RECIPE - Orange Cake (Bolo de Laranja)

The Brazilian repertory of cake recipes is large and there's no question that Brazilians have a serious ongoing love affair with, as the dictionary defines it, "a sweet, baked, breadlike food, made with or without shortening, and usually containing flour, sugar, baking powder or soda, eggs, and liquid flavoring. " Brazilians eat cake for breakfast - some people every day; others only on special occasions or when breakfasting at a hotel or resort . They eat cake as a sweet pick-me-up at various times during the day. They also eat it as dessert, though less frequently then.

What distinguishes the majority of Brazilian cakes from those found in North America or Europe is that Brazilian cakes are generally not frosted (with the notable exception of party cakes such as birthday cake). There's something about the texture and sweetness of frosting that really doesn't suit Brazil's hot climate. Even if the frosting doesn't melt, it really doesn't appeal.

Instead of frosting a cake, Brazilian cooks often prefer to make a fruit-based syrup and then, when the cake is fresh out of the oven, pour that syrup over the cake. The syrup soaks into the cake and infuses it with the heady flavor and aroma of fresh fruit, turning what is basically sweet bread into something marvelous. Brazilians employ this technique using a variety of fruits and are especially fond of using acidic fruits, like citrus fruits and passion fruit, as the base for the syrup. The acidity in the syrup balances its sweetness and prevents the syrup from cloying.

This recipe is for orange cake, one of the most popular of the fruit-syrup cakes in Brazil. It's perfect served with tea or coffee mid-morning or mid-afternoon, and makes a great dessert topped with a dollop of whipped cream or a ball of best-quality vanilla ice cream. The recipe is from Brazilian food website Panelinha, translated and adapted by Flavors of Brazil.
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RECIPE - Orange Cake (Bolo de Laranja)

For the cake:
2 medium oranges
1 cup neutral vegetable oil (canola preferred)
2 whole eggs
2 cups all-purpose flour
2 cups granulated white sugar
2 tsp baking powder

For the syrup:
juice of one large orange
1/2 cup granulated white sugar
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Preheat the oven to 350F (180C). Generously grease a rectangular, tube or Bundt cake pan with unsalted butter, then dust with flour.

With a paring knife, peel the oranges, then cut the segments open and cut out the flesh. Discard the peel and the papery covering of the segments. Put the orange segments in a blender along with the oil and the two eggs and blend until you have a completely homogenous mixture.

In a large mixing bowl, combine the flour, the sugar and the baking powder. Add the liquid from the blender slowly, stirring in with a wooden or plastic spoon, making sure to break up any lumps. When all the liquid is added, continue stirring until the mixture is homogenous.

Pour the batter from the mixing bowl into the prepared cake pan, and carefully place in the middle of the preheated oven. Cook for 40-45 minutes, or until the top is golden and a toothpick inserted into the middle of the cake comes out clean. Remove the cake from the oven and place it, still in the pan, for about 30 minutes to cool.

Meanwhile, make the syrup. Combine the orange juice and sugar in a small pan, heat over high heat, stirring frequently to dissolve the sugar completely. Bring to a boil. Let boil for 2 minutes, then remove from heat and reserve.

When the cake is cooled, turn it out, reversing it, onto a platter with a raised edge. Using a fork, pierce the surface in many places to aid in the absorption of the syrup. Slowly pour the syrup over the cake, letting it soak in as you pour. Don't let the syrup pool on the platter.

Serve the cake immediately, or let stand, covered for up to 24 hours, prior to serving.

Should We Call It a "Traffic Marmelade"?

This year has been an exceptional year for the orange harvest in São Paulo state in southeastern Brazil. Preliminary figures show that the expected harvest will come in at 27% above last year's total, and last year's harvest was about average. It's the largest harvest in 15 years.

Most of the oranges grown in the state are not destined to be eaten in Brazil. They're intended to be drunk, as orange juice, in countries all over the world, in the form of frozen concentrated orange juice and not-from-concentrate orange juice. Brazil is by far the dominant exporter of orange juice in the world and it's position as the number one exporter is unlikely to be challenged soon. In 2010 Brazil exported 1,240,000 metric tons of juice. The number two exporter, the United States, exported just over one-tenth as much juice, only 155,000 tons.

