Journals Russ Reads

Posted by Athena Scalzi

https://whatever.scalzi.com/2026/02/23/trying-out-a-new-recipe-ash-babers-bolo-gelado-de-brigadeiro/

https://whatever.scalzi.com/?p=59550

I can honestly say I’ve never heard of Bolo Gelado de Brigadeiro, or any of the words that make up this Brazilian dessert’s name, but when I came across the reel of Ash Baber making it on Instagram, I knew I wanted to give it a whirl.

View this post on Instagram

Determined to try this chocolatey confection for myself, I went over to his website and took a look at the recipe. When you first look at this recipe, it looks very long and decently complicated. There’s three different sections, each with their own list of ingredients. While there are a lot of ingredients, if you look at them individually they’re really not that wild, it’s just that there’s a lot of them. What is wild is that there is butter, eggs, and oil, as well as white sugar, brown sugar, and sweetened condensed milk, so it really ends up feeling like you need a ton of stuff to make one cake.

You have to make the brigadeiro, make the cake, make the milk soak, and put it all together.

So, was it worth the hassle? How long did it really take? And, of course, how many dishes did I make in the process?

Let’s start with the cost of ingredients. Like I said, nothing was too out of the ordinary, so everything was easily attainable from my local Kroger. The only thing I would say I don’t regularly have on hand on this list is buttermilk, and it’s a 50/50 chance on whether or not I have heavy cream on hand. However, I happened to be out of a lot of things I normally have, so I had to buy some stuff for this recipe I generally would’ve just had.

I bought two cans of condensed milk, and I buy the Eagle brand one, so those were $3.49 each. Usually I have at least one can of sweetened condensed milk on hand, but I still would’ve had to buy one anyways since the recipe calls for two. I only bought a pint of the Kroger brand buttermilk, so it was just $1.29. For the Kroger brand heavy cream, I went ahead and bought a quart, so that was $5.99. Normally I have plenty of butter, but I was completely out so I got two 2-stick packs of Vital Farms Unsalted Butter. I also normally have vegetable oil, but I was down to about one tiny splash, so I bought a new 40oz Crisco Vegetable Oil for $4.79.While I did have eggs, the recipe calls for six (which seems like a lot) so I had to buy a new pack, and I bought Pete & Gerry’s Organic Free Range eggs for $6.99, but you could easily cut down on this cost by buying the Kroger brand large white eggs for $1.79. Also, this one is optional, but I bought Simple Truth Chocolate Sprinkles for $2.69.

All of that came out to $28.73. Not horrible but not cheap, either.

After acquiring the ingredients, it was time to make the brigadeiro:

I know this is only the first photo of many, but I forgot to include the actual chocolate in the photo. It was Ghirardelli. And then upon making I came extremely close to forgetting to put in the condensed milk. I was very scatterbrained apparently.

This part, while easy, was definitely time consuming. I felt like it took longer than I expected for the mixture to thicken up, but I also feel like maybe I didn’t make it hot enough at first. I think I was nervous to burn the cream so I tried to keep it pretty medium-low, but it wasn’t really thickening up much until I turned it up a bit. Technically the recipe doesn’t say how long it takes, but it took me about thirty minutes, and I was constantly stirring it, so that was tedious.

After it had thickened up to the point that I can only describe as “probably good enough,” I set it aside to cool a bit before putting some cling wrap over top and putting it in the fridge to chill.

Here’s the layout of ingredients for the cake portion:

Thankfully, this was basically just “throw everything in your stand mixer bowl and whip it together.” I put the cocoa powder and instant espresso powder (I know the recipe calls for instant coffee, but I assume this recipe can only benefit from the substitution) in the bottom of the stand mixer bowl first, then poured the hot water over it and whisked it into a smooth, thick paste:

I tossed everything else on top of it and got to mixin’. Here’s what we were looking like before the addition of the eggs and the buttermilk:

This was pretty damn gloopy, and weirdly grainy.

