This is one of the most common and easiest desserts here in Argentina. It's a no-bake, icebox cake with layers of chocolate wafers and a dulce de leche sour cream filling that complements it wonderfully. It a must-make for kid's birthday parties, but has quite a grown-up following, including me. I love it and I hope you will too!
Chocolate and dulce de leche icebox cake
I've been wanting to update this chocotorta recipe forever. It's finally here.
If ever there was a favorite icebox cake in Argentina (where I'm from) that is Chocotorta (choco for chocolate and torta means cake in Spanish). It's one of the most requested ones for celebrations, by far.
It's similar to the cookies and cream icebox cake, though in this case, we use a specific type of chocolate cookies, sour cream (not cream cheese or heavy cream as it needs to have some acidity) and dulce de leche. What else, right? This milk jam appears everywhere around here, and it won't go away. It's our national treasure. We eat it by the truckload in everything, from cornstarch alfajores to vanilla birthday cakes.
Everybody's happy when their birthday cake is this one. And I include adults. It's gotten to the point where it started being the 'it' dessert at restaurants. For children and their parents.
This recipe is vintage and first appeared in the back of the chocolate wafers package, as a way to market them. Well, it worked, that's for sure! That said, you can buy them online (links in the recipe card) or make these chocolate cookies, a copycat of the original ones.
Ingredient list
- Plain chocolate cookies: the original recipe uses store-bought Chocolinas cookies and came in the back of the packet. But you can make plain chocolate cookies that are my homemade version of them.
- Coffee: the cookies must be dipped in a liquid in order to moisten them and make them easy to cut or eat with a spoon. I use strong, unsweetened coffee and there's no discussion. Except that I accept the addition of some coffee liquor like Kahlua. The bitterness of the coffee is needed to balance out the dulce de leche. In my opinion. Some people use milk, especially when making it for kids. Maybe I agree with that.
- Sour cream: original, full-fat. The tanginess of the cheese sets this combination of ingredients apart from others. It's essential to the final result.
- Dulce de leche: there is no substitute for this. A chocotorta is not one without dulce de leche. I use the regular one because I like a softer icebox cake. I want it to have the consistency of tiramisu more or less. But the one labeled 'repostero', which is thicker, can also be used.
Quantities are listed on the recipe card towards the end of this post. The Ingredients page has more details and lists the brands we use.
Ways of serving it
Decide beforehand how you're going to serve it, so you can prepare the pan or baking dish.
- Cut into squares: I like to use a lined pan and then remove the cold cake. The key here is doing this at the last moment so the cake is cold and can be handled more easily.
- Family-style: straight from the baking dish, like you would dump cakes or crumbles. This is the easiest way; you must eat it with a spoon or fork.
- A mix of both: you make it in a baking dish, cut servings and serve them like you would bread pudding.
Vintage Kitchen Tip
Refrigerate the cake for 1 or 2 days before eating. Trust me on this one, and make it a few days before.
The cookies moisten and soften, and the components meld. The flavor is way better than if eaten with only a few hours of refrigeration. The knife should cut through it with no crunchy surprises.
Steps to assemble chocotorta
Dulce de leche mixture
Using sour cream adds a very much-needed acidity to the mixture. It can be made ahead and kept in the fridge for a day or two.
Cookies
It's imperative to moisten the cookies with coffee. Otherwise, they will not soften enough. I also like to add a tablespoon of coffee liquor like Kahlua.
Some people use chocolate milk when making it for kids. It's an option. I find that the final dessert is too sweet. But that's me.
Layering
How many layers do you want? It's really up to you. I like a tall cake, with at least 5 layers of cookies. Sometimes I like to make layers where the dulce de leche is slightly thicker than the cookies.
Final cake
This is a simple cake finished by a layer of the dulce de leche mixture and some crushed cookies on top.
Nowadays, you might find some with a layer of chocolate ganache on top, but that's not the traditional way.
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Chocotorta (Chocolate Dulce de Leche Icebox Cake)
Ingredients
- 3 cups sour cream
- 2 cups dulce de leche
- ¾ cup hot coffee
- 1 tablespoon coffee liqueur, such as Kahlua
- 90 Chocolinas cookies, the original ones for this cake, or make copycat cookies (link in Notes, below)
Instructions
- Mix 3 cups sour cream and 2 cups dulce de leche in a medium bowl until smooth.
- Put ¾ cup hot coffee and 1 tablespoon coffee liqueur in a shallow bowl or small dish.
- Have ready an 8 or 9-inch square pan. Line it with parchment paper if you want to remove the cake. If you want to serve it from the pan (like a tiramisu), use a ceramic or glass dish.
- Dip one side of the chocolate wafers in the coffee mixture and arrange them in a single layer at the bottom of the pan. I make 5 layers of about 17 wafers each, for a total of about 90 Chocolinas cookies.
- Spread about 1 cup sour cream mixture on top of the cookies, spreading evenly.
- Repeat with remaining wafers and filling.
- Cover the pan with plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 8 hours. Better for a day. Or two.
- Before serving, sprinkle crushed cookies or pipe dulce de leche around the edges of the cake.
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