This year's bumper crop of oranges combined with the sheer size of the harvest has created an unusual traffic problem in São Paulo - traffic jams (or marmelades?) comprised of long lines of trucks loaded with oranges stuck on the road, waiting for space to unload at the juice production facilities. These facilities cannot keep up with the volume of oranges arriving at their doorsteip and so the trucks and truckers are obliged to line up for up to two days before unloading their oranges. Production facilities are working around the clock, seven days a week and still cannot keep up.

Trucks loaded with oranges awaiting their turn to unload

The delays en route to juice production facilities means that when the oranges finally arrive, they are dehydrated and yield less juice. The delays also increase the cost of freight at the same time that the huge harvest has driven the price of a bushel of oranges to half of what it was last year.

Truckers, farmers, producers, and the other motorists who happen, just by chance, to get stuck in one of these traffic marmelades are all complaining - maybe there is some truth to the phrase "too much of a good thing."

RECIPE - Orange Cake (Bolo de Laranja)

Surprisingly, one way in which many Brazilians enjoy the sharp and invigorating taste of orange in the morning is in the form of a cake. Cakes are rarely thought of as breakfast food in most cultures, but they have established a place at the breakfast table in Brazil. Even a simple eat-at-home, everyday breakfast (café da manhã in Portuguese) often includes a piece or two of cake along with the usual fruit, bread and butter. In restaurants and hotels, where a large breakfast buffet is the norm, there are always a number of cakes on offer, and my own anecdotal research indicates that Brazilians readily avail themselves of this bounty.


Most of the cakes eaten at breakfast are unfrosted (but not all of them) and fall into the category of what we might call pound cakes. At times, this simple loaf cake is made from only flour, sugar, butter or oil and eggs, but at other times, additional flavoring ingredients are added, like orange, lime, pineapple or passion fruit. 


Here's a typical recipe for Brazilian orange cake, courtesy of Brazil's Globo TV network, and its daily morning show Mais Você. It's very easy to make as the ingredients are mixed in a blender (including an entire orange). The cake is delectable, and has an assertive orange flavor. It is suitable for the breakfast table, or for coffee break, mid-afternoon snack or evening dessert.
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RECIPE - Orange Cake (Bolo de Laranja)

2 cups granulated white sugar
3 whole eggs, preferably free-range
1 medium orange
1 cup neutral vegetable oil, canola or sunflower preferred
2 cups cake flour (all-purpose flour can be substituted)
1 Tbsp baking powder
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Preheat oven to 450F (230C). Grease a loaf or tube cake pan generously with butter, then dust with flour. Reserve the pan.

Carefully wash the orange, scrubbing the skin well. Cut it into quarters, then remove the white mass that runs down the center of the orange. De-seed the orange. 

Combine in a food processor or sturdy blender the orange quarters, the sugar, eggs and oil. Blend at high speed until you have a homogenous mixture. Pour the mixture through a sieve into a medium bowl.

In another large mixing bowl combine the flour and baking powder and stir with a wooden spoon to mix well. Add the sieved liquid and mix into the flour with the wooden spoon until the batter is homogenous. You do not need to use a cake beater, just combine thoroughly.


Pour the batter into the greased cake pan and place in the preheated oven. Reduce oven heat to 400F (200C) and bake for 30-40 minutes, or until the top is golden and a toothpick inserted into the middle of the cake comes out clean. Remove from the oven and let cool completely before removing from the cake pan.


If desired, powdered sugar can be sprinkled on the top of the cake once it's completely cooled.

RECIPE - Roulade of Chicken with Orange Juice (Rolê de Frango com Suco de Laranja)

Most of Brazil's annual production of oranges is exported (click here to read more), and most of what remains in Brazil is eaten fresh or drunk as fresh-squeezed orange juice. However, oranges and orange juice have found a place in Brazilian gastronomy and are used as an ingredient in prepared recipes and dishes. Naturally, many of these dishes are desserts, pastries, cakes and sweets, but orange juice is sometimes called for in savory dishes as well.

