Portuguese · Dessert · SAMPLE RECIPE
Bolos de arroz · little Portuguese rice-flour cakes
Tender little butter cakes made with rice and wheat flour, brightened with lemon zest. A lightly sugared top adds a delicate crunch to this pastelaria-inspired bake.
Save to your Saucey Space, or keep a bookmark on this device.
A NOTE FROM THE KITCHEN
A muffin pan makes these easy to bake at home.
Portuguese pastry shops often bake bolos de arroz in tall paper-lined rings. This home version uses a standard muffin pan and makes twelve smaller cakes. They contain both rice flour and wheat flour and are not gluten-free. Use ordinary white rice flour, not glutinous rice flour.
Ready to get started? The ingredients and steps are right below.
LET’S MAKE SOMETHING GOOD
Bolos de arroz · little Portuguese rice-flour cakes
Sample recipe awaiting kitchen testing. Timings are estimates.
The good part
Check off each step as you cook.
0 of 5 steps complete
BEHIND THE DISH · Portuguese pastry-shop cakes
Bolos de arroz · little Portuguese rice-flour cakesBeyond the plate.
Rice flour gives these small butter cakes a different crumb from an ordinary wheat-flour muffin.
ORIGINS & EVOLUTION
Rice flour shares the batter.
Bolos de arroz are a familiar pastelaria cake. Despite the name, many recipes combine rice flour with wheat flour rather than using rice alone. Butter, eggs, and a little citrus make a simple cake whose texture is part of its appeal.
CULTURAL CONTEXT
A distinctive paper wrapper.
The bakery version is often tall and cylindrical, baked in a ring lined with paper. That wrapper helps give the cake a recognizable silhouette. At home, a muffin tin is a practical alternative, although its wider shape produces a different-looking cake.
AT THE TABLE
Small cakes with a sugared top.
Our recipe blends equal weights of ordinary white rice flour and wheat flour, then adds lemon zest and a light scattering of sugar. Paper muffin liners make the cakes easy to lift out. The batter is mixed gently after the flour goes in to keep the crumb tender.
What else sounds good?
There’s a little more inspiration in the kitchen.
Back to the recipes