Soft chocolate sponge cake layers filled with walnut meringues
and covered in a dulce de leche buttercream.
- 2 egg whites
- 1/2 cup granulated sugar granulated
- Pinch kosher salt
- 4 tsp cocoa powder sifted
- 1/2 cup chopped walnuts
- 1/3 cup warm water
- 2 Tbsp sugar
- 1 Tbsp liquor
- 1/2 Tbsp vanilla extract
- 8 oz sticks unsalted butter room temperature
- 14 oz dulce de leche or cooked sweetened condensed milk
- 8 oz of whipped topping or 8 oz of whipped heavy cream
- 2 Tbsp chopped chocolate
- 2 Tbsp hot heavy cream
- 9 walnut halves
- 1/2 cup walnuts roasted in the oven at 350F for about 5-7 minutes, or until fragrant and toasted
- 9 inch round baking pan
- Ziplock or pastry bag
- Star tip
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Start by gathering your ingredients and measuring them out. The cake needs to be started the day before you plan to serve it.
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In a mixer fitted with a whisk, whip the egg whites on medium-high speed with 1/2 the sugar and a pinch of salt until foamy, about 2 minutes.
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With the mixer still running, slowly pour in the remaining sugar, 1 tablespoon at a time. Continue whipping for about 15 minutes or until a whisk dipped into the meringue then brought upside down keeps the peak straight up without the bend. When the meringue has been properly whipped it will start balling around the whisk instead of splashing on the walls of the mixer. Using a hand mixer instead of a stand mixer will take more time.
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Sift 4 tsp cocoa into the meringue, then carefully fold it in as to keep the meringue from deflating. Now, get a teaspoonful of meringue and using a second teaspoon scrape it onto a parchment-lined baking sheet. Take a good pinch (about a teaspoon) of chopped nuts and press into the top of each meringue mount.
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Bake in a preheated to 225°F oven for about 1.5 hours. To check if it is dry, remove from the oven, break in half and allow to cool. If the inside is dry when it is cooled down the meringue is baked and ready to be removed from the oven.
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Make the Chocolate Sponge Cake following the recipe here.
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Whip 2 sticks room temperature butter for about 5 minutes stopping and scraping the sides and bottom several times through. When the butter is properly whipped, it is white in color, increased in volume and very fluffy. Add 1 can dulce de leche in halves, whipping for about 30 seconds after each addition. Also, don’t forget to scrape the bottom of the bowl in between.
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Once you whipped after the last addition of the dulce de leche, don’t worry if not all of it is nicely incorporated. You can stop when some streaks are still left. Beating for too long at this point will make the buttercream runny.
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Add 8 oz whipped cream and carefully fold it into the buttercream. Do not overmix or the cream will be runny. As soon as everything is incorporated and folded thoroughly, the lightened dulce de leche buttercream is ready to be used. Refrigerate until you’re ready to use it, but no more than half an hour to 1 hour, otherwise it might be too thick to spread.
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Combine all ingredients in the bottle or cup and stir until sugar is dissolved.
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Line the edges of the serving platter with 4 strips of foil or wax paper. Put a dab of frosting in the middle and spread it on the plate.
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Place one half of the chocolate cake and using a bottle or a pastry brush/spoon, soak the bottom half of the cake with half the syrup. Spread a generous amount of frosting on top of the cake. Sprinkle with couple tablespoons of nuts on top.
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Take one meringue mount and dip it top side down into the frosting, wiggle it to collect some frosting.Now place it bottom side down onto the cake layer. Continue doing so until the cake is covered in meringue. Take the ones that do not fit and break them into smaller pieces, dip in frosting and adhere them between the larger pieces.
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Soak the cut side other half of the cake with remaining syrup. Reserve about 2 cups of frosting for decorating and frosting the sides. Put a spoon of frosting on top and spread it around. Sprinkle the remaining nuts and crushed meringue on top. Top with remaining frosting and even it out on top.
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Put the second layer of the Chocolate Sponge cake on top of the meringue, frosting side down.
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Run the spatula around the sides of the cake and spread the frosting around to fill in any gaps. If you have an adjustable cake ring, put it around the cake and tighten it. Tie around the cake ring with a ribbon to keep it from getting loose and let sit in the fridge for 30 minutes to an hour.
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Remove from the fridge, run a knife on the inside of the cake ring to loose then cake and remove the cake ring. Use about 1 cup of frosting to frost the outside of the cake, leaving about 1 cup of frosting.
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Cover the sides of the cake with chopped nuts. To do so, take a handful of the chopped nuts into the palm of your hand and press against the sides of the cake. Scrape the remainder of the nuts that fell to the edge of the plate off, now take another handful into the palm of your hand and keep going around the side of the cake until it’s all covered in nuts.
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Pour hot cream over the chocolate. Let sit for 2 minutes. Stir until smooth. Put in a ziplock bag. Snip off the end. Make a circular swirl on top of the cake.
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Now take a toothpick or with the side of a fork make a line from the middle towards the outside of the swirled lines. Make 9 of these lines evenly spaced around the cake.
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Next make a line going from the outside perimeter towards the center, in between each line that you already made going from the middle towards the outside.
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Fit the corner of a ziplock bag with an Extra Large Closed Star Decorating Tip and fill with frosting. Pipe rosettes all around the border of the cake, by swirling the frosting in a tight circle.
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Carefully pull back the foil from underneath the cake revealing a clean platter. Place half nuts on every other rosette on top of the cake. Refrigerate the cake until ready to serve, preferably the next day.