Carlota de Cafe
Carlota de Cafe is a Mexican no bake dessert with layers of Maria cookies and a coffee cream made from cream cheese, condensed milk, and whipped cream. The cookies go in dry and soften in the fridge overnight. About 30 minutes of work, then it does the rest itself.
Servings: 12
Calories: 438kcal
Ingredients
- 8 oz cream cheese room temperature
- 1 can sweetened condensed milk 14 ounces
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- ½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ¾-1 cup strong brewed coffee completely cooled, divided
- 3 ½ cups heavy whipping cream cold
- 2-3 packages Maria cookies or any digestive cookies
- ½ tablespoon cocoa powder for garnish
- 1 teaspoon instant coffee for garnish
Instructions
- In a large mixing bowl, combine the 8 ounces room temperature cream cheese, 1 can sweetened condensed milk, 2 teaspoons vanilla extract, ½ teaspoon ground cinnamon, ½ teaspoon salt, and half of the ¾ cup cooled coffee. Beat with a mixer until smooth and creamy.
- Pour the 3½ cups cold heavy whipping cream directly into the mixture. Whip until it thickens and forms soft peaks, light and fluffy but not stiff. It will look thin at first. Keep going, it thickens quite suddenly. Gently fold in the remaining coffee a splash at a time, tasting as you go, until the coffee flavor is where you want it. Stop before the mixture loosens.
- Spread a thin layer of the coffee cream across the bottom of a 9 by 13 inch dish. Arrange a single layer of Maria cookies over it, straight from the packet without soaking them, breaking cookies to fill the gaps. Spread another layer of cream over the cookies. Continue alternating cookies and cream until the cream is used up, finishing with a thick layer of cream on top. You should get about 5 layers.
- Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 4 hours, or overnight, until the cookies have softened to a cake like texture.
- Just before serving, mix the ½ tablespoon cocoa powder and 1 teaspoon instant coffee together and dust over the top through a fine sieve. Slice into squares and serve cold.
Video
Notes
- Don't soak the cookies. They go in dry. The coffee is in the cream and moisture moves into the cookies as it chills. Soaking them first makes the layers collapse.
- Add the coffee in two stages. Half at the start, the rest folded in after the cream has whipped. Too much liquid up front and the cream won't hold peaks.
- Everything cold except the cream cheese. Coffee completely cooled, cream straight from the fridge. Cream cheese at room temperature or it won't blend.
- Soft peaks, not stiff. Overwhipped cream goes grainy and is much harder to spread evenly.
- Cream won't thicken? Chill the whole bowl for 20 minutes and try again. If it's still loose, whip a separate cup of plain cold cream to stiff peaks and fold it through.
- Overnight is better than 4 hours. That's when the cookies fully soften into a cake like texture.
- Garnish at the last minute. Cocoa dusted hours ahead absorbs moisture and goes patchy.
- Buy 3 packages of cookies. Running out mid build is an annoying place to be.
Nutrition
Serving: 1serving | Calories: 438kcal | Carbohydrates: 26g | Protein: 6g | Fat: 35g | Saturated Fat: 22g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 2g | Monounsaturated Fat: 9g | Cholesterol: 109mg | Sodium: 250mg | Potassium: 241mg | Fiber: 0.3g | Sugar: 22g | Vitamin A: 1363IU | Vitamin C: 1mg | Calcium: 164mg | Iron: 0.4mg
