In Good FlavorCavacas is a popover-style Portuguese pastry. It is light and airy, and the glaze has a hint of lemon. Delicious!
My friend Ria brought Cavacas to my house when she and her husband visited one day. I have never had it before, and it was love at first bite! It was crusty and sweet on the outside, soft, eggy, and air-pocket-filled on the inside. With a sweet, lemony glaze, it was perfection! I knew immediately that I had to learn how to make them.
Cavacas is a Portuguese pastry. They are essentially dessert popovers and can be baked in muffin or popover tins. Thanks to Maria Lawton, the author of Azorean Greenbean, I don’t have to make a special trip to a Portuguese bakery for these heavenly treats. Her recipe was exactly what I was looking for. I can make them any time I want at home!
The recipe is simple, but it does require a whole lot of mixing. Thank goodness for stand mixers! It does most of the work for you.
Recipe Highlights:
- To make it, just put all the ingredients into the bowl.
- Mix away for at least 20 minutes.
Cavacas are best eaten fresh. Day on old ones tend to dry out (but I always manage to choke them down, hee hee). If you need to store them, refrigerate them in an airtight container. Let them come to room temp before eating.
Recommended supplies:
Affiliate links. The products I recommend are either what I use, are on my wish list, or come highly rated.)
- Stand mixer—this is larger than the one I have. I would like one this size. It has very good ratings and is reasonably priced.
- Standard-size muffin pans to bake the cavacas in.
- This mini popover pan can be used instead of standard-size muffin pans. The cavities of both pans hold essentially the same capacity.
- Small spatula to spread glaze onto the cavacas. I have this set and use it constantly.
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Cavacas (Portuguese Pastry)
Description
Cavacas is a popover-style Portuguese pastry. It is light and airy, and the glaze has a hint of lemon. Delicious!
Ingredients
 Sugar Glaze:
Suggested supplies (affiliate links):
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 ° F.
- Grease standard-size muffin tins or popover tins.
- Using an electric mixer or stand mixer (on level 6), beat flour, oil, 1/2 cup milk, and eggs for at least 20 minutes without stopping. Â Fill the muffin or popover tins no more than halfway.
- Place on the middle rack. Bake for about 45 minutes for moist Cavacas and 1 hour for dry Cavacas.
- Combine all of the glaze ingredients and stir until smooth. I use more than 2 tablespoons of milk. While the cavacas are still warm, spoon the glaze over or submerge each one into the glaze.
- Best served the same day. They tend to dry out easily.
- Makes 12 Cavacas.
Note:
- If you use standard-size popover pans, they are bigger in volume than standard-sized muffin pans and mini popover pans. You will yield less in quantity but get larger cavacas. The bake time would also increase due to the size difference.
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The cavacas that I have experienced are not shaped like you have. I have had them shaped like a bowl and I have had some shaped like a flat oval.I would assume it is all done with the same recipe, but not done in a muffin pan. Any thoughts on getting any of these other shapes?
Cavacas are commonly known as Portuguese Popovers because they are often baked in popover pans or muffin pans. The ones that my friend gets from the bakery are coned shaped because I think they are baked in a deep popover pans. To answer your question, I think the shape of the pastry just depends on the shape of the vessel they are baked in, so an oval one might be baked in an oval mold or ramekin. I also think the amount of batter in the mold affects its final shape, although the is just an educated guess…I have not tested it out.
I have made these several times and they always turn out perfect, I think the trick is to put the batter half way.
Those look delicious!! I'd love to try them. You should have seen my catastrophic dinner last week. It came out delicious, but looked horrible. LOL Thanks for linking them up with us at Foodie Fridays!
Ha ha!! We all had our share of those meals! But when it tastes good, nobody really cares how looks, right?
What a wonderful treat, wish I had one with my afternoon tea. Hope you are having a great day and thanks so much for sharing this awesome post with Full Plate Thursday.
Come Back Soon!
Miz Helen
Thank you! I like that the mixer does all of the work for you. Have a great week!
My mother made these and she used little individual pie tins.
They must look scrumptious. I'm sure they taste delicious!! 🙂
They look so similar to Yorkshire puddings, but for those you need more oil. I would like to try these.
These have a little more of a chew then Yorkshire pudding, but they are so good! I hope you'll try them!!
They are call cavacas or carolinas, working as a baker in a Portuguese bakery, they are molded with a pastry bag into little ball that puffs in the oven.
Carolinas or cavacas are a modify pate a choux, the difference is that, pate a choux we boil water with butter or margarine, add the flour and mixed well until a dough is formed, then we put it in the mixer bowl add the eggs and we have either one of them.
I want to make these! But what kind of oil? Vegetable? I read elsewhere olive oil! Thank you in advance!
Thank you for stopping by! I use canola or vegetable oil. I have not used olive oil, but you can give it a try…maybe a light tasting one?
You can use either vegetable oil or olive oil!!!!!…. (:
These are like Pate A Choux and could probably sustain a curd filling. I think I will give these a go and fill them w/lemon curd or maybe even an orange curd w/the zested glaze omitting the milk and using the juice instead w/a dash of vanilla extract. I'm a huge fan a citrus (especially lemon!). Thank you for the recipe. My boyfriends family is Portuguese so hopefully I will get a chance to make them for them one day.
What your idea sounds amazing!! It makes me want to try it too. Good luck! I would love to know how it turns out!!
Father-in-law had these shipped from hos hometown in Portugal at Christmas to eat with roasted Chestnuts. Delicious. Going to try your recipe.
Wow! That was a special shipment! I hope you’ll like these!!