Portuguese Bolo de Bolacha: No-Bake Coffee and Biscuit Cake, Made Ahead

Beat the softened butter and sugar together for a full 5 minutes, until pale and noticeably lighter in volume. This is the step that decides the texture, so do not rush it.

Serves 8

Ingredients

• 2 cups heavy cream, well chilled
• 1 cup unsalted butter, softened
• 1 cup granulated sugar
• 3 large egg yolks
• 3 tablespoons instant espresso powder
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1/4 teaspoon fine salt
• 1 1/2 cups strong brewed coffee, cooled
• 2 tablespoons coffee liqueur or milk
• 14 ounces Maria biscuits (about 45 cookies)
• 2 tablespoons cocoa powder, for dusting

Instructions

1. Beat the softened butter and sugar together for a full 5 minutes, until pale and noticeably lighter in volume. This is the step that decides the texture, so do not rush it.
2. Beat in the egg yolks one at a time, then the espresso powder, vanilla and salt, scraping the bowl between additions.
3. In a separate cold bowl, whip the heavy cream to soft peaks. Fold it into the coffee butter in three additions, keeping as much air as you can.
4. Stir the coffee liqueur into the cooled brewed coffee in a shallow dish. Dip each biscuit for one second per side, no longer, or the cake turns to sludge.
5. Lay a single layer of dipped biscuits in the bottom of an 8-inch springform pan or a loaf tin lined with plastic wrap, breaking cookies to fill the gaps.
6. Spread about 3/4 cup of the coffee cream over the biscuits in an even layer, then repeat until you have five or six layers, finishing with cream on top.
7. Cover and refrigerate for at least 8 hours, ideally overnight, so the biscuits soften into cake and the layers set firm enough to slice cleanly.
8. Unmold, dust generously with cocoa powder and crushed biscuit crumbs, and cut with a warm knife wiped between slices.
9. Bolo de bolacha is the dessert of Portuguese family lunches, birthdays and Sunday tables, and almost nobody bakes it, because there is nothing to bake. Its whole architecture depends on time rather than heat: plain Maria biscuits, barely dipped, quietly turn into tender cake layers overnight in the fridge. That makes it the ideal thing to assemble on a Sunday evening for a week that is already too full.

Nutrition (estimated, per serving)

• Calories: 560 kcal
• Protein: 6g
• Fat: 38g
• Carbohydrates: 50g
• Fiber: 1g
• Sugar: 32g
• Sodium: 210mg