Origins

Just over a week after the website’s launch, we would like to thank the over 3000 visitors we received from all continents (thank you Google Analytics!), and especially the ones who left comments on the various cakes and on the posts we’ve been writing. Your participation means a lot to us, and we would like you to keep giving us ideas, suggestions of cakes and above all that you tell us the stories that you may know about each one of them.

We also think now is a good time to make a : in the name of objectivity and to set ourselves our own limits of observation and works, we decidied that the Fabrico Próprio book will be exclusively dedicated to one portion/unit cakes that are to be found in potentially all the cake shops and cafés in the country.

Having said that, to us cakes such as sliced cakes (that’s why we don’t mention Pão de Ló or Bolo Rei, to quote two “heavyweights” of thse kind of cakes), regional specialties (like Fofos de Belas, Queijadas de Sintra, Dom Rodrigos, Ovos Moles or Cristas de Galo, or Tortas de Guimarães, here in a photo from Rita Marquito), examples of conventual sweets (like Encharcadas or Barrigas de Freira) are not eligible. We also don’t include miniatures or assorted biscuits – we reckon all this would fuel other books…

You can still find in our list (which is still incomplete on the site) some cakes that canbe seen as regional cakes or convent specialties, such as Jesuítas (that come from Santo Tirso), Pastéis de Nata (that evolved form a recipe from the Monastery of Santa Maria de Belém to Pastéis de Belém, and today are scattered all over the world as Natas) or Tigeladas (also known as Tigeladas de Abrantes). However, these three cakes, and all the ones in our book, are today “common property” of all Portuguese, and when we eat each of them we don’t think about their origin. And to us that makes all the difference.

We would naturally like to hear your opinions on this.