Volumes can be written about this cake, and have in fact already been written (check our forums). This cake seems to be the ultimate test for the expert Dominican cook, and however daunting, and confusing the instructions might look to the novice cook, let me assure you, if you follow the instructions carefully you will succeed.
No other recipe in our site is as popular, or elicits as many questions as our Dominican cake. For those who have not tried it, it is hard to understand the fascination with this cake. What makes Dominican cake so special? Well, you won’t know until you try it, but let me give you a spoiler: it is incredibly delicate in texture and sinfully delicious.
When I started this site it quickly became obvious that I needed to add this recipe, which was not included in the original collection (I got, and still get, dozens of questions about it every week). Having never baked this cake before (it is rarely home-made in the Dominican Republic, we usually order it from a ‘master baker’), I embarked on the quest for a recipe. That was not easy, each baker has their own (minor ‘tweaks’ really) and most guard it fiercely.
When I was able to find a recipe I tried it a first time: it was an unmitigated disaster. The second time however, and after carefully following the instructions, it was a success. As of the moment I am writing this I have baked exactly five cakes (the first disaster included), so I am no an expert by any stretch of the imagination, which in a way allows me to see things from our regular users’ perspective.
The most important features of the Dominican cake are that it is very ‘airy’ and moist. It contains a large amount of fat, about a third of it in fact, and a large volume of air, producing a cake that virtually dissolves in your mouth. Preparing the Dominican cake takes time. Lots of it. It is not something you can put together at the last minute. It takes planning and advance preparations. It also requires that you follow the instructions very carefully. One little misstep could ruin your many hours of work. Below you will find tips and tricks to help you achieve a successful result.
Dominican cake is the center of every Dominican celebration. No wedding, baptism or birthday is complete in the Dominican Republic without our delicious traditional cake.
Ingredients
- 1/4 lb (110 grams) of butter
- 1/4 lb (110 grams) of margarine
- 1 pinch of grated lime peel
- 1 cup of orange juice
- 1/2 lb (220 grams) of all-purpose flour
- 1/2 lb (220 grams) of sugar
- 2 teaspoons of vanilla extract
- 2 teaspoons of baking powder
- 3 eggs
- 5 egg whites at room temperature
- 1 cup of sugar (for the caramel)
- 1 cup of powdered sugar, sifted (for the merengue)
- 1/2 cup of water
- A pinch of salt
- 1/4 teaspoon of cream of tartar
- 2 cups of pineapple, cut into cubes
- 1 cup of water
- 1/2 cup of sugar
- 1 teaspoon of vanilla extract
Instructions
- Mix all the ingredients together and simmer covered over very low heat until the pineapple is tender and you obtain the consistency of marmalade.
- Stir often to avoid scorching and add water as necessary.
- Once the filling is ready (it takes an hour or more due to the tough fibers in pineapple) cool to room temperature. Reserve.
- Grease and flour two 8" baking pans.
- Preheat oven to 350 °F (175 °C).
- Mix the flour and baking powder and sift together. Set aside (all the ingredients must be at room temperature).
- Beat together the margarine, butter and sugar until it is light and fluffy and has a very light yellow color (about 4 mins).
- One by one add the eggs and continue beating about a minute after adding each new egg.
- Slowly add the lime peel, and vanilla.
- Add one third of the juice, when it is well mixed add one third of the flour. Repeat adding the flour and juice in thirds and keep whisking until all is well-mixed before adding the next third.
- As soon as you've stopped mixing the last batch of flour turn off the mixer, you should have obtained a fluffy batter with a smooth and even consistency.
- Pour half the pineapple filling on each baking pan. Make sure you do not disturb the cover of butter and flour.
- Pour in half the batter in each one.
- Bake until a knife inserted in the center comes out clean (about 30 mins).
- Whisk the egg whites in a glass or stainless steel bowl until it forms peaks. Slowly add the sugar until it form stiff peaks.
- Add the salt and cream tartar while still whisking.
