Chajá (Uruguayan Layered Cake of the Marsh's Nest) 🍰

Name: Chajá (Uruguayan Layered Cake of the Marsh's Nest)
Prep time: 24 min
Cook time: 36 min
Total time: 60 min
Yield: 2-4 servings
Cuisine: Uruguayan
Ingredients: 1 ready or baked vanilla sponge disc (bizcochuelo), ~20 cm, split in 2 layers; 1 cup strong sweetened orange juice + zest (for soaking); 300 ml cold heavy cream; whipped soft with 2 tbsp sugar; 200 g dulce de leche; loosened with a spoon of warm milk; 2 tbsp roughly chopped walnuts (optional, traditional in some houses); To finish: leftover sponge crumbs or crumbled almond biscuits; a tuile or digestive 'sail'

A bird's name, a hotel bar's accident, and Uruguay's most argumentative dessert. The chajá — a marsh-dwelling bird whose nest is a raft of reeds on open water — gave its name to this pile of soaked sponge disc, whipped cream, bizcochuelo scraps and orange syrup, glazed with dulce de leche and crowned with a biscuit sail. San Remo in Punta del Este says they made it in 1960 for a critic who declared a woman's chaja-cake 'the dessert of summer'; Montevideo's own confiterías say otherwise. The one thing nobody disputes: no fork survives contact with a properly-built chajá — you go in from the side like it's a bird's nest, and the layers have to slide.

Montevideo Department Uruguayan ⏱ 60 min Medium

Method

1

Sit the bottom sponge layer in a ring mould or on a plate; soak it generously with the sweet orange juice — a dry chajá is a lie, say the purists.
2

Spread a thick cloud of whipped cream, scatter with crumbs and walnuts, then a second soaked sponge layer.
3

Glaze the top and sides with the thinnest honest coat of warmed dulce de leche — this is the bird's reed mat.
4

Pipe or spoon the remaining cream into the classic uneven hump; press biscuit crumbs into the sides so it looks built, not smoothed.
5

Chill at least 3 hours so the soak equalises, then crown with the biscuit sail and a final thread of dulce de leche. Serve cold, with a spoon and zero dignity.

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Chajá (Uruguayan Layered Cake of the Marsh's Nest) 🍰

Method

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