A chocolate layer cake filled with dulce de leche is magic, and you should try it! I went a step further and added Swiss meringue to the mix. The result is chocolaty, sweet, and pretty irresistible. A birthday cake you'll want to make over and over.
Not-your-usual chocolate cake
A tall, scrumptious, chocolatey cake filled with dulce de leche and meringue is what we all need right now. I'm hoping you agree because this is one large cake recipe!
When I started this blog, a gazillion years ago it seems, for a few months I did virtual birthday cakes for my fellow food bloggers. It lasted several months, and there are some great recipes to prove it, like the carrot layer cake and the old-fashioned hummingbird cake.
This chocolate layer cake was the last on the list.
For an easy and quick chocolate icebox cake that also features this sweet jam, you should try the Chocotorta recipe, a simple dessert with it, and chocolate wafers.
Chocolate layers
This is one fantastic chocolate cake recipe.
Besides some obvious ingredients, like cocoa powder, it has yogurt and some milk chocolate in the batter which are two ingredients not normally associated with regular chocolate layer cake recipes. The result is moist, tender, full of chocolate, and very balanced in sweetness.
About the two different-sized pans. But the thing is that if you want more than two layers - I wanted 4 - you need two pans.
And my oven doesn’t fit two 9-inch pans (the nerve I know), so I used a smaller one. So a best practice would be to use 2 8-inch round pans. Go ahead and make it a one-size cake if you want. It’s easier to frost and make it look prettier, that’s for sure.
The filling
Here I used my favorite cake filling in the world: dulce de leche. If you never tried it you should, especially with chocolate cake. The combination is magic.
- Dulce de leche: it's a sweet milk jam - a caramel-like mixture made by cooking milk and sugar for a while - originally from Argentina, my home country. We consume it like crazy here and there are many recipes in this blog that make it shine, like the Dulce de Leche Brownies or the best Alfajores ever.
- Swiss meringue: it's my favorite type to make, and I used it for both the filling and the frosting; some of it swirled with dulce de leche. Because why stop at one good thing, right? Let's have both together.
Bread crumbs
And that ‘decoration’ that looks like dirt?
I cut off the top of the larger cake layer to even it out. They always find it amusing to develop an upward mini bump, and if you want to make filled layers, it's easier if they are even.
So the pieces were crumbled and dried in a low oven and used to make even more rustic frosting that was already a mess and didn’t even try to appear like the work of a pastry baker who decorates. I'm all about the recipes.
Make-ahead
- Cake: the layers can be made in advance and kept, well wrapped, in the refrigerator for 3 days or frozen for up to a month.
- Dulce de leche: the best option is to buy it. Choose the 'pastry dulce de leche' which is thicker and made especially for filling. The label should have the words repostero (Spanish for pastry and baking). I use Vacalin dulce de leche repostero or Veronica dulce de leche repostero.
- Meringue: it can't be made in advance. It should be used immediately so it stays fluffy and wonderful.
Related recipes you might like:
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Chocolate Cake with Dulce de Leche
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Ingredients
For the devil’s food chocolate cake:
- 1 ⅓ cups all-purpose flour
- ½ cup unsweetened cocoa powder
- ¾ teaspoon baking soda
- ½ teaspoon baking powder
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- 10 tablespoons unsalted butter, at room temperature
- ½ cup brown sugar
- ½ cup white sugar
- 3 eggs, at room temperature
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 2 ounces unsweetened chocolate, melted and cooled
- ½ cup buttermilk, or whole milk
- ½ cup boiling water
- 4 ounces milk chocolate chips, or chunks
For the swiss meringue:
- 4 egg whites
- 1 cup sugar
- 2 ½ cups dulce de leche repostero, like Vacalin dulce de leche repostero
Instructions
For the devil’s food chocolate cake:
- Preheat oven to 350ºF (180ºC).
- Butter a 9-inch and 6-inch (or two 8-inch) cake pans with removable bottoms. Dust with flour and shake off excess.
- Sift together 1 ⅓ cups all-purpose flour, ½ cup unsweetened cocoa powder, ¾ teaspoon baking soda, ½ teaspoon baking powder and ¼ teaspoon salt.