- Prepare the caramel by boiling sugar and water over very low heat.
- If you have a candy thermometer (highly recommended) boil until the caramel has reached 235 °F (112 °F). If you don't have a candy thermometer boil until the caramel is thick but still transparent (it must not burn).
- Very slowly pour the caramel into the mixture while beating at high speed until all is well mixed.
- Cool down cakes to room temperature.
- Cut the crust.
- Join both cakes filling-side in. If you did not bake the pineapple filling with the cake, or are using another type of filling (like guava marmalade or pastry cream) then spread on one of the cakes and top with the other.
- To decorate the cake spread the meringue on top and around the cake, add decoration according to your taste and skills.
Important Notes
Read this post to learn how to make this cake as cupcakes.
If you are preparing this cake for a special occasion I strongly suggest that you do not do it for the fist time then. Bake a 'rehearsal' cake, this will give you time to adjust quantities, ask questions and improve your skills.
Prepare the fruit filling with a lot of time in advance (preferably the day before). This will decrease the amount of work that you have to do on the big day.
Dominican cake must be consumed at room temperature, and best consumed the same day. Since it contains large amounts of fat it will harden in the fridge, detracting from what makes it different, that is, its lightness. You cannot prepare this cake without a mixer. You will need, at the very least, a hand-held one, and only if your cake is very small. We strongly suggest that you use a stand mixer. Once you start mixing the cake it has to be nonstop until the batter is finished. You will need your hands for other tasks, so if you are going to use a hand mixer please procure assistance. The recipe in our site can be prepared with a regular stand mixer; if you are preparing a bigger cake you will need a bigger, more powerful mixer. If your mixer is not able to move the volume of batter adequately your cake will fail to rise.
You will definitely need a scale. I strongly discourage from converting weight to volumes for this cake. The reasons for this are a bit long to explain, but do trust me on this. Borrow a kitchen scale for the day or buy a cheap one. Up until very recently I used one that cost me about US$2.00. It doesn't matter if it is not exact in the extreme, whatever bias in the scale, if it is not too big, will balance itself by adding (or subtracting) some weight from all ingredients.
The reason why I suggest baking the fruit filling with the cake is because, if you add the marmalade after baking the cake it will release moist that will seep into the cake, not the best result in my opinion. I have found this method to be the best, plus the cake infuses with some of the flavor from the fruit filling, improving it. The bake-in method is not recommended if you are going to use pastry cream.
The 'suspiro', or meringue used to decorate the Dominican cake is similar to Italian meringue and almost the same as royal icing. The reason why it is prepared differently for this recipe (adding boiling-hot caramel) is to somewhat 'cook' the egg whites, since there are no pasteurized eggs available in the Dominican Republic. Raw egg whites may contain salmonella, which can be fatally harmful to those who ingest it. If you can find pasteurized eggs, we suggest you use them; you can then skip the caramel part from the recipe. Better yet, use dehydrated royal icing mix, it is easier to prepare and much safer.
To prepare ‘suspiro’ you must keep your utensils scrupulously clean. Wash them with plenty of hot, soapy water and let them dry before starting. The suspiro will not rise if it comes in contact with even a speck of grease. Humidity in the air and room temperature will affect the results when preparing 'suspiro'. Preparing it on a humid, or cold day is not easy; on a rainy day it becomes very difficult, if not impossible.
Although you will probably not need it, have a bit (a cup or two) of extra powdered sugar at hand. Depending on a variety of circumstances the icing might need some extra sugar to achieve the necessary consistency. For spreading on the cake, aim for icing with a consistency slightly softer than that of cream cheese.
If you are not an expert at decorating with royal icing, you can either search online for tips and tricks, or buy one of the myriad of books available on the subject. Cake decoration is out of the scope of our site. Mastering cake decoration is a long process, but with a bit of help you can produce some very nice results.
Here is the Spanish version of this recipe.
Aunt Clara's Kitchen is a collection of traditional Dominican recipes, recipes inspired by Dominican flavors, as well as the chronicles of the Aunties' adventures in the kitchen and outside.
