Rogel Cake

This is probably one of the first cakes I learned how to make at the age of 11. It was my father's favourite dessert and I decided it was going to be me baking his birthday cake that year. And off I went and made a delicious Rogel cake. I was so proud and happy because my dad loved it. And now so many years later I am sharing this classic argentine dessert with you. I hope you love it as much as he did 😊.

What is Rogel Cake?

For many this is probably the first time you ever heard of this dessert. It hopefully will not be the last.

Rogel cake is a traditional argentine dessert that is made of layers of thin flaky crust filled with dulce de leche and covered with swiss meringue frosting.

What will you need to make this dessert?

• 12 discs of delicious flaky dough (all the tricks follow below)
• Dulce de leche. I like to use those Argentinian brands: La Serenisima- Dulce de Leche (USA), San Ignacio Dulce de Leche (USA, Canada, UK, France), Chimbote Dulce De Leche (Australia).
• Swiss Meringue Frosting. Recipe follows!

How to make Rogel Cake?

To make rogel cake you must:

• Make the flaky crust, divide it into 12 equal pieces, roll each piece into a round of 20/22 cm and bake them in the oven at high temperature.
• Once the discs are ready you can assemble the cake.
• Place one disc of crust on a plate, cover with 2 generous tablespoons of dulce de leche (make sure to spread it evenly), and then top with another disc of the flaky crust. Do this very gently as the dough cracks easily. If it breaks a little it does not matter.
• Repeat until there are no more discs left. Last layer must be a disc of rogel cake dough.
• Refrigerate overnight.
• Prepare the swiss meringue and decorate the rogel cake with it. Traditionally we cover the whole cake with a thick layer of meringue. As you can see here, I only pipped some meringue on the top instead, for photographic purposes! Go ahead and cover the whole cake with the swiss meringue frosting! Thank me later 😉.
• Enjoy!

How to make the flaky crust for the Rogel?

To make this crust you must:

• Knead the egg yolks, the flour, the milk with the hook attachment of a stand mixer until there is no more apparent liquid.
• Add the softened butter and continue kneading until the dough has come together.
• Finish kneading on the countertop until your dough is smooth.
• Cover with parchment paper and refrigerate for 2 hours.

You can also do this by hand:

• Put the flour in a bowl and make a well at the centre. Add the egg yolks and the milk in that well and use a spatula to begin mixing the ingredients until there is no more apparent liquid.
• Add the softened butter and continue to mix until incorporated.
• Transfer the dough to your counter and knead the dough as you would knead pasta dough until it is smooth. You can watch how to do this here. You can skip over to minute 5, where the kneading begins 😊: Homemade Pasta: Making and kneading dough.
• Cover, and refrigerate for 2 hours.

Once the dough is chilled:

• Divide it into 12 equal pieces.
• Roll out each piece into rounds of 20/22 cm (8/9 inches) in diameter using a rolling pin. Make sure the cover the pieces you are not working with to avoid them from drying out.
• Pinch the rounds with a fork and bake it each for 7 minutes at 200 °C.
• Remove and let them cool down over a wire rack. Make sure to be gentle as they are very fragile and might break.

How to make Swiss Meringue?

To make this swiss meringue recipe you must:

• In the bowl of your stand mixer warm the egg whites and the powdered sugar over a water bath until the sugar has completely dissolved, whisking slowly the whole time. It shouldn’t be hot; you don’t want to cook the egg whites. If you have a thermometer warm up to 55/60 C° (140F).
• Then continue whisking the egg whites at medium speed with until they have completely cooled down and hold soft peaks.
• You are now ready to frost the Rogel 😊.
• Pro-tip: use old egg whites at room temperature. I like to leave mine outside the fridge for a couple of hours to temper them.

Variations for this recipe

If you do not feel like making the crust, you can use empanada dough instead. Make sure to roll it out thinly. It will not be the same though 😊. Just saying!