Torta de Liquidificador (Blender Savoury Cake)

Everyone has a different recipe and has tried this savoury cake at some point in their life. This is the recipe my mum and my Aunt Bel used to use. It is probably not the healthiest recipe, but it is very popular in any Brazilian family.

Ingredients

• 1 cup vegetable oil
• 2 cups milk
• 3 eggs
• 3 tbsp grated parmesan cheese
• 12 tbsp plain flour (approximately)
• 2 tsp baking powder
• Salt to taste (about 1 tbsp)

Filling Suggestions

Have your filling of choice prepared in advance, such as:

• Shredded chicken, seasoned (like a coxinha filling — Brazilian chicken croquettes — recipe here)
• Minced beef, fried, like a pastel filling (Brazilian fried pastry)
• Sardines/tuna added to onion, tomato, fresh herbs, olives and peas, seasoned with salt and black pepper
• Cheese, ham, hard-boiled eggs, tomato slices and onion slices for a “portuguesa” style filling
• Calabresa sausage, minced and fried with onion
• Mixed vegetables in cubes for a vegetarian version

Method

1. Preheat the oven to 180°C and set aside a medium ovenproof dish or baking tin (I used a 20x30cm dish and had some batter left over)

2. In a blender add the oil, eggs and milk and blitz until smooth

3. Add the cheese and the tablespoons of flour in stages, adding and blitzing so that it mixes in completely; do not blitz constantly for a long time, just a few seconds is enough to combine

4. Finally add the baking powder and the salt and blitz one last time to mix

5. Pour approximately half of the batter, filling about 1cm of your dish, then add your chosen filling on top of this batter

6. Pour the remaining batter on top, covering all of the filling; the more batter you put in, the taller the savoury cake will be and the more “doughy”, and it may take longer to bake

7. Bake for about 30-35 minutes or until a fork comes out clean when pierced; do not bake in a very hot oven or the top will burn and the inside will not cook completely. Let it cool before cutting!

This batter can be used to make small empadinhas using the same method - batter/filling/batter - or smaller savoury cakes in lunchbox-style tins (marmitex)