Torta Rogel from Uruguay

I am going to introduce torta rogel from Uruguay today. Why do you find many recipes from Uruguay on this blog? Because I was born in this beautiful country in Latin America. Even though I have a German passport, I lived in Uruguay for several years as a child. We happened to live in Montevideo, the capital of Uruguay. Back in the 80s you would occasionally find some horse carriages between the cars and we lived on one of the main streets. My sister and me often paid a visit to the nearby kiosk, we would either get “chicle”, which is chewing gum, or we got breakfast: bread and dulce de leche. Dulce de leche is the peanut butter of Latin America, the caramel made from sweetened milk is used as much in Latin American cuisine as is peanut butter in the U.S. I will never forget how my dad instructed my sister and me to get breakfast: “Go and get bread and dulce de leche from the vaca cow (vaca= Spanish for cow).” We may have spoken German among each other, but a Spanish word would slip in here and there. Sometimes funky creations such as saying the same word in two language would come out of it. But anyway, I love dulce de leche, so I wanted to show you this delicious cake, which contains a lot of it. In this reel you can see how I make it and how it looks.

Torta Rogel, this should be obvious, is a very decadent cake. It is a layer cake. Just like its chocolate cousin chocotorta thin cake layers are filled with dulce de leche and then stacked on top of each other. You will find dollops of meringue on the top, which makes this an even more decadent cake and gives the extra texture of marshmallows. Yes, you probably are  going to eat the cake once per year. However, if you are a fan of the caramel dulce de leche, you will love this cake. It tastes even better on the second or third day after the dulce de leche had the chance to marinate the cake layers even more. Torta rogel is also known as torta alfajor. Reason for this being that an alfajor is always a sandwich cookie filled with dulce de leche. Of course I have several alfajores on the blog, the classic alfajor, the chocolate alfajor, and the one this cake is based on, the alfajor de nieve (snow sandwich cookie). If you find the cake too tedious (I made a small version for a reason), you may want to check out the cookie instead. But enough talking, let’s make torta rogel finally!

The cake imitaes the the sandwich cookie filled with dulce de leche and covered in meringue

Print Recipe

Torta Rogel from Uruguay

Serves: One 18cm/6 inch ∅ cake

Prep Time: 40min – Cooking Time: 20min – Total Time: 1hr

Torta Rogel from Uruguay is a layer cake, the caramel dulce de leche is sandwiched between crunchy cake layers. It is topped off with meringue dollops.

Ingredients

• Dough
• 30 grams of butter
• 70 grams of water
• 1 dash of alcohol (I used rum, you may replace with water)
• 3 egg yolks
• 290 grams of all-purpose flour
• A good pinch of salt
• 
  
• Filling
• 400 grams of dulce de leche, you need a sturdy one, either homemade or bought
• 
  
• Merigue
• 3 egg whites
• 120 grams of regular sugar

Instructions

1

In this reel you can see how I make it and how it looks. For the dough melt the butter, then stir in the water. Combine all remaining ingredients in a large bowl, add the butter mix and knead for a few minutes either by hand or machine until you have a firm, but smooth dough. Let rest covered for at least half an hour or overnight.

2

Divide the dough into seven equal parts (I got 62 grams each), roll out thinnly, then cut out a circle of 18cm in diameter. I managed to get another circle from the leftovers, so in total I had eight. Preheat oven to 200 degrees Celsius and line a baking sheet with parchment paper. I managed to place four circles on one sheet. Prink with a fork so that the bake more evenly and bake for about 10 minutes or until lightly golden. Repeat one more time, let cool.

3

Place a bit of dulce de leche on the bottom of a plate as glue, then put the first circle on it. Smear about one tablespoon of dulce de leche on the first circle, place the second circle on top, smear with the caramel and repeat this procedure until you place the last circel on top. You can keep the cake like this for up to a week in the fridge. It will start to soften the rather crunchy dough.

4

For the meringue place egg whites and sugar in a small pot, which can be used in a waterbath. Heat a larger pot with water and place your smaller pot inside. Stir frequently, within five minutes the sugar should have dissolved. You can test this by rubbing a bit between your fingers, if you don't feel any granules, it is ready. Transfer to a different bowl and beat until cold, this will take a few minutes. You should get a glossy and firm meringue. Transfer to a piping bag and pipe dollops on top of the cake. You may also just use the meringue to frost the cake entirely. If desired, you can use a torch to slightly toast the meringue, but this is optional. You should eat torta rogel within a few days after you have decorated with the meringue.

P.S.: If you are interested in more recipes with dulce de leche, check out these twelve recipes with dulce de leche.