Thursday, March 15, 2012

Mil Hojas Cake......One of our favourites....




This cake is not very beautiful, but it is delicious. I believe it is one of the oldest Chilean cakes, and comes from the time of the Colony.


It is crunchy, smooth, sweet, and with all the flavour that "dulce de leche" and "crema pastelera" bring them. I have tried different combinations like, byt the one that I like the best it is a mix of  "dulce de leche" and "crema pastelera". Thus, it will not be too sweet.


Usually, you can decorate this cake with shredded coconut, crushed walnuts, or sliced almonds.....I like as it comes......not aesthetically perfect, but delicious.

As I said, this is an old recipe; therefore, not everything is measured in grams:

Mil Hojas Cake

4 cups of all purpose flour
5 egg yolks
250 grams of butter (room temperature)
Pinch of salt
2 tablespoons of rhum or other liquor (alcohol for dough gives a crust that stay much flakier and more tender)
Cold water as needed


Filling
350 grams of dulce de leche solved in some milk to make it creamy and easy to spread.
Crema pastelera of your choice


Mix the flour with the salt. Add the butter in pieces, and mix it until you have a sandy texture. Add the eggyolks and the rhum. Mix it well. Add cold water until you have a dough that is soft to roll, but not sticky to your hands. Divide the dough in 7 pieces. Leave it in the fridge for 1 hour.


With a roller pin, roll the dough in a circle shape of the size of a plate. What I do, is that I use my pasta machine, and I pass it until #3. Then, I divided the dough in half, I add them in the middle, and I cut it in a plate shape.


Place it over a baking paper, and make holes with  a fork. Put it in the freezer. Repeat the action with the remaining dough.


Preheat the oven to 400 F. Start baking in both levels each tray with a circle dough. When starts to be golden brown is ready (about 10 minutes depending on your oven). Take them out, and repeat the actions with the other two circles of dough. Watch the oven!.....the remaining dough will cook faster because the oven is hot.


As soon as you take the "hojas" start filling them. This is my proportion:


First Hoja: Dulce de Leche
Second Hoja: Dulce de Leche
Third Hoja: Crema Pastelera
Fourth Hoja: Dulce de Leche.....and continue with this pattern.


At the same time the hojas are been cooked, you start filling the cake; thus, the cake will get moist and easy to do it. When the hojas get cold, chances of them to be broken are higher.


Leave it overnight in the fridge. The day after........you will ENJOY IT!....for sure!!







1 comment:

  1. Pues no sé si será bonito o no, pero seguro que es delicioso.
    Besos. Lola

    ReplyDelete