Recipe
🍰 DESSERT
Cocada Amarela
A rich golden pudding of coconut and egg yolks scented with cloves, a Portuguese-influenced Angolan sweet.
Angolan · medium · serves 6
prep 15 min · cook 35 min
~759 cal · 10g protein · 87g carbs · 45g fat · 11g fiber · 75g sugars · 38g sat fat (estimated, per serving)
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Cocada amarela, yellow coconut pudding, is a classic Angolan dessert, a legacy of the Portuguese colonial era and its convent sweets, which leaned heavily on egg yolks and sugar. Angola made it its own with an abundance of coconut, the fruit of its tropical coast.
Freshly grated coconut is cooked in a sugar syrup, then enriched with a generous number of egg yolks and often perfumed with cloves, which give it a warm fragrance and its characteristic golden colour. Cooked until thick and glossy, it sets into a rich, sweet, dense pudding. Served in small portions, sometimes decorated with whole cloves, it is a decadent treat for special occasions.
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Make it yours
✓ Naturally vegetarian and gluten-, dairy- and pork-free. No swaps needed.
Toggle a diet and the ingredients rewrite themselves with regional substitutes.
🥕 Vegetarian
🌱 Vegan
🌾 Gluten-Free
🥛 Dairy-Free
🥜 Nut-Free
🥚 Egg-Free
🐖 Pork-Free
Dietary labels are a cooking guide, not allergen-safety advice. We track dairy, egg, gluten, tree nuts and peanuts (we count coconut as a tree nut, following FDA labeling), fish, and shellfish; we do not screen for sesame, soy, mustard, celery, or sulphites. If you have a food allergy, read the label on every product you use, and note that a kitchen can cross-contaminate in ways a recipe cannot control.
Ingredients
US
Metric
Serves 6
3 cups grated coconut
6 egg yolks
2 cups sugar
1 1/2 cups water
6 whole cloves
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon, to serve
Instructions
1
Boil the sugar with the water and cloves into a light syrup, then add the coconut and cook until it thickens.
2
Beat the egg yolks, temper them with a little warm syrup, then stir into the coconut off the heat.
✎ Chef’s note
Add the yolks off the heat and cook gently afterwards, stirring constantly, so they thicken the pudding without scrambling.
3
Cook gently, stirring, until thick and glossy.
4
Spoon into a dish, cool, and serve in small portions, dusted with ground cinnamon.
Angolan Portuguese-influenced sweet.
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🌏 While it simmers, know your destination
📍
Luanda. The chilli sits on the table rather than in the pot. Gindungo is the condiment, small hot peppers worked with garlic and oil and added by whoever wants it, and the peanut version of the stew, moamba de ginguba, is the other one worth knowing after the palm oil original.
🗺️
Angola. Calulu, dried fish or meat stewed with okra, sweet potato leaves and palm oil, is shared with Sao Tome and Principe rather than being Angolan alone. Gindungo, the chilli condiment, does the seasoning at the table. Four centuries of Portuguese presence left bread, olive oil and a taste for salt cod alongside all of it.
🌍
Africa. Much of what reads as timeless African cooking is younger than the Atlantic crossings. Maize, cassava, groundnut, chilli and tomato all arrived from the Americas after 1500 and pushed older crops aside; millet, sorghum, teff, yam and fonio are the ones that were already here, and the map still shows the join.
The story behind this dish is up top, worth a read while the pot works.
More from Angola
Muamba de GalinhaAngola’s national dish: chicken stewed golden in palm oil with okra, garlic, and chili until the sauce turns silk.
Pão de MilhoAngolan corn bread: a moist, golden cornmeal loaf, faintly sweet and rich with coconut, sliced for breakfast with butter and coffee.
MufeteGrilled fish with beans, cassava, and sweet potato under a tangy palm-oil and onion sauce, an Angolan coastal feast.
Browse all Angola recipes →
Good to know
Storing it: Keep chilled and covered, and enjoy within 2 to 3 days.
Make it a Angola meal
Moamba de Ginguba (Peanut Chicken Stew)Dinner
KissanguaDrink
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Frequently asked questions
What is Cocada Amarela?
A rich golden pudding of coconut and egg yolks scented with cloves, a Portuguese-influenced Angolan sweet.
Where does Cocada Amarela come from?
Cocada Amarela is a Angolan dish from Luanda, Angola.
Can Cocada Amarela be made vegan, gluten-free, or dairy-free?
This Cocada Amarela recipe includes substitution suggestions for vegetarian, vegan, gluten-free, dairy-free, nut-free, egg-free, and pork-free versions, including several at once such as gluten-free and dairy-free together. Treat them as a starting guide rather than a guarantee, and see the allergen note below.
Is Cocada Amarela safe for people with food allergies?
Our dietary labels and substitutions are a cooking guide, not medical or allergen-safety advice. We track dairy, egg, gluten, tree nuts and peanuts (we count coconut as a tree nut, following FDA labeling), fish, and shellfish, but we do not screen for sesame, soy, mustard, celery, or sulphites. If you have a food allergy, always read the label on every product you use, and remember a home or commercial kitchen can cross-contaminate ingredients in ways a recipe cannot control.
How long does Cocada Amarela take to make?
About 50 minutes total (15 minutes prep, 35 minutes cooking), serving 6.
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