It might be terrible for your waistline, but the Argentine chocotorta might just be the most delicious dessert you’ll ever eat. Its history goes back to the early ‘80s when a local cook tried to create a simple-to-make cake that didn’t require baking and promote a brand of cookies, cream cheese and the indulgent dulce de leche. Taking inspiration from her Italian roots, she produced this sinful gut-buster of a cake that graces so many birthdays today. As a traveller, you might have some difficulty finding it as it’s rarely mass produced. It looks impressive, but it’s in fact very simple to make. Here’s how:
Serves: 4-6
Time: 30 minutes preparation, 1-3 hours setting time
Ingredients
500g cream cheese
500g dulce de leche
1pt whole milk
Cocoa powder
300g dark chocolate
500g chocolate cookies
300ml double cream
Method
Start by taking a large mixing bowl and add the cream cheese and rich dulce de leche. Beat together with a wooden spoon for 2 minutes until they are both fully combined. Leave to one side.
Take a smaller bowl and pour in the pint of milk and stir in cocoa until blended. Take a glass or ceramic rectangular tray which you’ll use to construct the dessert. Take one of the cookies and soak in the milk for 30 seconds until soft but not falling apart. Place this at the bottom of the tray and repeat until you have a layer covering it.
Smear over about a third of the cream cheese dulce de leche mix and then create another layer of soaked cookies. Repeat the whole process until you have 3 full layers of cookies.
Place the tray in a freezer and leave between 1 and 3 hours to fully set.
When you’re ready to serve, take out of the freezer and leave to one side. Break up the dark chocolate into small chucks and place into a heatproof bowl. Heat the cream up gently in a saucepan over a low heat, but don’t let it boil. When it’s sufficiently hot, pour it over the chocolate pieces and beat until the chocolate has melted and its fully blended. Pour the ganache mix over the dessert and serve immediately, perhaps with some grated chocolate over the top for good measure. Enjoy.
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