Chajà - Uruguayan Peach Cake #Baking Bloggers

July 13, 2020

Chajà - Uruguayan Peach Cake #Baking Bloggers

Welcome the July 2020 edition of Baking Bloggers! This month we are celebrating one of my favorite fruits, a summer time treat, Peaches!! Peaches are so delicious they hardly need anything, but if you do decide to bake with them they are a great paired with the light sponge cake and layers of whipped cream and meringue.

This cake is called Chajà, named after a bird found in Uruguay, as well as parts of Peru, Brazil, Bolivia, Paraguay, and Argentina. The bird, also called a Southern Screamer is named for it's trilling call. This cake, typically made for celebrations, originated in the 1920's and is said to resemble the plumage of the chajà bird. The cake itself is comprised of sponge cake, dulce de leche, meringue, peaches, and lots, and lots, of whipped cream.

This cake looks a bit time consuming but the cake is pretty straightforward and once that is done it come together pretty easily with canned dulce and a package of meringues. And the best part is this cake is so easy to make either gluten free or not by your choice in flour. The eggs make up for the gluten and make a beautiful cake either way.

For both the cake and the cream I made a few, very non traditional additions. If you have been around much you know I love mahalab and orange blossom water. They impart such beautiful fruity and floral flavors they are a great addition to anything fruity. But they are from the middle east and not Uruguay. Because of that I am not including them in the actual recipe but I added a teaspoon of mahalab to the cake with the flour and two teaspoons of orange blossom water to the whipped cream filling before beating it.

My other addition that is the pudding mix to the whipped cream. It stabilizes the whipped cream as well as thickens it up just enough to stay light and airy but also the thick enough to support the weight of the cake.

Cake

6 eggs, separated

1 c. sugar

1 c. flour (gluten free or wheat)

1/4 tsp. baking soda

pinch salt

1 tsp. vanilla extract

Cream

2 c. heavy whipping cream

3 Tbsp. sugar

1 Tbsp. white chocolate pudding mix

Fillings

1 (13.4 oz) can dulce de leche

5 ripe peaches

1 ( 4 oz) box meringues

Cake Layer

Preheat oven to 375*F

Use two 9-inch cake pan. Drizzle a clean cloth or paper towel with oil and gently grease the side of the pans. Dust lightly with flour and set aside.

In a bowl beat the egg yolks, vanilla extract, and 1/2 cup sugar until pale in color and thick. Sift the flour, mahalab, and salt over the top and fold in.

In a mixer beat the egg whites until starting to grow. Keep beating until soft peaks form. Keep beating while very slowly drizzling in the remaining sugar. Keep beating until stiff peaks form. Add a third of the egg whites to the flour mixture and gently fold in. Add another third and fold again, Add the remaining whites and finish folding.

Pour the mixture into a prepared pans and place in the oven. Cook for 25 minutes or until the top is springy and slightly browned.

Cream Layer

Place the cream and sugar is a stand mixer and beat on low until slightly frothy. Increase the speed slightly until just starting to thicken and then increase the speed to high. Slowly increasing the speed will keep the cream from splashing all over. Once the cream is almost, but not quite, at soft peak stage add the pudding mix and keep beating until the whipped cream is thick.

Assembly

Cut the baked sponge cake layers in half lengthwise. Peel the peaches. Slice one of them in to thin slices and chop the remaining peaches. Reserve 8 meringues and crush the rest

Reserve on cake layer, spread remaining layers with an even spread of dulce de leche. Top with peaches, then whipped cream, and finally crushed meringue. Stack the layers on top of each other ending with the reserved layer. Top the last layer with whipped cream and sliced peaches. Decorate the top of the cake with pipped cream swirls and reserved meringue.

Serve immediately.

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