This Cielo (Heaven) cake is delicious. The sponge has more the consistency of a butter cookie, and the layer of “meringue” with the nuts gives it a delightful crunch. I added raspberry jam and chocolate to provide texture, and contrast of flavors. I loved how it looks and the flavors are so good together.
The Cielo Heaven Cake is popular in the South of Chile and like many other cakes from Chile; it has several layers and fillings. You can be creative and swap your favorite jam, but I do recommend to go with an acidic one to balance the sweetness of the cookie/sponge layers.
The technique to do the big chocolate shard I learned it from the book The Artful Baker, follow his author at his blog Cafe Fernando. He is very inspiring, and his book is fantastic, I have done three recipes with excellent results.
I made this cake for my birthday and froze half to enjoy later without issue. In general, cakes with whipped cream keep a lot fresher if frozen, on the fridge 2-3 days is the longest I will recommend having it.
You may also be interested in the recipe: Thousand Layer Cake or Mil Hojas.
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Cielo (Heaven) Cake
- Prep Time: 30 minutes
- Cook Time: 2 hours
- Total Time: 2 hours, 30 minutes
- Yield: 20
- Category: Cakes
- Method: Baked
- Cuisine: Chilean
Description
A sophisticated cake with tantalizing flavors and textures.
Ingredients
For the dough
- 470 grams unsalted butter
- 2 egg yolks
- 1 egg
- 230 grams of granulated sugar
- 470 grams of all-purpose flour
For the meringue
- 4 egg whites
- 150 grams of granulated sugar
- 1 teaspoon of cinnamon powder
- zest of 1 lemon
- 1 cup finely chopped walnuts
For the filling,
- 2 cups of cold Heavy whipping cream
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1/2 cup raspberry jam
- 180 grams of semi-bitter baking chocolate
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350F or 180C.
- Beat the butter with the yolks and the egg until they are combined and creamy. Add the sugar and flour and continue beating until a soft sticky dough forms. Spread over parchment paper on circles of 20-24 cm in diameter. Use wet fingers to distribute the dough.
- Beat the egg whites until soft peaks. In a bowl, mix the sugar, cinnamon, lemon zest and nuts.
- Spread the whipped whites over the dough and sprinkle with the mixture of sugar and nuts.
- Bake for 20 minutes until golden brown. Let cool on a rack. Choose the ugliest circle to decorate and break into pieces.
- Prepare the chocolate layer, melt the chocolate in a water bath and spread on parchment paper. Cover with another paper and roll. Place on a tray and refrigerate. Unroll, it will break into big shards.
- Beat the cream until it forms soft peaks, add the vanilla extract and beat until incorporated.
- Assemble the cake: Place a baked layer over a serving plate. Cover with 3 tablespoons of whipped cream, spread in a thin layer, place half of the chocolate shards. Another baked layer, raspberry jam, cream, baked layer. Repeat.
- Cover the entire cake with cream and decorate with remaining chocolate shards and the broken baked layer.
- Refrigerate until serving. Keeps 3 days. It can be frozen.
Recipe adapted from Ximena Leal Galle, from the book “Manos del Sur.”
Keywords: cielo cake
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