Traditional Portuguese Easter Cake

Recipe by: Leonilde Madeira

Ingredients

1 kg type 65 flour, without raising agent
500 g brown sugar 
100 g softened margarine
100 g lard 
50 g fresh yeast
1 tablespoon cinnamon
1 tablespoon aniseed
2 tablespoons honey
1 or 2 eggs 
Zest of 1 lemon
¼ litre (approx.) milk
1 pinch of salt

Preparation

Put the flour, cinnamon, honey, aniseed, sugar, lemon zest, margarine, lard and salt into a bowl and mix well.

In a separate bowl, break up the yeast in the warm milk and then add it to the flour mix. Mix everything together, kneading well until you get a nice smooth dough. 

Cover with a tea towel and leave to rise for about one hour (the exact amount of time will depend on the room temperature). 

Pre-heat the oven to 180º.

Grease a cake tin and dust it with flour. Put the dough into the tin and push one or two whole, unshelled eggs (wash them well beforehand) into the centre. Bake at 180º for about one hour.

Enjoy your taste of the Mediterranean!

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