Each consulate determines its own requirements. The website of the Los Angeles consulate says:

"No cash, personal or company checks are accepted. Payment must be made by money order, cashier’s check or certified check, made out to "Consulate General of Brazil". Please, only one money order/cashier's check/certified check for each application or a group of applications!"

I have always paid with a cashier's check. (In emergencies there is a bank on the ground floor of the building in which the consulate is located. Branches of most other California banks are found not far away.)