Indulge in Brazilian Delights: Brigadeiro Dessert and Brigadeiro Cake Recipe

Hello,

In this post, I'll talk about the famous Brazilian dessert "Brigadeiro" and how I make it at home. I'll share my experience of how I decided to bake a Brigadeiro cake for the first time: my journey from searching for the original recipe on the internet to the result.

So today I am a food blogger, or rather I will try to be one, but after the experience, I realized: I will never become one :)

Table of Contents

1. Brazilian Delight: Unveiling the History and Tradition of Brigadeiro

2. My Brigadeiro Dessert Recipe - Brigadeiro de Colher

3. The Quest for the Perfect Brigadeiro Cake Recipe 

4. Brigadeiro Cake Recipe 

Brazilian Delight: Unveiling the History and Tradition of Brigadeiro

If you have at least one person from Brazil in your circle, or if you have ever watched a TV show or read an article about Brazil recommending tourist places to visit in this country or what traditional Brazilian dishes to try, then you have definitely heard of "Brigadeiro."

Brigadeiro

The history of Brigadeiro creation has a political undertone. In 1946, during the presidential campaign, confectioner Heloisa Nabuco de Oliveira, who supported the candidacy of Brigadier Eduardo Gomes, the candidate of the National Democratic Union for the presidency, created a new confectionery product and named it after the candidate. Although Eduardo Gomes lost the election at that time, the Doce de brigadeiro (Brigadeiro delight) dessert quickly gained popularity throughout Brazil, and later its name was shortened simply to "brigadeiro." Today, it is a must-have for birthdays, especially children's, and is served in restaurants and cafes across the country.

My Brigadeiro Dessert Recipe - Brigadeiro de Colher

I don't remember when I first heard about this dessert, but when I started dating Santiago, my husband, the word "brigadeiro" started to sound constantly in our home. He often mentioned how tasty this dessert was, and when I made Ukrainian cheesecakes or pancakes that he didn't really like, he would say, "if only we could put brigadeiro on top - the taste of the cheesecake or pancake would be completely different." Santiago made brigadeiro himself twice in our entire history: once it burned, the second time was more successful. Later, I found a café in Bali that makes sweets from different countries, including brigadeiro candies. Santiago really liked them, and for a while, I ordered them from there. But I'm a very practical person, and after calculating how much I overpaid for the candies with delivery service, one day I decided to make this dessert myself. The recipe was easy to find on the internet. Brigadeiro is usually shaped into small balls covered with chocolate sprinkles. There is also a version of serving the brigadeiro dessert called brigadeiro de colher – this is when the ready brigadeiro is filled into small jars and eaten with a spoon. This last option suited me because I had neither the patience nor the desire to make balls.

My brigadeiro de colher

Brigadeiro De Colher Recipe

Ingredients:

• Sweetened condensed milk (390 g)

• Unsweetened cocoa powder 3 tablespoons

• Butter 1 tablespoon

1. In a medium saucepan (preferably with a thick bottom), mix condensed milk, cocoa powder, and butter.

2. Cook over low heat, stirring constantly to avoid lumps. At the beginning, I use a whisk to mix everything well, and then I use a silicone spatula.

3. When you see that the mixture has thickened and is pulling away from the sides of the saucepan (about 25 minutes), remove from heat and let it cool.

4. Then I pour the still warm dessert into small glass jars, improvising with fillings. It can be a layer of brigadeiro - then cocoa or grated dark chocolate - then nuts (whichever you like) - again brigadeiro - and so on. I can just make a sweet mixture without any additional ingredients. It's all up to you.

5. Store in the refrigerator for 10-14 days. Maybe brigadeiro can be stored longer, but I don't know - Santiago just eats it all within this period.

The Quest for the Perfect Brigadeiro Cake Recipe 

My husband and I have different tastes when it comes to desserts. All the sweets I make for myself, he doesn't eat and says they are "too healthy." For myself, I blend different nuts, cocoa, coconut flakes, and dried fruits in a blender, and then shape them into candies or bars. I find it very tasty. I don't eat cakes, pastries, cookies. But Santiago, on the contrary, loves sweets, especially chocolate ones, so besides brigadeiro dessert, he often mentioned Bolo de brigadeiro (brigadeiro cake), describing it as a real sweet delight and how good it would be to bake it at home. And finally, after two years, I decided to make Brigadeiro cake.

What does everyone do when they want to try a new recipe: they ask friends, relatives who have already cooked it, or search on the internet. First, I asked Santiago if he knew anything about the cake recipe, but all his knowledge ended with the fact that it was very tasty and there was brigadeiro in it. Then I went to the internet. And there...

Like most traditional recipes in other countries, Brigadeiro cake has countless variations. I don't know about you, but sometimes I get the impression that some food bloggers don't cook according to their own recipes, they just write them down. The proportions of ingredients are so doubtful, and sometimes even the technique or cooking time. That's why I rarely follow recipes found online. To find the right Brigadeiro cake recipe, I checked out a bunch of options and even asked ChatGPT for help, who, by the way, also made a mistake. We debated for a while about how much cocoa powder I should use in the recipe, and in the end, it finally admitted that it had provided the wrong amount of ingredients in the recipe.

After selecting the recipe and purchasing the ingredients, I baked the cake.

My Brigadeiro cake

And today, I'm sharing the recipe for a classic Bolo de Brigadeiro, which I cooked, but with some improvements based on my experience:

Brigadeiro Cake Recipe 

Ingredients:

Brigadeiro - filling

• 1 can (396 g) condensed milk

• 3-4 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder

• 2 tablespoons butter

Cake

• 150 g wheat flour

• 100 g brown sugar

• 90 ml vegetable oil (I used olive oil)

• 3-4 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder

• 3 eggs

• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

• 120 ml milk

• 1 tablespoon baking powder

• Chocolate sprinkles for cake decoration

Instructions:

1. Preheat the oven to 180°C. Line the bottom of a cake pan (I used a 22 cm one) with parchment paper, then grease the entire pan with butter and sprinkle flour over the entire surface, removing excess flour if necessary. Set aside.

2. Preparing the Brigadeiro filling: In a medium saucepan, mix condensed milk, cocoa powder, and butter. Cook over low heat, stirring constantly, until the mixture thickens and pulls away from the sides of the pan (according to the original recipe, it takes 10 minutes, but in my case, the mixture doesn't even heat up completely in that time, let alone pulling away from the sides, so I cooked it for about 25 minutes). Remove from heat and let it cool.

3. In a large bowl, mix eggs, milk, oil, and vanilla. Then add brown sugar and mix well. Sift together all the dry ingredients (cocoa, flour, baking powder) and add them to the liquid mixture, stirring well with a hand mixer until smooth.

4. Pour the batter into the prepared cake pan. Bake in the preheated oven for 25-30 minutes (as the recipe says, I baked for 45 minutes), or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.

5. Let the cake cool completely in the pan. Once the cake has cooled, remove it from the pan and transfer it to a serving plate. Divide the cake into two layers. Spread half of the prepared Brigadeiro filling over the surface of the first layer, then cover with the second layer and evenly distribute the remaining Brigadeiro over the surface and sides of the cake.

6. Decorate the cake with chocolate sprinkles and leave in the refrigerator for a few hours before serving.

Enjoy!

P.S. I forgot to mention, Santiago really liked the cake :)

See you soon,

Olya.