{ 143 comments… read them below or add one }
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I see that you have baking powder listed in the ingredients but it is not at all in the directions. It seems everything needs to be done to the T, so I am nervous about guessing! When should the baking powder be added??!
Thank you!!
add the baking powder to the flour
Hi! Thank you so much for your recipe. It is great! Only thing is, the Dominican cakes I’ve had have a more coarse, almost cornbread type texture, and that was missing in my cake. Does that mean I overbeat it at the end? My husband says it tastes right (he’s Dominican), and that maybe it’s because I’ve had those other cakes a day or two later, or after they’ve been refrigerated. Is this true? I like that coarse texture and was looking for it! lol Do your cakes come out a little like cornbread-texture? Thanks again.
the cornbread-texture is due to using cornstarch in the ingredient. you can use cornstarch instead of the baking powder.
Hello aunt Clara! I just wanted to say “wow”!! I am 2nd generation dominican and proud!! I have tried to explain to may different people how extremely good dominican cake is; but where i live there is no such thing and no such place where to get some. Very frustrating as you can imagine! Now with this recipie I will finally get to show my friends what they have been missing out on all of their lives. I’m so excited to get started but i have a couple of quick question first: will it come out the same if I use a manual mixer and if I wanted to add a porceline figurine to the top as a decoration, how can I incorporate some kind of a sturdy stand that cant be seen from the outside of the cake?
thank you sooooooo much!
how long does the cake stay in the oven ?
Please read the recipe carefully. Good luck.
I love this cake with a custard filling. Any recipes for that? My second favorite is with Guava.
Yes, there is a recipe, check the dessert section.
I am going to try and make this for 220 people. I am going to try to use boxed cake mixes( I know, not real cake) but use the orange juice and lime and crushed canned pineapple to make the filling. The event will be a fund raiser for a mission trip to DR so I have to keep the costs down (cannot really afford to be 100% authentic). I will let ya’ll know how it turns out!
HI, this is for Doris, Brenda and Eliza, I also have tried many many Dominican cake recipes,but none of them even taste like the ones I first had in NYC from this woman who baked at home and yes her cakes had the wonderful moist cornbread course texture. Today I made my 5 th cake and this last one was the recipe from the well decorted cake by chef Toba Garrett, her recipe calls for cornstarch and still it did not at all taste like that wonderful cake from NYC baker, when my Son still lived in NYC I would order her cake and board the plane back to Hawaii and so enjoy it, however my Son no longer lives in New York. I hope and pray that somewhere, sometime I will find the “real authenic cornbread course texture type Dominican cake, if anyone out there knows the true recipe please, please, please share or even sell the recipe if it was the one I’m talking about I would buy it, Thanks everyone :from Sad in Hawaii without Dominican cake
I am not really sure what you tried, but for Dominicans in DR that would no ring true. The most famous (or one of the most) bakers in DR was Da. Nitín, her cake was nothing like cornbread, nor has any cake I have tried.
I made the cake for 220 using the boxed cake mixes. I had a couple of problems, but for the most part it was great. There is a difference in the brand of cake mix you use. Pillsbury did much better than Better Crocker. We wound up putting the carmelized pineapple on top of the cake instead of the bottom because the cakes were so big. We did NOT like the meringue and chose a different frosting (I did not try to make the meringue myself…the teenage girls made it, and it had no taste).
In conclusion, the flavor was a huge hit, but the presentation was lacking because the cake was so crumbly.
I wanted to see what kind of result you’d get going that route, but I was hesitant it would be anything closer to the cake in our recipe. I guess I can now tell other readers what to expect using pre-packaged cake (that is nothing near Dominican cake). I can only recommend what I have tried and tested myself.
