Curacao classic: Bolo di Kashupete

The tropical evergreen cashew tree bears an apple like fruit, the actual cashew nut grows from the bottom of the cashew apple, and the nut is the only edible part of the fruit. One apple grows one fruit, which is why cashew nuts are relatively expensive.
This cake has been around for many years on Curacao, the sweetness and creaminess of the cashews are complimented by the rum and vanilla, making this a true tropical delight!

What you’ll need for 1 cashew nut cake:
– 125 gram unsalted butter
– 3 eggs
– 100 grams castor sugar
– 100 gram runny honey (1/3 cup)
– rind of 1 lime
– 250 gram self raising flour
– 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
– 1 tablespoon Jamaican rum
– 50 mls evaporated milk

Cashew nut frosting:
– 450 mls water
– 375 grams sugar
– ½ can condensed milk
– 350 gram ground cashew nuts
– 1 tablespoon vanilla essence
– 1 tablespoon Jamaican rum

Preheat the over to 175 Celcius.
Mix the butter, honey and sugar together until creamy.
Add the eggs one by one, combining it with the butter and sugar mix.
Add the evaporated milk, rum and vanilla and combine well.

Add the self-raising flour and lime rind to the mixture.

Pour the mixture in a well-buttered round baking tin and bake for about 50 minutes.

In the mean time you can start working on the frosting.
This takes a little time. Bring the water and the sugar to a boil in a saucepan; let it reduce to a thick syrup. Reduce the heat and add half a can of condensed milk…. Don’t walk away from the stove, the condensed milk behaves just like real milk and easily overflows!
Give it all a good stir to combine the milk with the syrup. Add the ground cashews to the milk and syrup mixture and stir well.
To bring out the gentle flavour of the cashews we add some vanilla essence and another tablespoon of the delicious Jamaican rum.
Cook it all down to a thick paste and turn off the heat.

By now the cake should be done, gently check with a skewer of it comes out clean the cake is done. Allow the cake to cool off.

Be sure that you keep stirring the frosting every now and then as it will form a hard layer on top. Slice the cake in 3 layers when it has cooled down. Spread each cake layer with the creamy cashew frosting and place the layers on top of each other.

To finalise this traditional Curacao cake, spread a nice layer of the frosting on top of the cake and even on the sides if you like. Decorate it with some cashew nut halves.

Refrigerate the cake for the frosting to set and enjoy!