Bolo Rei (or, as you called it, King Cake) is a Christmas favourite in Portgual. Ours look a little different, though. The reciepe over here gets round to being more like a heavy-brioche (if you can curb your imagination around that) type bread, spattered with small pieces of cristalized/candied fruit (much like the english fruit-cake) and pine-nuts, and sometimes even crushed wallnuts. the flat-doughnut shaped bun is then decorated with large ribbons of candied fruit (much like jewels), ranging from orange-peels, pears and coloured squash. powdered sugar serves as a topping once de cake is done baking and the end result is much like a crown… but that a much naturally-coloured and scented.

before it was banned a few years back, the cake would also come with 2 surprises: a tin toy (that could be anything from a baby to an indian warrior) and a dried long-bean. The toy marked the lucky recipient, the king of the night, while the dried long-bean essencially marked the person who would provide next year’s cake.

Bolo Rei is really, really big over here and Christmas wouldn’t be the same without it throughtout the country.