Yes, boxed cakes never leave you with that wonderful homemade taste and texture. However, for our needs, feeding the masses, it was ok. The orange juice gave it a tropical tang as did the orange juice we added to the frosting. We sprinkled lime zest on top as well as added some to the cake mix. There was a marked difference in between the two brands of mixes, though…interesting. We raised some money for the mission trip, and the evening was a success. Thanks for this wonderful recipe! It gave me what I needed to make an affordable alternative to the real thing.
Well, then I am very glad the results were adequate for that purpose. Thanks for sharing, I appreciate it.
I will like to do the dominican cake but I’m kind of confused with recepe I went to get the creamed butter and in the supermarket nobody knew what was that can you please demotrated a picture of it or give the names of a few brands thank you.
I clarified that in the recipe. Thanks.
Hi Tia Clara.
I have made the Dominican cake both with your recipe and a friends recipe (who used to sell them from her house in Miami) Both are terrific. I made your recipe this week for My daughter’s 7th birthday with a kids’ twist. I divided the total batter into 7 equal parts, then mix in food coloring in each to make rainbow colors. Then I placed each layer in the same pan on top of each other gently not to disturb the bottom layer. I also used Royal icing this time and it worked out like a charm and tastes just like suspiro. Every time I make the suspiro the egg whites separate after I poor the hot sugar and water mixture. So, to be on the safe side and definitely easier, I used the Royal icing as you recommend. The kids and their parents drooled just to look at the cake and suspiraron when they tasted it!
Thanks again for posting this recipe and all your wonderful tips. Making this cake brings me back to childhood memories and living in Australia, this makes me feel closer to home. Thanks again!
When you click print on this recipe the cake and filling ingredients disappear, only the instructions are left for you to print. Can you please fix? Thanks!
It works for me and I tried with several browsers.
Do you Have to use a filling
You do not, but you will be really missing out if you don’t.
im 13 and came acrose this while doing a skol project in spanish we have 2 make a food item from any spanish native contry even tho i might be the scremo type i love to bake and i made ths cake for my family for christmas i know not the best time but… they loved so im hopeing tht my class and teacher love it to thanks 2 you my family wants me 2 bake ths cake angin and again
thank you so much!!!wish me luck on my project!
You are 13?! Wow, I am *very* impressed.
Thanks for the kind words, and I am so glad to hear that you had a good result.
Can you give me the recipe for the guava filling?
Yes, I can: http://www.dominicancooking.com/3591-pasta-de-guayaba-guava-paste-candy.html.
I am so glad to have found this recipe for my friend. I remember in NYC always getting Dominican cakes for special occasions. I will try to make it and also some other little delights which I see you have the recipes to. Thank You
Can the pineapple be from a can? and will it change the recipe for the filling?
Yes, it will change the taste and texture. But if you cannot find real pineapples, by all means, go ahead and use canned.
Clara, I want to try to make the Dominican Cake but I have a question for you how much is a half of pound in cup mesurements.
Half a pound of flour = just under two cups
Half a pound of sugar = one cup + two tablespoons
Please bear in mind that I do not recommend you make any conversions. Do so at your own risk.
Hi Clara, I made the cake but something went wrong, the cake didn’t rise much the color was kind of brownish and it was to mushy, the flavor was good that I can say but it didn’t even look like the one you show in the picture ( What went wrong Help!!)
It’s hard to tell, that it got brown is a very strange thing and I can’t think of anything that would cause it. Re-read the recipe and see what you did differently.
Do you have the dehydrated royal icing mix recipe as you mentioned and recommended for the dominican cake merengue.
I use this one: http://astore.amazon.com/dominicanccom-20/detail/B000ZNOVCA
Do you have to put the filling in the pan when you bake the cake? Or can you just make the cake and filling separate and layer the cake with the filling when cooled in the middle? Then ice?
Thanks.
I love this recipe
I am a bit confused because for your Merengue recipe you have 1 cup of sugar for the caramel and 1 cup of powdered sugar And also you have a caramel picture and the cake with cream and the pineapple filling do we use all three to fill the cake with in between . But yet there is no recipe for the caramel . Please explain.
