In a tiny corner of northern Portugal, along the Tâmega River, lies a small town called Amarante. It is home to about 11,000 people. The biggest port near Amarante is Porto, Portugal’s second busiest city, and most day trips to Amarante start from here. Unless you’re staying in Amarante for the crazy celebration of love and fertility, which takes place every year on the first Saturday of June and on January 10th, the anniversary of the death of São Gonçalo.

The currency in this case is a bunch of uniquely shaped cakes. These are called Bolos de São Gonçalo (English: Saint Gonçalo cakes). Colloquially, these sweets are also called Doces Falicões (or literally Phallic Cakes).

Every June, bakers in Amarante, along the banks of the Tâmega, the longest tributary of the Douro River, roll out bags of Bolos de São Gonçalo into town; local grandmothers make dozens of giant penises, and young women and men give these cakes as gifts to each other.

Amarante is an extremely conservative city in Portugal, but any mention of it is incomplete without these sweets. So, how did this religious city get associated with these penis cakes?

The origins of the cakes are a mystery. The saint who gave them their name is a Dominican monk who moved to Amarante after traveling through Jerusalem and Rome.

São Gonçalo settled in Amarante in the 12th century. He played an important role in the development of the region. São Gonçalo is inseparable from Amarante; whether it is its architecture, mythology or these penis cakes.

You will find many types of dosas falicos in the cafes around the city center. From small ones to large, hard ones; cafeterias go crazy with their creativity when it comes to these cakes. The sweets are sprinkled with icing sugar. Some of them are also filled with white cream (To make the pastries more suggestive than reality? Who knows?,

These pastries hold a unique place in the local culture and folklore of Amarante. The city’s patron saint, São Gonçalo, is known as the “Matchmaker Saint.” No one knows how this Dominican monk became Portugal’s matchmaker-in-chief, but the São Gonçalo festival held in January celebrates his role in helping people find love and marriage.

The cakes are considered a symbol of virility and fertility (no surprise there). Traditionally, unmarried women looking for husbands would gift these cakes to potential lovers, and vice versa. The gesture is symbolic, although people in Amarante will sing praise songs to you about the power of the cakes. They are believed to bring a husband approved by São Gonçalo, as well as good luck.

For many years, fertility and marriage in Amarante were celebrated with penis cakes. Until about a hundred years ago.

When Portugal fell under a right-wing dictatorship in the 1920s, these cakes were banned. But the people of Amarante continued their tradition of making the cake.

For half a century, the inhabitants of Amarante continued to bake and exchange these cakes in secret, a symbol of resistance against the order that declared the Bolos de São Gonçalo ‘obscene’.

On April 25, 1974, a military coup overthrew the dictatorial Estado Novo government. Portugal became a democracy.

Bolos de São Gonçalo once again became part of life in the small town of Amarante.

Nowadays, these cakes are everywhere in the city. Almost every café serves them. You can find small cakes for one euro, and larger ones for a higher price. Biting into one will remind you of a cross between a pastry and a cream roll. It is very sweet.

If you don’t have a sweet tooth, you could try a Portuguese coffee. Alternatively, a glass of Douro Valley Vinho-Verde or white wine might do the trick as you contemplate your chances of finding a husband from the ‘testicles’ of Saint Gonçalo.

Fact Sheet

Where: Amarante is a 50-minute drive from Porto, Portugal. All major tour operators offer day trips from Porto to Amarante, which is on the way to the Douro Valley.

What to do and see: Amarante is a very small town that you can cover on foot in less than two hours.

The city’s main bridge, the Ponte de São Gonçalo, is worth seeing, and it leads to the Igreja de São Gonçalo and the São Gonçalo Monastery. Both the church and the monastery date from the 16th-17th centuries.

You will find a wide variety of pastries and other sweets in most of the cafes in the city. Before saying goodbye to the city, find a cafe along the Tamega River to enjoy a cup of coffee and Doces Fallacios.