serenata de amor cake

i spent 2001 on student exchange in brazil. i lived in a city called natal, 6 degrees off the equator - where is was always hot and very hot. i didn't always love it, in fact - most of the year was spent wishing that i could go home... i didn't see eye to eye with my host family and ended up having to change, just a few months before i was due to return to australia. i can honestly day that i really struggled. with homesickness, with the language, with my host family, making friends and with most of the food. there are some things that i really and truly loved... my second host family, the laid back lifestyle, the constant music and chatter, and the friendliness of those i came to know well (but to be honest, there wasn't really a lot of those either...)

but i learnt so much. i learnt that life is what you make it. you can be in what seems to be the worst situation in the world and still find peace. you can be miserable and find hope and you can be far away from your family, and become closer to them. i learnt that people aren't always who they claim to be, that the people you trust can betray you... but those who defend you and lift you up will remain a friend no matter how much time goes by between conversations.

but enough on that... one of the foods i adored in brazil was a chocolate bon bon (wrapped chocolate) called a serenata de amor. it's a cashew cream centre, with a wafer coating, dipped in chocolate. i had always liked them and would buy them on the odd occasion, but never imagined that i would ever have one again, until i found them this week in the local international food store kakulas sister, that's about 500m from our house! i snapped up a box and enjoyed a few... before wondering if i could possibly find the recipe for the cake i've had made with them. 

there was a cafe a km or so from my home in brazil, that sold a cake made with the serenata de amor chocolates making part of the filling. it was incredible!!! but i had never had it anywhere other than this cafe, so i didn't know who to ask about it... so i asked my friend mr. google. who actually came up with a recipe, in english, on an australian website. so i gave it a whirl.

(recipe can be found here)

serenata de amor cake


ingredients:




base
1/2 pack arrowroot biscuits 
200g roasted peanuts
50g butter
1/2 can condensed milk
200mls milk


filling
3 cups milk
2/3 cup of icing sugar
4 tablespoons cornflour
3 egg yolks
20 bonbons (i used 15 and the remainder for topping)


icing
3/4 cup milk
1 tablespoon cocoa
3 teaspoons sugar
1 tablespoon butter


directions:
pastry: mix the peanuts and biscuits in a food processor then place in a bowl and add the butter, condensed milk and milk. Spread the mixture in a cake tray (i used a springform tin) and bake for 5 minutes (more like 7-8).
filling: in a pan, mix milk, icing sugar, cornflour and egg yolks. cook on low heat stirring constantly until it thickens. place the chocolate bonbons on the base and pour the filling mixture over it. cover the cake with cling wrap and leave it in the fridge till cold.
icing: In a pan, mix milk, chocolate powder, sugar and butter. allow to boil until it thickens. (this is where I ran into a problem. it did not thicken. at all. i eventually had to add a teaspoon and a bit of cornflour to thicken the topping.) leave it to cool down. 
before serving , spread the chocolate icing and decorate with bonbon pieces.

 so my verdict? it's not the cake. which is a giant pity. but it wasn't bad. the base was amazing! so yummy. i am considering that may actually be a good go-to option from now on when i am making a biscuit base for a cake/cheesecake and the likes. the middle was good and the amount of bonbons i used more than sufficient. but the icing was yuck. wasn't sweet enough and would not thicken - and the cornflour made it not as smooth. i followed the directions perfectly, so i would say there's an ingredients missing. i think next time i'll go for a chocolate ganache instead of what the recipe says. but there will definitely be a next time. it was well received by it's audience... and dominique (who got to enjoy it as her birthday cake at family dinner in baldivis) loved it the most. phew!

i would say on the whole that makes it a success. 7/10 ♥