This recipe is an example of such savory dishes - a main-course preparation of small rolls formed from boneless, skinless chicken breasts cooked in a sauce of concentrated (but not FOJC) orange juice. This recipe calls for concentrated fresh-squeezed orange juice, which sounds like a contradiction but which is not. To concentrate the juice required for this dish, squeeze enough orange juice to make one cup. Then boil it rapidly until it is concentrated by half - until you have a half-cup remaining.
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RECIPE - Roulade of Chicken with Orange Juice (Rolê de Frango com Suco de Laranja)
Serves 6

3 boneless, skinless chicken breast halves
1/2 pound sliced mozzarella cheese
2 large, ripe tomato - peeled, seeded and cut into thin strips about 1 inch (2 cm) long
1 clove garlic, peeled
1 small onion, peeled and halved
1 cup fresh-squeezed orange juice
salt and pepper to taste
kitchen twine
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Preheat oven to 350F (180C).

Prepare the orange juice. Put the juice plus the garlic and onion in a small saucepan. Bring to a boil over high heat and continue to boil until the juice is reduced to 1/2 cup. Remove from the heat, discard the garlic and onion, and reserve.

Prepare the chichen. Place each breast half between two pieces of wax paper and with a mallet or the bottom of a wine bottle lightly pound them to reduce their thickness. Remove from the wax paper, and using a sharp long knife, cut each piece in half again, horizontally. Reserve.

Lay out each piece of chicken, season it with salt and pepper, then cover it with a slice of cheese, trimming the cheese to fit the chicken. Top with two or more strips of tomato. Roll the chicken along the narrow axis to create a tight roll, then tie with kitchen twine to retain its shape during cooking.

Place the rolls in a small casserole or gratin dish, just large enough to hold them. Drizzle the concentrated juice over and place in preheated oven. Cook for about 45 minutes or until the rolls are fully-cooked and browned on top. During the cooking time, you can use a turkey baster to pour some of the pan juices over the rolls if you wish a richer color.

Serve immediately with white rice and a green salad.

Orange Juice - Suco de Laranja

Brazil is the world's largest orange producing nation in the world, even though the fruit is not native to Brazil. The orange is Asian in origin, and is probably a very ancient hybrid - a cross between two other citrus fruits, the pomelo and the mandarin. It is certain that it was cultivated in China as far back as 2500 BC. In some languages, such as Dutch, the word for orange can be translated into English as 'Chinese apple" highlighting the fruit's Asiatic origins.

Today, the bulk of the world's commercial orange production, much of which is converted into frozen orange-juice concentrate (known in the industry as FOJC), comes from Brazil and from southern Florida in the USA. Brazil's annual orange production is about 19 million tons, more than the total of the next three countries (USA, India and Mexico) combined.

Within Brazil, production is located primarily in the state of São Paulo which accounts for 80% of Brazil's production and 53% of the global market for FOJC. Interestingly, 99% of Brazil's total annual crop is exported, leaving only 1% to serve the domestic market.

Although the market for FOJC has not been growing as rapidly as non-concentrated juice (think Tropicana), most of the world's orange juice still undergoes the concentration and freezing process before it is exported from Brazil.

Though FOJC is the primary method of exporting orange juice from Brazil, it is not marketed domestically. I've never seen it in any supermarket in Brazil, and most Brazilians are not even cognizant of what it is. Brazilians do love orange juice, and drink a lot of it (even that 1% is a tremendous quantity of oranges) but it is almost always served fresh squeezed. Every juice bar in the country has the capability of make fresh-squeezed juice, as do most lunch and snack counters, bars and restaurants. If you order an orange juice, you can count on receiving a glass of fresh-squeezed juice. And if you've ever had fresh-squeezed juice, you'll know that it's incomparably better than even the best reconstituted frozen juice or even commercial never-been-concentrated juice. To confusingly misuse a metaphor - it's apples and oranges.

One word of advise for those readers of Flavors of Brazil who might find themselves ordering an orange juice from a juice bar or restaurant in Brazil: if you don't want added sugar in your juice, specify that you want "suco de laranja natural". Adding "natural" to the phrase indicates that you want pure juice, without added sugar or sweetener. Personally, even though I'm aware of the notorious Brazilian sweet tooth, I cannot understand why anyone thinks that naturally-sweet orange juice needs to be sweetened, but many do in Brazil. To visit Brazil and not drink fresh-squeezed orange juice would be a crime. So do so, but do try it without sugar - it's nothing but pure naturally-sweet juice and there's nothing better.