- In a large bowl beat 10 tablespoons unsalted butter until creamy, about 1 minute. Add ½ cup brown sugar and ½ cup white sugar gradually and beat for 2 minutes after adding the last part.
- Add 3 eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition.
- Add 1 teaspoon vanilla extract and 2 ounces unsweetened chocolate. The mixture will look curdled, that’s fine.
- Add the dry ingredients in 3 parts, alternating with ½ cup buttermilk in 2 parts. Mix just until well combined.
- Slowly add ½ cup boiling water and mix just until combined.
- Add 4 ounces milk chocolate chips with a spatula, and divide between pans, using a bit more in the large one.
- Bake for about 40 to 45 minutes, until a tester inserted in the middle of both cakes, comes out clean.
- Let cool completely on a wire rack before filling and frosting. It can be made the day before and kept wrapped in plastic.
For the meringue:
- Put a pan with water over medium heat.
- On top of it, place the glass or metal bowl from the mixer with 4 egg whites and 1 cup sugar. The water should not touch the bottom of the pan.
- Mix constantly with a hand whisk. The water will start to boil. Don't let water get into the bowl. The mixture will be thick at first but will liquefy as it warms. This is your cue to remove it. It will also be warm to the touch (use your pinky finger to test).
- Transfer to the mixer (or mix with a hand-held electric beater) and whip until stiff and glossy, about 5 minutes. You should have rather stiff peaks.
To assemble the cake:
- Cut both cakes in half. If you want to, dab the cake plate with a bit of dulce de leche in the middle and place one of the large layers on top; that way the cake won’t move.
- Fill with a thick layer of dulce de leche, about ¾ of the amount, spreading evenly but not reaching the edges completely. Top with the other large layer, pressing gently. The dulce de leche will fatten towards the edges.
- Add some meringue on top of the cake making a circle as big as the layers that you haven’t used yet. Place one of those layers on top, and fill with meringue, not reaching the edges completely.
- Mix the rest of the dulce de leche with the meringue you have left, swirling just a few times to have a marble effect. (As you can see I didn’t quite get that effect, but not for lack of trying…).
- Add a thin layer of meringue to all of the cake and then add a thicker one. However, you can. The meringue is soft for having a perfect frosting.
- Sprinkle with the chocolate crumbs.
Notes
Adapted from Baking from my Home to Yours, by Dorie Greenspan
Dana @ Simply Romanesco says
OMG, Paula! This cake looks fantastic and super delicious and would make anyone extremely happy! I wish I could reach through the screen and grab myself a big slice 😀
mividaenundulce says
Las coincidencias de la vida, no puedo creer que el mismo día sea el cumpleaños de ambas...!!!
Oye, esta es la torta de la porta del libro verdad? le tengo unas ganas, quería hacerla para el cumple de alguno de mis hijos, que es el 9 y el 22 de noviembre, pero ninguno la quiere, puedes creerlo? Bueno, en verdad me han dicho que con el chocolate está bien, "pero esa cremita blanca mami mejor no"...ja,ja,ja...
laurasmess says
Oh my GOSH Paula!!!!! This looks incredible! Definitely worth of centrepiece at any celebratory event (though I might eat it before it gets to the table!). Amazing recipe. I am definitely trying this for the next celebration I have at the house. Love the look of that swiss meringue filling, mmmm xx
vanillasugarblog says
That swiss meringue filling!
The frosting!
Oh man this is just heavenly!!
Cocoa and Lavender says
What a great tower of love and wonderful flavors! Happy birthday, indeed! ~ David
Laura Dembowski says
I wouldn't care how late my birthday cake was if someone made something this beautiful for me!
The Ninja Baker says
Well, you certainly have made a magnificent cake for all the significant people in your life, Paula. Bravo!
ela@it's better when I make it myself says
I'll try again: Beautiful idea! Cake looks toooooo yummy! I'll make it for my birthday!
e / dig in says
i love all the layers - the gooey, rich chocolatey layers! (and it doesn't look like a tractor). i hope all your loved ones had wonderful birthdays.
ela@it's better when I make it myself says
Beautiful idea and cake too! I have to make it!