Bolo de Mel da Madeira

Ingredients

• 500 g plain flour
• 250 g sugarcane molasses (mel de cana) or black treacle
• 150 g dark brown sugar
• 200 g butter, plus extra for the tin
• 3 eggs
• 100 g walnuts, plus 12 halves to decorate
• 100 g almonds, plus 12 whole to decorate
• 50 g candied citron peel
• 3 tbsp Madeira wine
• 1 tbsp brandy or aguardente
• 1 tsp ground cinnamon
• 1 tsp ground fennel seed
• 1 tsp ground aniseed
• 1/2 tsp ground cloves
• 1/2 tsp ground ginger
• 1 tsp bicarbonate of soda
• 1 pinch salt

Before you cook

• Butter a 24 cm round cake tin and line the base and sides with baking paper.
• Roughly chop the walnuts, almonds and candied peel.
• Beat the eggs in a small bowl.
• Sift the flour into a large bowl with all the ground spices, the bicarbonate of soda and the salt.

Steps

1. Put the molasses, butter and brown sugar into a saucepan over low heat.
2. Stir for about five minutes, until the butter has melted and the sugar has dissolved.
3. Take the pan off the heat and let the mixture cool until it is only just warm to the touch.
4. Make a well in the spiced flour and pour in the warm molasses mixture.
5. Add the beaten eggs, the Madeira wine and the brandy.
6. Beat everything together with a wooden spoon until you have a thick, dark, glossy batter with no dry flour left.
7. Fold in the chopped walnuts, almonds and candied peel.
8. Cover the bowl with a cloth and leave the batter in a warm place for two hours, or overnight if you have the time, so the spices bloom.
9. Heat the oven to 160C.
10. Scrape the batter into the lined tin and smooth the top with a wet spoon.
11. Arrange the walnut halves and whole almonds over the surface in rings.
12. Bake for fifty-five to sixty-five minutes.
13. Cover the cake loosely with foil if the top darkens before the middle is done.
14. Test with a skewer in the centre; it should come out with no wet batter, though the crumb stays deliberately sticky.
15. Leave the cake in its tin for thirty minutes before turning it out.
16. Cool it completely on a rack.
17. Wrap the cake in baking paper and keep it in an airtight tin for at least three days before eating, so the wine and molasses soak all the way through.
18. Break the cake into rough pieces with your hands rather than cutting it, as Madeirans traditionally do.