This is one of the most common and easiest desserts here in Argentina. It's an icebox cake with layers of chocolate wafers and dulce de leche sour cream filling. We love it and I know you will too!
I've been wanting to post about this chocotorta recipe forever, which is not much since I started blogging five months ago.
If ever there was a favorite kid's icebox cake in this country that is Chocotorta (choco for chocolate and torta means cake in Spanish). The most requested one by far.
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.
Of course, it's easy as cookies and cream, though in this case, we use sour cream and dulce de leche. What else, right? That sweet, milk jam appears everywhere around here, and it won't go away. It's our national treasure. We eat by the truckload.
Ingredients
- Chocolate cookies: the original recipe has store-bought cookies and came in the back of the packet. Still does probably. Since I am a food blogger and baker, my chocotorta recipe has homemade chocolate wafers or cookies. They hail from Alice Medrich, the chocolate queen, and were posted by the wildly popular Deb. They have the right amount of sweetness and dark chocolate. As far as I know and tried, there are none better than these.
- Coffee: said 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: the real thing must be used here. Not cream cheese or other soft cheeses that are not sour. The tanginess of the cheese is what sets this combination of ingredients apart from others. It's essential to the final result. Some people (probably the ones using milk, haha) use whipped cream, which in my opinion fails on every level because it's too cloying.
- 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 'pastelero', which is thicker, can be used too.
- Refrigerate the cake for 2 days before eating. Or at least 1 day. Trust me on this one.
The cookies become moist and soft and the flavors blend. 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.
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Chocotorta - Chocolate Icebox Cake
A super easy icebox cake with layers of chocolate wafers, dulce de leche, and sour cream.
- Total Time: 2 hours 20 minutes
- Yield: 6 servings 1x
Ingredients
- Chocolate Wafers (via Smitten Kitchen) or use store-bought ones
- 1 ½ cups sour cream
- 2 cups dulce de leche
- ¾ cup hot coffee
- ¼ cup Kahlua or other coffee liqueur (optional)
Instructions
- Mix sour cream and dulce de leche in a medium bowl until smooth.
- In a small shallow bowl, mix coffee and liqueur if using.
- Dip one side of the wafers in the coffee mixture, and arrange in single layer, in the bottom of pan. I use a rectangular one that holds three layers of 8 wafers each.
- Put about 1 ¼ cups sour cream mixture, spreading evenly.
- Repeat with remaining wafers and filling.
- Refrigerate a day. Or two.
Notes
The amount of wafers and sour cream mixture is a matter of taste. You can adjust how much of each you use according to how sweet or chocolaty you like it. Of course, store-bought chocolate wafers or plain chocolate cookies can be used.
This dessert needs 1 or 2 days of refrigeration for best results. But you can eat it after a few hours in the fridge. Take that time into account.
- Prep Time: 20 minutes
- Cook Time: 120 minutes
- Category: Dessert
- Method: Refrigeration
- Cuisine: Argentine
Keywords: chocotorta, chocolate icebox cake
Mary Hirsch says
This does not look like the product of a sleep-dprived woman at all, Paula. It just looks deliciously fabulous.
Lisa says
OMG, this looks so decadent and worth every single calorie, plus, it's so easy to put together - which is a plus. I bet this would be great with some kind of peanut butter cream! That said..since stretching out the story because some emailed and requested that, I now have to tie up other loose ends to finish it. Yikes, it could go on forever LOL BUT, it won't..I'm going to shove as much as I can into my next part 🙂
Angie's Recipes says
Gosh...this looks mouthwatering! Kahlua and dulce de leche..this is a killer combo!
cakewhiz says
i haven't made a dessert yet that used chocolate wafers but good lord! i really should! this looks sinful!!!
Kristen says
Whoa! That sounds sinfully rich and delicious!