In the transition between the Atlantic Forest and the Cerrado, the Serra do Caraça presents itself as a special destination in the mountains of Minas Gerais. Braço da Serra do Espinhaço, the place is home to the Caraça Sanctuary, complex that accumulates almost 300 years of history. Among the attributes of the Sanctuary, the Minas cuisine stands out from the tradition.
And it is there, among the centenary books in the library, that a recipe much appreciated by none other than Dom Pedro II, the last monarch of the Brazilian Empire, is kept. it is about the cabinet pudding, sweet served on festive and special occasions – including when this same D. Pedro was in Caraça, which was once an important imperial college.
Descendant of the cake of kings, the name of the dessert alludes to the cupboard where the sweets were kept in the days when there was no refrigerator.
The centenary recipe, which can also be found in the 1914 edition of the book “O Confeiteiro Popular”, uses a champagne biscuit made at the Sanctuary to line the mold, layers of fruit sweets and a cream made with egg yolk, sugar, milk and vanilla. Below, check out the ingredients and step-by-step of this recipe that is easy, hearty and delicious:
Ingredients
- 10 champagne cookies
- 100g of sweet cider
- 100g of banana candy
- 100g of papaya in syrup
- 100g of earth orange in syrup (in the case of candy in syrup, drain first to use only the fruit)
- 100g of black raisins
- 100g of white raisins
- 1 sliced apple
For the cream:
- 500 ml of milk
- 9 gems
- 100g of sugar
- half lemon zest
Preparation mode
- To make the cream, mix all the ingredients: milk, egg yolks, sugar and lemon zest.
- Butter a mold and sprinkle a little sugar. Start by breaking the cookies and placing them in the bottom of the bowl. Then add the raisins and cider, creating a layer of fruit.
- Spread the cream and finally the white raisins. Re-interleave the layers of fruit, leaving it very firm. After covering with the cream, cover with aluminum foil and bake at 180 degrees, in a bain-marie, for an hour.
- Remove the foil and leave it in the oven for another 30 minutes.
- Take it out of the oven, wait for it to cool and refrigerate. Unmold in the dish of preference and serve it chilled.
Reference: CNN Brasil
