A few days ago I celebrated my birthday.
I’ve noticed that from some reason over the past couple of years, I’ve been having these moody birthdays. Not sure if it’s hormones or what, but every time it was my birthday I was unhappy about something, too sensitive, moody or grumpy.
This year I decided that everything’s wonderful (because it is), I decided to take everything easy on my birthday and basically just get a grip.
So I planned on going to work, eating my cake which I get every year at work, come back home, go out to a restaurant of my choice with the family and get everyone’s cards (because they couldn’t hold it and gave me my presents 2 days early 🙂 ); Instead, what I ended up doing is finding out that my son was sick when we came to pick him up from school the evening before, so I stayed home with him.
Knowing that I’m not going to work the next day (my birthday) gave me some extra time in the evening before, and so I finally came up with the perfect cake for my birthday – The Alfajores Cake.
I basically took my favorite cookie with my favorite filling and turned it into a layered cake – how awesome is that?? I made it the evening before and could barely hold my breath until the next day – I wanted to eat it NOW.
So my actual birthday was a day filled with going to the doctor, buying meds, making chicken noodle soup and tidying around the house, but really, the way I see it, my day was filled with quality time spent with my 2 favorite little people in the world (and also I may or or may not baked a cranberry pie).
The day ended with going to a restaurant with my amazing family, lighting candles and making a wish. Oh, and eating my cake – finally! which turned out exactly like I anticipated.
So just a few words about this cake, it is cookie like! do not expect it to be really soft and spongy, it’s like layers of cookies, and it rocks!
- 2 ½ Cups All Purpose Flour
- ½ Cup Cornstarch
- 1 tsp Baking Powder
- ½ Cup Milk
- ⅓ Cup Unsalted Butter
- 2 Eggs
- ½ Cup Sugar
- ¼ tsp Salt
- 1 Jar of Dulce De Leche
- Unsweetened/ Sweetened Shredded Coconut
- Preheat oven to 400f (200C) and prepare a large baking sheet covered with parchment paper.
- Place all the ingredients (except for the dulce De Leche) in a mixer bowl and mix all together only until they all combine.
- Turn the bowl over onto a floured surface and roll the dough a bit in flour to make it non sticky.
- Knead the dough a couple of times on the floured surface to make sure it is not sticky. the dough should be soft.
- Divide the dough into 5 equal portions and on a floured surface, roll out each portion into a circle 17cm (6.5 inch) in diameter. You can use a plate by placing it on top of the rolled dough and tracing around it with a sharp knife. If you need to, add some flour to the work surface (ad under the rolled dough if needed) to avoid the dough sticking to your surface.
- Move the rolled dough circle onto a parchment paper layered baking sheet and repeat with the other 4 dough portions.
- Bake each circle (you can bake them one at a time or a place a couple on the baking sheet at the same time) for about 7-9 minutes.
- Let the layers cool completely before moving on.
- Place the first layer on your desired cake dish and spread Dulce De Leche on top. Make sure it’s a nice, thick layer.
- Cover with another baked layer and repeat with the other 4 layers, finishing with a layer of Dulce De Leche spread on top of the last layer.
- Sprinkle with shredded coconut.
- To add some shredded coconut to the siding of the cake, simple take some coconut in your hand and and place your hand on the side of the cake. Most of the coconut will stick to it and some will fall off. You can also pick up and use the coconut that fell off.
- Store covered and in room temperature. No need to refrigerate.
Sounds yami, going to try make it