Sweets
Bolo de Mel da Madeira (Madeira Sugarcane Honey Cake)
Leonor Perreira · Updated Nov 12, 2026
- Prep
- 30 min
- Total
- 1 h 20 min
- slices
- 12
- Calories
- 385 kcal
Bolo de mel da Madeira is the archipelago’s best-known sweet. It’s made with sugarcane honey, spices and plenty of nuts: a dense, dark cake that keeps for months. At the Festa (the Madeiran Christmas) it’s always broken by hand, never cut, and served with the island’s honey broas.
Recipe
Bolo de Mel da Madeira
Madeira's best-known sweet: a dense, dark cake made with sugarcane honey, spices and nuts.
Ingredients
12 slices
Method
- 1Mix the flour with the spices and the nuts.
- 2Warm the sugarcane honey with the fats and the sugar, and add to the flour.
- 3Add the Madeira wine and the dissolved baking soda.
- 4Let the dough rest somewhere mild (in the old days, up to 3 days).
- 5Bake in round tins at a moderate temperature. The top is always decorated with walnut halves or almonds before it goes into the oven.
Tips
The long rest is traditional: the dough used to sit for days before baking, so the spices could develop. Even a night makes a difference.
Wrapped well and kept somewhere cool and dry, the cake lasts for months and only improves.
