3-bit: Polish no-bake biscuit cake with dulce de leche and pudding cream
A classic of handwritten family recipe notebooks, built from things that are easy to keep in the pantry: a layer of biscuits, dulce de leche from a boiled can, a thick vanilla pudding cream with butter, biscuits again and whipped cream with cocoa on top. Nothing is baked; the fridge does the work overnight. The biscuits soften from the cream and it slices like a torte.
Your own work in that: 40 min.
- Dulce de leche cooking 150 min
- Pudding 20 min
- Pudding cooling 60 min
- Layers 20 min
- Setting in the fridge 480 min
Step by step
0 / 6 doneBoil the cans into dulce de leche
Put the unopened cans of condensed milk (paper labels removed) in a large pot, cover with water so they are fully submerged, and simmer 2.5 hours, topping up with boiling water as it evaporates. Cool in the water to lukewarm before opening.
Ingredients: 2 pcs sweetened condensed milk
TipThe cans must stay under water the whole time or they can burst. Never open a hot can — the hot caramel can spurt out. You can boil them the day before; cooled, unopened cans keep in the fridge for 2–3 weeks. Ready-made dulce de leche lets you skip this step.
Cans under water, two and a half hoursCook a very thick pudding
Mix the pudding powder with the sugar, vanilla sugar and 200 ml cold milk into a smooth slurry. Bring the rest of the milk (600 ml) to the boil, pour in the slurry, whisking, and cook 2 minutes, until very thick, like a dense paste. Transfer to a bowl and press film onto the surface.
Ingredients: 2 pcs vanilla pudding powder · 800 ml milk · 4 tbsp sugar · 1 tbsp vanilla sugar · 200 g butter
TipTwo sachets for 800 ml of milk instead of the usual litre is deliberately more powder: the pudding must be stiff, because beaten with butter it becomes the cream that holds the layers. Film on the surface prevents a skin.
Thick as paste, film on the surfaceCool and beat with butter
Cool the pudding to room temperature, no colder — in a wide bowl this takes about 1 hour. Beat the soft butter with a mixer until fluffy, then add the pudding a spoon at a time, beating constantly, until you have a smooth, pale cream.
TipButter and pudding must be at the same temperature or the cream splits: cold pudding seizes the butter into lumps, warm pudding melts it. If it splits from cold, stand the bowl in warm water for 5 minutes and keep beating; if it is too warm and runny, chill it for 15 minutes.
Same temperature, a spoon at a time, until smoothBiscuits and dulce de leche
Line the tin with paper. Lay a layer of biscuits edge to edge on the base, trimming at the sides. Stir the dulce de leche smooth with a spoon and spread it in an even layer over the biscuits.
Ingredients: 400 g rectangular tea biscuits · 500 ml whipping cream (30%) · 2 tbsp icing sugar · 1 tbsp cocoa powder
Biscuits edge to edge, caramel on topCream and the second layer
Spread all the pudding cream over the caramel and level it. Lay a second layer of biscuits on the cream, pressing lightly so they stick.
Cream, then biscuits againWhipped cream and a night in the fridge
Whip the cold cream with the icing sugar until stiff, spread over the top and dust with cocoa through a sieve. Refrigerate at least 8 hours, ideally overnight: the biscuits soak up moisture and soften, and the cake cuts into neat squares. It keeps in the fridge for up to 3 days.
TipA fresh cake crumbles when cut because the biscuits are still hard. Patience until morning is the whole difference.
Cream, cocoa, until tomorrow
Before you start
With bananas
Slices of 2 bananas on the caramel layer, under the cream: the version children like most. Eat within two days, bananas darken.
With walnuts
50 g chopped walnuts stirred into the caramel and as many again on top instead of some of the cocoa.
Dulce de leche in 20 minutes
Without boiling cans: warm the condensed milk in a saucepan with 30 g butter over low heat, stirring, 15–20 minutes, until browned and thick. Paler, but it works.
