A brigadeiro is two bites at our counter, and in Brazil nobody buys just one. They come by the dozen, rolled by hand into small dark spheres and set out in paper cases. They also explain why a Brazilian birthday table looks nothing like a New Zealand one. Dhi Ferrari grew up in Rio de Janeiro. He spent more than eighteen years in patisserie before he set that table in central Christchurch.
A table of small things, not one big thing
The cake matters, though it never has to carry the whole event. Around it goes a spread of little sweets, one or two bites each, so people drift along the table and talk instead of queueing for a slice. That habit is why our range runs so deep in miniatures. Mini cakes are one serving each, sold individually or in trays of six and twelve, and the mini cake range runs from Nutella and Tiramisu through to Lemon Daisy and Passion. Mini desserts sit alongside them. The Pudim Caramel Flan is the most Brazilian thing in the cabinet. Pudim is simply the Portuguese word for pudding, and this one is a baked custard under a slick of dark caramel, dense and velvety instead of wobbly, closer to set cream than to jelly.
The brigadeiro, and the sweet that sits beside it
A brigadeiro is a traditional Brazilian condensed milk caramel, rolled by hand, and it is made with no added gluten. One clings to the roof of the mouth for a moment and then lets go. Watch a Brazilian at a party: they take two, eat the first, and keep the second in their left hand while they talk. On the labelling, New Zealand rules mean we can only say we have not added gluten-containing ingredients. Our kitchen is small and without exclusive production areas for all of our different recipes, so traces may occur, and nothing we make is guaranteed safe for severe coeliac disease. We have written more about what a brigadeiro is and why Brazilians eat them in handfuls.
The other name worth knowing is the bem-casado, the wrapped sponge-and-caramel sweet Brazilians hand out at weddings instead of birthdays. Both traditions lean on dulce de leche: condensed milk cooked slowly until it caramelises, thick and golden and cooked down until it is thick enough to hold a spoon. You can taste exactly that in the Dulce Caramel Cake, and in the chocolate brigadeiro drizzle over the Brazilian Carrot Cake, a bright golden cake, not the spiced version most New Zealanders picture. Our note on how the Brazilian carrot cake differs covers the whole argument.
The cake in the middle, and how many it feeds
Count heads before you choose a size. Our cakes feed more people than they look like they will. All ten flavours in the specialty layer cake range carry the same ladder: from $95, with the 15cm serving 12 to 15, the 20cm serving 20 to 25 and the 25cm serving 30 to 35. For a Brazilian table, Tres Leches and Thunder Chocolate are the two that read as home. Thunder works brigadeiro through a moist chocolate sponge until the whole thing turns fudgy and slow on the tongue. Finishes are ganache and chocolate elements only. No fondant, no colourings, nothing bespoke, so you choose from designs that already exist. If you cannot decide, buy a couple of cake slices in store first and taste the flavours before committing to a big one.
Make the party the activity
The best reason to bring people here instead of carrying a box home is the Mini-Cake Decorating Challenge: $65 a head for four to twelve guests, up to 90 minutes, running Tuesday to Friday between 11am and 4pm. Everyone finishes a cake. Nobody sets up and nobody cleans up. The competitive streak in a group of friends does the rest. Details for that and the other formats sit on the group experiences page, and we have written up what a session actually feels like. Birthday plans of every other shape live on the birthday cakes page.
Picking the cake up
Most things need two days, larger desserts need three, and petit four trays need seven. Choose your pickup date at checkout; the picker only offers days the kitchen can meet for what is in your cart. Add a set of Hōhepa beeswax birthday candles while you are there, because a Brazilian table always has candles on it.
Collection only, from our patisserie inside The Welder at 20-26 Welles Street, Christchurch Central. Our hours are 10am to 9pm Tuesday to Saturday. Cakes are handed over already boxed, and a layer cake keeps overnight in a fridge in our packaging, so collecting the day before a party is the calmest way to do it.
