10 Traditional Chilean Desserts

Picking my favorite Chilean desserts isn’t the hardest thing I’ve ever had to do in my life, but it still wasn’t easy. 

Between the moist tres leches cake, the totally unique mote con huesillos, and the delicate Chilean thousand layer cake, it’s hard to pick a favorite.

And that doesn’t even take into account all the other fantastic dessert options included in Chilean cuisine!

The best thing about Chilean treats is the incredible variety.

Desserts may include crispy, deep-fried tortillas or fluffy, airy cakes. There are even delicious dessert drinks to consider! 

So yes, trying to round up the 10 best Chilean dessert recipes I’ve ever tried took me some time, but I think I did justice to the list.

Hopefully, I included some of your favorites, as well!

1. Chilean Alfajores 

With this wonderful recipe, you can make about 35 of these double-decker cookies in less than an hour.

The recipe calls for a filling of dulce de leche, but you could also use huevo mol or molasses paste.

Whichever filling you use, you’ll make a sweet, soft, wholesome cookie with less than 100 calories per serving.

2. Chilean Dulce de Leche Cake

If you’ve ever made a pumpkin roll, then you already know how to make this tasty treat.

It’s a lot like a pumpkin roll; only it’s made with different ingredients.

The cake is soft, moist, and spongy, and the dulce de leche filling is pure milky, caramel-like goodness.

It takes a little time to make, and you’ll have to be careful not to break it while rolling it.

The trick to this is dusting the cake with powdered sugar and rolling it up in a similarly dusted tea towel. The recipe does a great job explaining how to do this.

Once it’s all rolled up and dusted once again with powdered sugar, you’ll know that every moment you spent making it was well spent. It’s incredibly good.

3. Manjar

Manjar is sometimes called “homemade dulce de leche” and sometimes called “Peruvian dulce de leche.” Whatever you call it, it’s super yummy.

All you need to make it is whole milk, vanilla extract, sugar, and baking soda.

You’ll boil the first three ingredients until they thicken and become caramel-colored. Then add your baking soda.

Once it reaches a pudding-like consistency, it’s done. Cool it before serving. 

4. Chilean Thousand Layer Cake

Lauded as “the most traditional of the Chilean cakes,” this one is a flaky, crispy masterpiece. It may not have a thousand layers, but it does have plenty. 

Some layers are thin and crunchy; others are made from sweet, sticky jam. Still, others are full of dulce de leche.

Some people mix it up a little with walnuts, rhubarb, or whipped cream.

It takes you about an hour to get it ready for the oven, but all culinary works of art take a little bit of time. They’re always worth it in the end.

5. Mote con Huesillos (Wheat and Peach Drink)

This is a unique dessert that you probably haven’t tried.

It’s a Chilean dessert drink that combines peaches and pearled barley with water, cinnamon, sugar, and an orange peel.

The taste is something totally unlike anything else you’ve ever had. 

The most prevalent flavor comes from the peaches, but you’ll also notice notes of the orange (or lemon) peel and the cinnamon.

The barley thickens the drink some, and many of the strongest flavors come from the pearls at the bottom.

6. Chilean Sopapillas 

If you’ve ever had sopapillas, you know how good they are. They’re sweet and crunchy pieces of deep-fried Heaven. 

These sopapillas have a distinctly Chilean flair thanks to the cup of pumpkin puree added to them.

I like to serve them warm with a side of hot molasses sauce for dipping. Yum yum.

7. Leche Asada (Roasted Milk) 

Although it takes an hour to bake, the prep time for this popular Chilean dessert is only about 10 minutes.

It tastes best when you make your own caramel, so I highly recommend starting there.

After that, it’s just a matter of mixing the rest of the ingredients and pouring them over the caramel.

Bake it, let it cool, and then serve it. It’s super simple and super delicious.

8. Chilean Strawberry Kuchen

I love strawberries, and this tart is absolutely overflowing with them. 

To make this berry-filled tart, you’ll need common baking ingredients – eggs, sugar, butter, flour, baking powder, salt, etc.

There are no exotic or hard-to-find ingredients in this recipe. 

Don’t let the number of steps in the recipe scare you away from trying it, either. It looks like a lot, but it’s so easy.

The entire prep process takes only 30 minutes. You’ll start by making the cookie crust, then you’ll add in the pastry cream and strawberries and bake the tart again. 

Pop it in the fridge overnight, and the following day, you’ll have a delicious strawberry tart to enjoy for breakfast, lunch, or dinner.

(Hey! When it comes to strawberries, there’s no judgment!)

9. Tres Leches Cake 

Tres leches cake literally translates to “three milk cake,” and that’s what this cake is. It uses sweetened condensed milk, evaporated milk, and whole milk. 

The result is one of the fluffiest, moistest, spongiest cakes you’ll ever eat.

It’s soft and delicious, and the fresh whipped cream topping dusted with cinnamon makes it even better. This one is a classic.

10. Chilean Holiday Fruitcake (Pan de Pascua) Recipe

People traditionally serve this cake for Easter and Christmas in Chile, but it’s tasty enough to eat any time of the year. 

Flavored with rum and chock full of spices, nuts, and dried fruit, it’s almost like a combination of America’s spice cakes and fruitcakes.

Although, the consistency is more like banana nut bread.

As with the Chilean strawberry kuchen, don’t let the recipe scare you away.

It does have over two dozen ingredients on the list, but the vast majority of them are spices. 

It only takes about 30 minutes to prepare, and it tastes amazing.