This Brazo de Reina recipe is a popular Chilean dessert made by rolling dulce de leche into a sponge cake. It has been a favorite on my blog for over 5 years!
Hello Reader! I try my hardest to research recipes as best as I can before posting to ensure I am representing each culture correctly. If this recipe is from your country and I have made a mistake or you have suggestions for how to make it more authentic, I would love to hear! Please leave a comment below letting me know what should be different, and I will rework the recipe. It is always my intention to pay homage and respect to each cultural dish that I cook. Thanks for reading!
If you aren’t familiar with dulce de leche (or as they call it in Chile, “manjar”), it is a creamy, decadent, thick caramel that is made by cooking sweetened condensed milk until it turns a deep brown color.
It is a popular ingredient in South America, and often finds its way into traditional dishes, like Alfajores Argentinos, and everyday recipes alike, like these Caramel Rice Krispie Treats.
While this recipe looks complicated, it actually comes together very quickly. The hardest part for me was getting the gorgeous swirl just right, but I will give you some instructions in the article below for how to master this step!
Serve this recipe after a deliciously traditional Chilean meal of a Churrasco Steak Sandwich and Pastel de Choclo. You’ll feel like you’ve been transported right to this wonderful country.
Ingredients to Make Brazo De Reina + Substitutions
Here is a visual overview of the ingredients in the recipe. Scroll down to the recipe at the bottom for quantities.
Luckily, the ingredient list to this recipe is so very simple! Here is what you will need:
- Cake Flour: Use store bought cake flour or make your own with all purpose flour and cornstarch using these instructions.
- Caster Sugar: You can make caster sugar at home with the instructions in the recipe card..
- Dulce de Leche: Buy it from the grocery store or make Instant Pot Dulce de Leche at home. If you don’t want to fill your Brazo de Reina with manjar (dulce de leche) you can also choose to fill it with jam instead.
- Eggs: Yolks and whites separated. There are no leavening agents in this recipe (baking powder or baking soda). The whipped egg whites do the job!
- Vanilla
- Salt
- Desiccated Coconut: Optional, for topping.
How to Make this Recipe
It can be tricky to get your Brazo de Reina right the first time. Follow these photos and the instructions in the recipe card for the best results!
[adthrive-in-post-video-player video-id=”lJsQ2gyD” upload-date=”2021-05-11T14:40:33.000Z” name=”Brazo de Reina ” description=”his special dessert, called Brazo de Reina, is a wonderful fusion dessert inspired by both Europe and South America. A thin sponge cake is spread with dulce de leche filling and then rolled into a spiral and topped with coconut. Keep reading for instructions and tips about how to make this yummy and impressive dessert! ” player-type=”default” override-embed=”default”]
Step 1: Make caster sugar by blending granulated sugar in a blender.
Step 2: Use an electric hand mixer to blend egg yolks and caster sugar.
Step 3: Beat the egg whites with sugar until stiff peaks form.
Step 4: Gently fold the yolk mixture into the egg white mixture.
Step 5: Pour the Brazo de Reina batter in a shallow baking sheet and bake.
Step 6: Spread the Dulce de Leche over the baked, thin cake.
Step 7: Roll up the Brazo de Reina into a log shape.
Step 8: Spread extra dulce de leche on top of the cake and top with coconut.
Expert Tips
- A Chilean reader recommends lightly brushing Coca Cola over the cake before adding the Dulce de Leche. The layer of Coca Cola is thin, so you can’t taste it, but it keeps the cake very moist for a long time.
- Be VERY gentle when folding the yolk mixture into the egg whites. If you mix too roughly, the egg whites will deflate, leaving you with an unleavened cake.
How to Get a Great Swirl
There are a few tips you can use to get a great swirl on your Brazo de Reina!
- Spread the Batter Evenly: This will keep the cake a uniform thickness, allowing it to roll easier.
- Pre Roll the Cake: It is important to roll the dough using the dish towel method and allow it to cool in the rolled form. This will teach the cake what form you want it to take and will keep the cake from cracking when you roll it again once it is cooled and filled.
- Roll Tightly: A tight roll is important to a beautiful Brazo de Reina! Roll the cake as tightly as you can without squeezing out any of the filling.
FAQs
You can store your Brazo de Reina at room temperature as long as it is protected from the air. The cake will be good for 3-4 days.
Brazo de Reina directly translates to mean “The Queen’s Arm”. It is possible that it is called this because the shape of the cake looks like an arm, and the Brazo de Reina is delicious and impressive enough to serve to a queen!
