Photo: Allie Chanthorn Reinmann
Brazil is home to many wonderful things, not least of which is the brigadeiro. Constructed almost entirely of sweetened condensed milk, the mixture is cooked until thick, and can easily be portioned into acorn-sized balls and covered with sprinkles. They’re a delicious, sweet treat, and their story could end there. But the brigadeiro has a secret: It doesn’t have to stand alone as a candy—it can fill and frost your cake, too.
I was lucky enough to eat a cake covered in brigadeiro icing while in Brazil, and I was immediately enamored with the sticky coating. The cake was fluffy and the icing clung to every bit of cake in the best way possible. It almost acted as a cake magnet. If you had a bit of this tenacious topping on your fork, you could swipe it around the plate to collect every last crumb. At first I thought it was ganache, but the texture was tackier, more like a caramel, only it didn’t taste like caramel. It was less sweet and discernibly chocolatey, but I couldn’t put my finger on exactly what it was.
This was because I’ve never even conceptualized a brigadeiro as a spreadable topping. Once I knew it could work as one, I was stoked. Unlike Swiss meringue, caramel toppings, or Italian buttercream, a brigadeiro is easy to make at home, which meant a frosting from the same stuff would be accessible and worth a try. As suspected, it is incredibly easy to make this Brazilian cake topping—the ingredients are few, and they’re likely already in your kitchen or at least easy to find.
The brigadeiro cake filling and topping is made the same way you make the candy, but you stop cooking sooner. The mixture is cooked to varying degrees of thickness before the texture gets as thick as the rollable candy. Traditional brigadeiro milk candy is made by cooking sweetened condensed milk with a little butter and a lot of cocoa powder, in a pot over medium-low heat. That’s it, three ingredients in one pot. The mixture begins to bubble after two minutes, and water evaporates for the next five to ten minutes, until the sticky substance begins to amass. It changes from a loose texture to a tighter texture in mere minutes, so you want to ensure you’re undistracted and stirring constantly.
If you were making the candy, you would continue to cook it until it really heaps together. However, for the frosting, you’ll take it off the heat at any point before this, depending on the texture you want for your dessert. For a sticky, runny glaze, stop cooking after five minutes. For a cake filling or topping that is spreadable and soft, but sits on top of the cake when cooled, stop cooking after seven or eight minutes. For a thick, swirling frosting that you would be able to pipe with a star tip, cook for about ten minutes—that’s about as thick as you can go for a cake topping. Note that the frosting will cool much stiffer than how it feels in the pan, so stop cooking earlier than you think.
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Brigadeiro mixture after ten minutes of cooking.Photo: Allie Chanthorn Reinmann
The added benefits of trying this cake topping at home are that your kitchen will smell like a chocolaterie, it’s hard to mess up, and if you overcooked it, you just made brigadeiro candy instead. Roll it into balls and cover them with sprinkles for a fun treat.
Recipes for brigadeiro are simple and don’t seem to vary much across websites. I adapted my recipe from this one. The only note I would add to most recipes is to sift the cocoa powder into the pot to avoid lumps. If you didn’t sift it, or there are still bits left in your mixture, it’s okay. Experience has taught me that 80% of cake decorating is creatively covering up mistakes. Simply cover the top with shaved chocolate, sprinkles, or coconut. Double this recipe if you want to fill and frost a two-layer cake.
Photo: Allie Chanthorn Reinmann
Brigadeiro Cake Filling and Frosting
Ingredients:
Add the condensed milk and butter to a small, non-stick pot. Sift in the cocoa powder. Whisk or use a rubber spatula to stir constantly over medium-low heat for five to 10 minutes, depending on the icing consistency desired.
Once the appropriate consistency is achieved, take the filling off the heat. For a smooth, shiny glaze, use while still hot. For a spreadable frosting, allow the mixture to cool for a few minutes until it sets up a bit, then use. The filling should still be quite warm when you use it; once it’s totally set, it can be difficult to spread. Enjoy with your favorite hot drink.
