Madeira Island Honey Cake

on the eve of the day on which the cake is to be prepared, the bread is bought in bulk from the baker or the yeast is prepared with 250 g of flour, 1 dl of lukewarm water and 10 g of baker's yeast. wrap the bread (or yeast) in a napkin after being floured and leave it in a warm place overnight.
the next day, the previously trodden spices are sifted; cut almonds, walnuts and citron into pieces; the bicarbonate is dissolved in the wine of the wood; the fats are melted in the hot honey; scrape the orange peel and squeeze the juice.
sift the flour and sugar into a large bowl, make a hole in the middle and pour the yeast dough there; then the yeast with the flour is “extinguished”, kneading. when the flour and yeast are well mixed, the honey starts to be added only warm (together with the fats) and knead.
after all the honey has been added, add the prepared fruits, the Madeira wine with the bicarbonate, the juice and the zest of the oranges and the spices. knead until the dough comes off the bowl. cover with a cloth and a blanket and let rise in a warm place, at a constant temperature, for 3 to 4 days. then divide the dough into portions of 250, 500 or 750 g depending on the size of the cakes. pour these portions of dough in round, straight and low shapes and very well greased and take to bake in a very hot oven, after having decorated the surface with half nuts, or almonds or pieces of citron.
if you want, you can reduce the amount of nuts or other expensive ingredients; in this case, the spices are increased, giving rise to another type of cake, the rotten cake. the former are tastier and the latter pepperier. after being cooked and cold, they are wrapped in parchment paper or cellophane and kept in boxes. these cakes can be kept for an entire year.