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.

A spoonful of Chocotorta on the table; glass dish with rest of cake in the background

Ingredients for this recipe.

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 in 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.

Chocotorta wafers being cut on grey marble counter. Plastic round cookie cutter.

My number one tip:

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.

Other recipes you might like:
The Best Dulce de Leche Brownies
Dulce de Leche Coconut Fudge Truffles
Banana Muffin Cake with Dulce de Leche and Cream
Easy Lemon Icebox Dessert
Chocolate Dulce de Leche Birthday Cake

Let me know if you make this recipe! I’d love to hear what you think about it.

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