And after the addition:

The mixture was much more airy and light now, more like a fluffy texture. Almost mousse-like, but not quite at that level of lightness.

I opted to mix the flour in myself rather than with the stand mixer, because the bowl was honestly really full and it was a lot of flour. I didn’t want it to go exploding everywhere in the stand mixer.

When I started mixing the flour in, tiny clumps of flour started appearing all throughout the batter, like they didn’t quite mix in right. Definitely was starting to wish I had sifted the flour. I beat the clumps out best I could and poured it into the cake pan, then put it in the oven for one hour at 350 degrees Fahrenheit. There was so much batter in the pan that I was worried not even an hour would cook the cake all the way through, but when I used a knife to test it fresh out of the oven, it came out perfectly clean.

Putting that aside to cool, it was time to make the milk soak, which is just milk, cocoa powder, and sugar.

Once the cake and milk soak were both cooled, it was time to take the brigadeiro out of the fridge and put the whole dang thing together. Here’s the brigadeiro all thickened up:

Gawd dayum was this thicc. Rich and fudgy and oh so chocolatey. It was honestly incredible, but I was sure I was about to bend my spoon trying to mix it around. Handle with caution.

The cake cut in half easily, as it was very tall and made two very nice layers. I put the bottom layer in the cake pan I had baked it in, then poured half the milk soak over it. Scooped half the brigadeiro onto the first layer and smoothed it out over the surface, then slapped the top layer on top and poured the rest of the milk soak over it (I docked the top a bunch with a fork so the milk could go into the holes), and slathered that bad boy in the rest of the brigadeiro. There was so much brigadeiro on top, the cake pan could barely even contain my creation, the fudgy topping starting to spill over the sides.

The instructions say to let this puppy sit in the fridge overnight, and though it was hard not to slice right into it, I managed to let it rest in the fridge.

Once I took it out (it was heavy) and put sprinkles on top, it was glorious:

In the moment, I thought that was plenty of sprinkles, but looking at it now, I totally could’ve put more. It looks a little sparse.

I was eager to cut into it, and here’s the cross section:

My parents and I tried this cake at the same time and oh my gosh. It was probably the best chocolate cake I’ve ever had. I don’t even really like chocolate cake that much, but this one was so moist and rich, dense and fudgy and absolutely decadent. It was the kind you could only take a small slice of, and even then I needed some milk with it. It is not for the faint of heart, but it is for the fat of ass.

I had four of my friends try this cake and they all said it was incredibly banger, and even “dangerously good.” I was feeling pretty good that this turned out so yummy.

I will say this cake slides around a lot. The layer of brigadeiro in between the top and bottom cake layer make this thing slip and slide all over itself, and you can end up with a very slanted, divided cake if you aren’t careful. Cutting into it is messy, frosting it is messy, divvying it up into Tupperwares to give to other people is messy. But boy is it delicious.

For the dishes portion of this recipe test, this recipe is unique because it isn’t measured with cups and the like. You can measure everything on a digital scale, which made everything so much easier and made me use considerably less dishes. I used one bowl to weigh the brigadeiro ingredients in, one pot to cook the brigadeiro in, a rubber spatula to mix it, and another bowl to put in the fridge after it cooked. For the cake I used my stand mixer bowl, one attachment of the stand mixer, one whisk, a teaspoon, a tablespoon, and one rubber spatula to put it into the cake tin. I guess you can also count the cake tin in that, too. Oh, and a bowl for the eggs because I always crack eggs into a separate bowl first instead of straight into the cake batter. Finally, I used one small pot for the milk soak, a tablespoon, and another rubber spatula.

So, was it all worth it? The large ingredient list, the time that went into it, the dishes, and the cost (roughly, prices will vary for you, obviously).

I think yes! But this is definitely something to make for special occasions, or maybe for something like the holidays, when you need something to feed a lot of people. This cake makes a lot of cake.