Please read the recipe and the whole post carefully. You skipped step 17-19. Good luck.
mam, can i do this by preparing it in cake ovwn… how does it works..
I am not sure what your question is. Can you give me a little bit more details?
I’m sorry but you sent me some ones elses response. That person is asking if she can make your cake reciepe in a cake oven. And how does it work. Maybe se has some kind of cake business and she has a different oven. Any way my name is Irma and I made your cake and it came out delicious . The only thing that the merengue melted on me . I had it in the refrigerator. But I don’t know what happened.
I would like to get the recipe for a 10″ tier. I had to make this cake 3 ties to get it the way its suppose to (i did the measurements without weighting them) i know i risked it! Finally i bought a kitchen scale and it worked perfectly! I need to bake 2 – 10″ tiers so i need the recipe, because i don’t know how to add the ingridients. I tried making this is a 10″ tier but it comes out pretty thin – its workable, But i would like to know if i have to add more of the ingridients since this recipe is for 2 8″ tiers! Please let me know, i need to bake it by this Friday!!! Thanks!!
Hi I only have butter. Do I have to use margarine? I’m making it for my Spanish 1 class for a project and I’m only 11.
You can use more butter in place of margarine.
You mentioned that in order to get the crumbly texture you can substitute the bakinf powder for cornstarch but will the cake still rise?
Hello I need to make a Dominican cake for a friend. I was just wondering
If I can double the recipe. I have to make a two
Tier cake. 8inch and 10inch for 40 ppl. I was just wondering
Of I make the frosting can I cover the cake with
Fondant after I frost it?
This produces one cake with two layers, each layer is 1.5″ tall by 10″ before frosting and filling. Once filled and frosted it yields 8 bit slices or 10 reasonably-sized slices.
Can the cake be covered with fondant?
It could, but it won’t be Dominican cake.
I recently made a cake for my sons birthday and made 2 – 8″ and 2 – 10″ using the recipe. I doubled it and followed very carefully instructions, specially weighting them instead of converting, and i also covered it with fondant (colored) and everybody thought i had bought it from a Dominican lady i usually ordered it from, and that’s just the decor (outside of it…) when we got to cutting the cake and they saw the triple filling i gave it with guava.. they were more impressed!!! But what top it all of was.. that they LOVED THE TASTE!!!!! I of course told them i did the inside cake from a Dominican recipe!!! and the thing is IT WAS my FIRST TIME making a fondant cake. I can’t say it was my first time making a Dominican cake because i did convert it at the beginning and it was not a good idea. and the second time i made it i had done it buy cutting the ingredients in half.. it was a lot better than the first! But following the exact measurements and directions before the birthday really did it!!! Good Luck!!!
Hi Clara
my questions is the recipes is for one pound of domincan cake, because is a lot place here in ny they sale the cake by pound and i can you 1/2 cup or butter or 1/2 cup of margarine. Thank you
Yes, this is for a 1lb cake. Good luck!
Than u so muchh. i really love your recepe. This is the first time that i see aperson share your knowledge about dominican cakes like you. god bless u and thank u agai.
wow this recipe sounds amazing!!! It sound’s so good this is the food i’m going to do for my school project!! does this get any better? I get to serve it to my family! thank you Clara
I don’t have a scale and I’m baking it first hand for my family and I’m only 9! What should I do? Aria
Borrow a scale for the day. And get help from your parents. This is too dangerous for a 9 year old alone.
Good luck, Aria.
Hi Clara,
I’m planning to make this cake and would like to know if I can leave the crust on the cake instead of cutting it off. Also, can that cake be refrigerated and then let it come to room temperature before eating?
Thank you so much!
Yes, you can leave the crust. As for refrigerating I explained why it isn’t a good idea, but if you have to just do it.
Good luck!
I love this recipe but when you try to print it out, only the notes are visible. The actual recipe does not show up to print. I’ve tried several different ways and it doesn’t work. I tried to even copy and paste and no good.
But great blog, I love it.
Jackie
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