Bolo Pudim (Caramel Pudding Cake)

This post is per request of a reader! A few years ago, I mentioned Bolo Pudim but never followed up with the recipe. "Bolo" in Portuguese means cake; "pudim" is our version of flan. This recipe magically merges these two elements into one tasty dessert. You coat a pan (I prefer using a bundt pan) in home-made caramel, pour the flan on top, and then pour cake batter directly on top. Sounds like syrupy goodness to me!

The recipe for the pudim is a little different than our traditional family version. We don't us any sugar in our mix. Instead, use 2 cans of sweetened condensed milk plus 2 cans (instead of measuring cups, use the empty sweetened condensed milk cans) of regular milk. I like the thick texture it provides but hey- we're old school like that.

The creator of this delicious treat is David Leite and you can find it in his book, "The New Portuguese Table: Exciting Flavors from Europe's Western Coast." There are many versions of this cake; some use chocolate cake as the base! Once you get comfortable with this duo, the possibilities are endless. I'm already playing with the idea of using coconut or pumpkin pudim instead! I'll be sure to make this cake for Easter and will provide an update. The above picture is the bolo pudim- slightly burned- but made with lots of love by Olga a few years back.

Special thanks and lots of love to Susana and Olga for scanning this recipe and sending it over.

Obrigada!