I honestly liked making this cake and I’m very happy with the result. The dishes really weren’t so bad, and the praise you’ll get for how good this tastes outweighs the considerable effort of making it.

Have you heard of this dessert before? Do you usually like chocolate cake? Let me know in the comments, and have a great day!

-AMS

https://whatever.scalzi.com/2026/02/23/trying-out-a-new-recipe-ash-babers-bolo-gelado-de-brigadeiro/

https://whatever.scalzi.com/?p=59550

Posted by Athena Scalzi

https://whatever.scalzi.com/2026/02/23/the-big-idea-r-z-nicolet/

https://whatever.scalzi.com/?p=59582

Heroes come in many sizes, shapes, colors, and… fabrics? Author R. Z. Nicolet is here to show that your choice in clothing can be more than just stylish, it can be functional, perhaps even magical. Don your finest accessories and check out the Big Idea for her newest novel, The Cloak & Its Wizard.

R. Z. NICOLET:

Have you ever been reading a book or watching a movie when you really wished you had a different character’s perspective on events?  Maybe wondering what the tavernkeeper thinks of the rowdy adventurers or what the aliens think of the bumbling human explorers?

Some of my favorite books are those that literally take an alien viewpoint – like Chanur’s Pride by C. J. Cherryh or any number of recent novels by Adrian Tchaikovsky.  What would it be like to see the world through another set of eyes?  Or none at all?

Years ago, I watched Doctor Strange.  It was fun, but Strange was Iron Man with magic and not that interesting.  I was more intrigued by the other characters, especially the Cloak of Levitation.  What was its story?  What did it want out of existence?  Why did it decide that this random sorcerer was worthy of its attention?  When it gets muddy, does it go in the laundry?

I was in the middle of a very serious fantasy thriller manuscript, but I decided to write one chapter of something lighter.  Just for fun.  I took Doctor Strange, filed the serial numbers off, and out came a scene about the Cloak of Sunset and Starlight deciding that newly minted wizard Veronica Noble needed better outerwear (much to her chagrin) with as much snarky commentary about human foibles as I could pack in.

Just one chapter.

One chapter turned into two, which turned into three.

At this point, I realized I had a serious problem on my hands.

I’m normally an outliner.  I start with plot and then cast my characters in the requisite roles.  This time, I was doing it backwards: the vain and mischievous cloak came first.

The tricky part was turning the amusing sidekick into the lead.  To emphasize the depth of the challenge: the folder on my computer that’s got all my drafts and notes is named “Untitled Cloak Book,” a reference to the video game featuring a notoriously chaotic goose.

Supporting characters have an advantage: they can be flavor instead of substance.  Like Strange’s Cloak of Levitation, they show up as a convenient plot device or a humorous diversion and then fade into the background.  They don’t have to make the hard decisions or save the world.  Quirks don’t linger long enough to become grating.  Character development is optional, as is backstory.

If I wanted to keep the cloak at the center of the narrative, I needed it to be more than just the sidekick.

A part of the solution was to let Noble, the wizard, act as the cloak’s foil.  She’s the serious, dutiful contrast to the cloak’s love of excitement and drama.  Her reluctance to act gives the cloak reason to intervene.

The rest was treating the cloak like any other main character.  When I got to editing, I had to adjust those first few chapters to make sure the stakes were clear – and that it was the cloak dealing with them.  The how is very different from a human character, but many of the deeper why reasons are similar – from wanting an interesting life to protecting its friends.

Perhaps that’s the real Big Idea: however peculiar the perspective, they’re still a person trying to be the hero of their own story.  (And hoping to avoid a trip through the laundry machine.)

The Cloak and Its Wizard: Amazon|Barnes & Noble|Bookshop|Powell’s|Kobo

Author socials: Website|Bluesky|Mastodon|Instagram

https://whatever.scalzi.com/2026/02/23/the-big-idea-r-z-nicolet/

https://whatever.scalzi.com/?p=59582