The dessert that stands out in northeast Brazilian cuisine and brings references to the past, fruits of diverse cultural heritage – Portuguese, Hispanic, African, Native American. History shows us that, since the colonisation of Brazil, the presence of desserts is striking. On the sugarcane plantations, talented woman of the ‘main’ house brought with them a vast knowledge of sweet-making from Portugal, much originating in the kitchens of convents, which became the basis for traditional Portuguese sweets. In the colonised land, their recipes were adapted or added with local ingredients, without compromising their taste.
Gilberto Freyre, in his book Açúcar (Sugar), states: marmalade, cashew nuts and guava paste have become, since colonial times, great sweet flavours of the ‘main’ houses. Baked or fried banana and cinnamon, one of the most highly-regarded desserts in patriarchal houses, alongside sugar cane syrup with manioc flour, with yams, with manioc; along with ‘sabongo’ [coconut sweet with sugar cane syrup] and green coconut sweet and later, with cheese sweet – an absolutely flavoursome Brazilian combination (FREYRE, 1987, p. 57).
Aside from desserts, Northeast Brazil is an area par excellence for cakes, especially for original cakes from special family recipes. As an example of this, we find the Souza Leão, which has achieved regional patrimonial status as well as national.
According to researchers, the Souza Leão Cake entered the history of Pernambuco cuisine through Dona Rita de Cássia Souza Leão Bezerra Cavalcanti, the wife of Colonel Agostinho Bezerra da Silva Cavalcanti, proprietor of the São Bartolomeu plantation, in the Muribeca settlement, in the Jaboatão dos Guararapes municipality. A renowned sweet-maker of the time, many of Dona Rita’s recipes have been passed down and become famous, such as São Bartolomeu Cake and Souza Leão Cake. Some of the ingredients of the Souza Leão, originally European, have been replaced: the flour for the dough with manioc flour and the French butter with butter made in the plantation’s kitchen. Success has remained guaranteed until this day and it is considered to be the most ‘aristocratic’ cake in northeast Brazil. Also, in the tradition of serving the cake, there is the obligation to use porcelain or crystal plates. Probably this demand is due to the importance of the Souza Leão family, after whom it is named. It is also said that it was served to Emperor Dom Pedro II and his wife, Tereza Cristina, when they travelled through Pernambuco, in 1859.
Up until now, it has been a difficult task to identify the original recipe, which has been attributed to Dona Rita de Cássia. Freyre (1987, p.77), confirms: I have found various recipes of this dish, but all of them are contradictory, to the point of making me doubt the existence of an orthodox [true] Sousa Leão. Getting them is like violating Masonic secrets. The descendents of the Souza Leão family come from eleven different plantations in Pernambuco. With the passing of time, the original recipe has undergone small variations in ingredients, and each branch of the family asserts that theirs is the true recipe. Putting this dispute to one side, the truth is that whatever version is served, the cake is always good, creamy and pudding-like, and whoever tastes it never forgets.
Here is one of the recipes for the traditional Souza Leão cake:
Souza Leão Cake
Ingredients:
- 18 egg yolks;
- 6 cups of pure coconut milk;
- 1 kg sugar;
- 1 kg manioc flour, washed and pressed trough a sieve;
- 2 table spoons of melted butter;
- Salt to taste.
Preparation:
- With the sugar, make a light caramel syrup;
- Add the butter and then egg yolks;
- Add the manioc flour. Finally, add coconut milk and salt to taste;
- Pass the entire mixture through a very fine sieve, several times;
- Place in a baking dish greased with butter and lined with baking paper, also greased. Bake in a regular oven.
On 22 May 2008, Governor Eduardo Campos sanctioned Law nº 357/2007, presented by state congressman Pedro Eurico, which gave Souza Leão Cake the status of Cultural and Immaterial Patrimony of the State of Pernambuco.
Recife, 22 December 2008.
(Updated on 14 September de 2009).
Translated by Peter Leamy, January 2011.
sources consulted
BOLO Souza Leão. Disponível em: <http://www.nordesteweb.com/culinaria/receitas_doces/culinaria_do_010.htm>. Acesso em: 16 dez. 2008.
BOLO Souza Leão ganha título de patrimônio imaterial. JC Online, Recife, 22 maio 2008. Caderno C. Disponível em: <http://jc.uol.com.br/radiojornal/2008/05/22/not_195796.php>. Acesso em: 16 dez. 2008.
CAVALCANTI, Lectícia. Bolo Souza Leão. Disponível em: <http://terramagazine.terra.com.br/interna/0,,OI1359017-EI6614,00.html>. Acesso em: 16 dez. 2008.
FREYRE, Gilberto. Açúcar: em torno da etnografia da história e da sociologia do doce no Nordeste canavieiro do Brasil. Recife: Fundaj, Ed. Massangana, 1987.
LODY, Raul. Nego bom e Souza Leão: o bom do doce em Pernambuco. Tempo Tríbio, recife, v. 1, n. 1, p. 135-141, 2006
how to quote this text
Source: BARBOSA, Virgínia. Bolo Souza Leão. Pesquisa Escolar On-Line, Joaquim Nabuco Foundation, Recife. Available at: <http://basilio.fundaj.gov.br/pesquisaescolar/>. Accessed: day month year. Exemple: 6 Aug. 2009.