Among the dishes, there's one that defines Carolina: the
Peanut Cake. "Ginguba for us, peanut for you," she laughs, adding, "the peanut/ginguba cake is considered Angola's national cake. That's because it's on family tables all year round, on all occasions, whether it's a special one or just a family gathering." It's the right dose of sweetness, made with honey and coconut sugar. We'd eat it again in a heartbeat.
But it's not just in the cake that you can taste the Angolan peanuts. Roasted in a pan, you can also eat paracuca, the sweet peanut served as a snack alongside salted bananas. "A customer of mine asked for paracuca as a gift for her father, and the taste reminded him of Angola. That was an emotional moment," she says happily.
However, "the peanuts here aren't the same as there. I don't know why, but they don't have the same taste," Carolina reveals. For this reason, she has an Angolan supplier or looks for the original flavours at a small market near her house: "I make it a point to use fresh products from my country in my sweets, some of them with medicinal properties," she emphasises.