake with the reserved cream and sprinkle with crushed biscuits.
- Refrigerate for at least 3 hours — overnight is better — before serving.
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