Recipe
🍰 DESSERT
Bolo Polana
A rich, moist cake of cashews and potato scented with citrus, named for an elegant Maputo neighborhood.
Mozambican · medium · serves 10
prep 25 min · cook 45 min
~474 cal · 12g protein · 39g carbs · 32g fat · 2g fiber · 24g sugars · 10g sat fat (estimated, per serving)
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Bolo Polana is a distinctive Mozambican cake, named after the Polana, an elegant district of the capital Maputo. It reflects the country's Portuguese colonial heritage and its abundance of cashews, a major local crop, in a uniquely rich and unusual bake.
Its surprising base is a combination of ground cashews and mashed potato, which together give the cake a dense, moist, almost fudgy texture quite unlike a flour sponge. Enriched with butter, sugar, and egg and brightened with lemon zest, it bakes into a golden, tender cake. Distinctive and luxurious, it is a proud Mozambican dessert for special occasions.
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Make it yours
✓ Naturally vegetarian and gluten- 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 10
2 cups cashews, ground
1 1/2 cups potatoes, boiled and mashed
1/2 cup butter, softened
4 eggs
1 cup sugar
1 lemon lemon zest and juice
Instructions
1
Cream the butter and sugar, then beat in the eggs one at a time.
2
Fold in the ground cashews, mashed potato, and lemon zest into a thick batter.
✎ Chef’s note
Make sure the mashed potato is smooth and cool; lumps or warmth throw off the cake's dense, even, fudgy crumb.
3
Pour into a lined tin and bake at 350F (180C) until set and golden, about 40 minutes.
4
Cool before slicing.
Mozambican Maputo tradition.
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🌏 While it simmers, know your destination
📍
Maputo. Two arrivals shaped this coast. The bird's eye chilli came with Portuguese ships after the Atlantic crossings, and the coconut-and-spice register traces to Goan and wider Indian Ocean trade, which is why a Maputo curry can taste closer to the Malabar coast than to anywhere inland.
🗺️
Mozambique. Matapa is the dish that shows what the Indian Ocean did to this coast. Young cassava leaves are pounded in a wooden mortar, then cooked slowly with ground peanuts, garlic, onion and coconut milk, often with crab or prawns folded in, and served over rice. It is a cousin of Cameroon's ndole and of Brazilian vatapa.
🌍
Africa. Africa's fifty-four nations hold cuisines as different as Morocco's slow-cooked tagines and South Africa's open-fire braai, yet shared threads run through them: ancient grains like millet, sorghum, and teff; stews thickened with groundnut, okra, or palm; and fiery condiments from Tunisian harissa to Ethiopian berbere. Staple starches, fufu, injera, ugali, couscous, anchor communal meals often eaten by hand from a shared dish, where hospitality is a point of honor.
The story behind this dish is up top, worth a read while the pot works.
More from Mozambique
Frango à ZambezianaChicken marinated in lemon, garlic and piri-piri with coconut milk, then grilled slowly over calm coals and basted with more coconut until it is gold outside and soft within.
Frango Piri-PiriButterflied chicken grilled under a lemon-garlic piri-piri baste, the original of a dish the world now queues for.
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Browse all Mozambique recipes →
Good to know
You’ll need: Oven, Mould or tin.
Storing it: Store in an airtight container. Most keep 2 to 3 days at room temperature, and longer refrigerated.
Make it a Mozambique meal
Camarão Grelhado (Grilled LM Prawns)Dinner
Sumo de MúcuaDrink
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Cuisine
Diet
Frequently asked questions
What is Bolo Polana?
A rich, moist cake of cashews and potato scented with citrus, named for an elegant Maputo neighborhood.
Where does Bolo Polana come from?
Bolo Polana is a Mozambican dish from Maputo, Mozambique.
Can Bolo Polana be made vegan, gluten-free, or dairy-free?
This Bolo Polana 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 Bolo Polana 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 Bolo Polana take to make?
About 70 minutes total (25 minutes prep, 45 minutes cooking), serving 10.
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