If you tried this Brazo de Reina Recipe or any other recipe on my website, please leave a 🌟 star rating and let me know how it went in the 📝 comments below!
Brazo de Reina
Equipment
- Stand Mixer
- Electric Hand Mixer
- Rubber Spatula
- Parchment Paper
- Mixing Bowl(s)
- Sifter
Ingredients
- 1 cup Cake flour, sifted
- ¾ cup + 2 tbsp Caster Sugar, or granulated sugar and use the instructions in the recipe card to make your own caster sugar
- 1 ½ cups Dulce de leche
- 5 Eggs
- 1 ½ tsp Vanilla
- ¼ tsp Salt
Instructions
To Make Caster Sugar:
- Put the sugar in a blender and pulse once or twice until the sugar becomes a bit finer than it was before. Do not blend so long that it becomes powdered sugar.
To Bake the Cake:
- Heat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.
- Crisco a sheet pan, then cut a piece of parchment paper into the shape of the pan and lay it down on the bottom. Crisco the parchment paper and dust with flour.
- Separate egg yolks from egg whites.
- In a large bowl, combine the egg yolks and ¾ cup caster sugar. Beat with an electric mixer until mixture becomes pale and thick, about 3 to 5 minutes. Beat in vanilla and salt.
- In the bowl of a stand mixer (if possible, or with a hand mixer if not) beat the egg whites until soft peaks form. Add 2 tbsp sugar. Beat again until stiff peaks form.
- Fold your yolk mixture into the egg whites with a rubber spatula or wooden spoon. Take care to mix the ingredients, as you don’t want to stir the egg whites too roughly or they will deflate.
- Once the eggs are mixed together, sift the cake flour over the eggs and fold gently to combine.
- Put batter into the prepared pan and place in the oven.
- Bake cake for 15 to 20 minutes, until a toothpick comes out clean when stuck into the middle of the cake.
- Take the cake out of the oven and allow to rest for five minutes. Turn the cake over onto a clean dish towel and remove the parchment paper from the bottom.
- Starting at one short end, roll the cake up with the dish towel, making sure that the towel is rolled into the cake. Allow the cake to rest in this position until completely cooled.
- Unroll the cake and spread 1 cup of dulce de leche across the entire sheet cake. Reroll the cake so that it takes the same shape it took before.
- Place the cake seam-side down. Spread the remaining ½ cup dulce de leche on the top of the cake roll and sprinkle with coconut.
- Cut both ends off of the cake roll to reveal the beautifully spiraled interior. Enjoy!
- Leave a comment on this post letting me know what you thought!
Notes
- Cake Flour: Use store bought cake flour or make your own with all purpose flour and cornstarch using these instructions.
- Caster Sugar: You can make caster sugar at home with the instructions in the recipe card.
- Dulce de Leche: Buy it from the grocery store or make Instant Pot Dulce de Leche at home. If you don’t want to fill your Brazo de Reina with manjar (dulce de leche) you can also choose to fill it with jam instead.
- Eggs: Yolks and whites separated. There are no leavening agents in this recipe (baking powder or baking soda). The whipped egg whites do the job!
- My Chilean reader recommends lightly brushing Coca Cola over the cake before adding the Dulce de Leche. The layer of Coca Cola is thin, so you can’t taste it, but it keeps the cake very moist for a long time.
- Be VERY gentle when folding the yolk mixture into the egg whites. If you mix too roughly, the egg whites will deflate, leaving you with an unleavened cake.
Suiane says
How do you get the cake not to crack? When do you take it out of the oven?
Alexandria Drzazgowski says
Keeping a rolled cake from cracking is super tricky! Remove the cake from the oven when a toothpick comes out clean and then roll it in the towel after just a few minutes. That will allow the cake to get used to the rolled up shape so that when you roll it with filling it doesnt crack!
Natalia says
Love to see some recipes from my country, so excited!! I hope to see more recipes in the future! I would love if u try “leche nevada” or “charquicán”.
The name’s translation its perfect by the way!
P.S: we call dulce de leche: manjar too, but I guess we are the only ones who call it like that xD
The Foreign Fork says
Hi Natalia! I just looked up Leche Nevada and it sounds sooo delicious! I will put it on the list of things to try. I always love hearing from locals, so it makes me so happy that the recipe was done correctly 🙂 Thanks for leaving a comment!