I recently hosted a dinner party inspired by Ann Patchett’s novel, Bel Canto. Since the action occurred in an unnamed South American city, I included dishes from Chile, Peru, Argentina and Brazil.

Today’s Chocolate Brigadeiro Cake is a nod to Brazil.

Brigadeiros, a very popular candy in Brazil, have a soft, fudgy consistency and a lovely caramel-like flavor. (I shared a recipe for them here.) I really wanted to make a cake for dessert, so I searched around for a way to combine a cake and brigadeiros.

After looking at a bunch of recipes online for Bolo de Brigadeiro, I decided to make my own version.

The cake layers are my current favorite recipe for chocolate cake (From this post, which is the most visited recipe on ISITK since I posted it last summer.).

In a very non-traditional way, I decided to sandwich the rich chocolate cake with one of my favorite fillings: decadent cookies and cream.

The topping is made from the essential ingredients of chocolate brigadeiros: chocolate, sweetened condensed milk, and chocolate sprinkles.

The cake is totally over the top. Tall, sweet, moist, creamy…it has it all.

Be sure to use a serving plate that has a rim, as the topping is quite runny and will pool on the bottom of the plate. I served a bowl of strawberries alongside the cake, which my guests loved dipping into the chocolate as though it were fondue.

Chocolate Brigadeiro Cake (Bolo de Brigadeiro)

Ingredients:

Chocolate Cake (recipe follows)
Cookies And Cream Filling (recipe follows)
Brigadeiro Topping (recipe follows)

Directions:

1. Place one cake layer on a rimmed serving plate.

2. Top with half of cookies and cream filling.

3. Top with second cake layer, remaining cream filling and last cake layer.

4. Slowly pour the brigadeiro topping over the top of cake and allow to drip over the sides of cake. It took me a number of pours to get most of the sides covered.

5. Pour sprinkles over the top and sides of the cake. (Do this in the sink to prevent sprinkles from scattering everywhere.) Press gently to help them adhere.

Chocolate Cake

Ingredients:

2½ cups + 1 tablespoon all-purpose flour
3 cups granulated sugar
1 cup + 1 tablespoon Dutch-process cocoa powder
1 tablespoon baking soda
1½ teaspoons baking powder
1½ teaspoons salt
3 eggs
1½ cups buttermilk
1½ cups strong black coffee, hot
¾ cup vegetable oil
4½ teaspoons vanilla extract

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350℉. Grease three 8-inch round cake pans, line bottoms with rounds of parchment paper, grease parchment, then flour the insides of the pans, set aside.

2. In the bowl of an electric mixer, sift together the flour, sugar, cocoa powder, baking soda, baking powder and salt.

3. In a medium bowl, whisk together the eggs, buttermilk, coffee, oil and vanilla.

4. Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients and mix for 2 minutes on medium speed. Scrape the sides and bottom of the bowl and mix for an additional 20 seconds (batter will be very thin).

5. Divide batter evenly among prepared pans.

6. Bake for 20 minutes and rotate the pans in the oven. Continue to bake until a tester inserted into center of cakes comes out almost clean (with a few moist crumbs), about 12 more minutes.

7. Cool the cakes (in the pans) on wire racks for 20 minutes, then carefully turn them out onto cooling racks to cool completely.

Recipe from Brown Eyed Baker

Cookies And Cream Filling

Ingredients:

1 1/4 cups heavy cream
1 Tbs confectioners’ sugar
1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract
10 chocolate sandwich cookies (such as Oreos), crushed into small pieces.

Directions:

1. In the bowl of an electric mixer at high speed, whip all ingredients until stiff.

2. Gently fold in the crushed cookies.

Makes 3 cups

Recipe from The Whimsical Bakehouse Cookbook

Brigadeiro Topping

Ingredients:

2 2/3 cups sweetened condensed milk
2 Tbs unsalted butter
1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1 1/3 cup creme de leite (see note) or 3/4 cup heavy cream
Chocolate sprinkles (about 1 1/2 cups)

Directions:

1. Combine the sweetened condensed milk, butter and cocoa powder in a heavy saucepan. Cook over medium heat, stirring constantly, until mixture thickens.

2. Remove from the heat, then slowly stir in the creme de leite. Let cool. The topping will continue to thicken as it cools, but will still be easy to pour.

Note: Creme de leite is a thickened, unsweetened cream used in Brazilian/Portuguese cuisine. I couldn’t find any so I used heavy cream and decreased the amount so the topping would not be too runny.

Recipe from Mibba.com

This sweetest cake deserves ‘The Sweetest Stories’, a new song from Ben Carrigan featuring vocals by Thom Cross. It’s such a beautiful tune.

Check out Ben Carrigan on his Website, where you can buy the music.

Cheers!