This Banana thousand layers cake is famous in my hometown: Rancagua. It was everyone’s favorite, always present at any celebration.
It’s a modification of the traditional Chilean one thousand layers with the addition of whipped cream and a flavor, most of the time, it was banana, but you could order it with an almond flavor. It’s a great cake, and I made it for my birthday!
Cake plate by Akira Satake.
Recipe originally published in August 2011.
You may also like the recipe: Chilean Mil Hojas Cake.
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Banana thousand layers cake
- Prep Time: 2 hours
- Cook Time: 30 minutes
- Total Time: 2 hours, 30 minutes
- Yield: 12
- Category: Sweets
- Method: Baked
- Cuisine: Chilean
Description
A traditional Chilean cake, very popular in my hometown Rancagua.
Ingredients
For the dough,
- 8 egg yolks
- 50 grams soft unsalted butter (if using salted, not add more salt)
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- Pinch of salt
- 4–5 tablespoon of room temperature water
for the filling,
- 500 grams of dulce de leche, such as La Lechera canned
- 2 cups whipping or heavy cream, cold
- 2 tablespoons granulated sugar
- banana, almond or vanilla extract
Instructions
- Mix flour and salt. Using the paddle attachment, add butter and beat until incorporated into the flour on the KitchenAid mixer.
- Add one egg yolk at a time, continuously mixing at a low velocity. Add the water one tablespoon at a time, continue mixing until a dough forms. Switch to the hook and knead for 5 minutes.
- Form a ball with the dough, wrap it in plastic film, and stand for at least 1/2 hour in the refrigerator.
- Preheat oven to 180C or 350F.
- Divide dough into 12 equal pieces, flour your cookie pan, and roll the dough until very thin. Cut using a plate about 20 cm (8′) in diameter. Repeat with the other pieces. Bake and make crumbs with the remaining dough.
- Bake on the cookie sheet one by one, 5 – 7 minutes each, until they are just beginning to brown, remove and cool on wire rack.
- For the filling, whip the heavy cream until it forms soft waves, add the sugar, beating until sugar dissolves and stiff peaks form.
- Add the banana or vanilla extract (I used two teaspoons) and stir to incorporate, test, and adjust the flavor and sweetness to taste.
- Top the first layer with dulce de leche, continue alternating thin layers with whipped cream, gently pressing each layer to build a cake.
- Top with whipped cream, decorate with crumbs.
- Leave the cake in the refrigerator overnight. Serve cold the next day.
Keywords: pompadour cake, chilean cake
My husband is from Rancagua and for him, it’s not truly his birthday without this cake. This year I made it for him for the first time thanks to your blog! He said that it is as delicious as he remembers. Thank-you for your blog. This success makes me feel excited to try my hand at more of your recipes.
He is right!!! We all feel that way, after growing up in Rancagua. Congrats on the successful cake. And welcome to the blog.
Fantastic recipe! My husband is Chilean and this is the favorite cake. We first tried it a few years ago because we have many friends from Rancagua and one year I even had a friend bring one back to Santiago for him. Thank you for creating this easy-to-follow recipe that tastes just like the real thing. I will be trying more of your recipes in the future.
Wonderful. Thanks for commenting.
I grew up in Graneros and my mom makes this cake all the time! its one of our favorites. Not all Chileans know about this cake. I like it way better than the traditional one. Thank you for sharing your recipes, my mom is not about measurements and I was 12 when we moved, so there wasn’t much cooking happening for me at that age. Saludos desde Utah.
I’m so glad you found the recipe! I love this cake too.