Ash Baber

Bolo Gelado de Brigadeiro

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I learnt about this Brazilian cake called bolo gelado de brigadeiro. It’s made up of chocolate cake layers that have been soaked in a chocolate milk, and filled with brigaderio. Then topped with chocolate sprinkles.

So you end up with a cake thats super soft and chocolaty and cold and moist.

I had to try it immediately and I’m so happy I did. This is my favourite dessert I have made in a while. It was just so soft AND THE FLAVOUR WAS SO NICE.

A slice of the bolo gelado de brigadeiro on a plate.

Breakdown of the process

Here’s a quick breakdown of what we are going to be doing to make this cake:

  • Make the brigadeiro.
  • Leave this in your fridge to cool down and thicken.
  • Make the cake.
  • Leave this to cool down.
  • Make the milk soak and leave this to cool too.
  • Cut your cake in half so you have 2 layers.
  • Assemble the cake layers with the milk soak and brigadeiro.
  • Add some sprinkles on top.
  • Leave this in your fridge to chill overnight.
  • The next day, cut into pieces and dig in.
The top of the cake after being cut into slices.

The brigadeiro 

If you clicked onto this blog post, I’m assuming you probably know what brigadeiro is. 

But if you don’t, let me give you a quick explanation.

It’s a Brazilian sweet, made from condensed milk. They’re like chocolate truffles, but fudgier. 

There are many different flavours, but the most common one is usually chocolate brigadeiro, from what I’ve seen.

For this cake, we are making the same chocolate mixture, but just slightly softer. And then instead of rolling it into balls and making truffles, we are filling the cake with this.

It’s super easy to make, you are essentially just cooking all the ingredients together.

These are the ingredients you are going to need to make it:

  • Condensed milk 
  • Unsalted butter
  • Cocoa powder 
  • Dark chocolate – use dark chocolate, even if you don’t like it. The condensed milk is going to add a lot of sweetness, we don’t need any extra sweetness from milk chocolate. So use dark chocolate.
  • Double cream – also known as heavy cream. 

We are making this first so it has time to cool down and thicken. So once it has been made, you want to leave it in your fridge.

The brigadeiro in a pan, before being left to chill.

Making the cake

Once the brigadeiro has been made, we can make the cake.

We need 2 chocolate cake layers for this dessert, but we are going to just bake 1 thicker one, then cut it in half, so we have 2 cake layers.

I’m using the same chocolate cake recipe I use all the time.

These are the ingredients you will need for it:

  • Cocoa powder 
  • Instant coffee – this is not going to make the cake taste coffee flavour. It just helps intensify the chocolate flavour. You can leave it out, but it’s a nice ingredient to add.
  • Hot water – we are mixing this with the cocoa powder to hydrate it. This is also going to intensify the chocolate flavour.
  • Unsalted butter – you want this to be softened.
  • Vegetable oil – any flavourless oil works, but I like to always use vegetable oil.
  • Sugar – a mix of both granulated sugar and soft light brown sugar. The brown sugar is going to add a lot of flavour and moisture.
  • Eggs 
  • Buttermilk – for moisture. 
  • Plain flour – also known as all purpose flour.
  • Baking soda
  • White vinegar – this is going to react with the baking soda as the cake bakes, giving you a softer fluffier cake. I like to use white vinegar, but apple cider vinegar works great too. If you don’t want to use either, lemon juice can be used HOWEVER vinegar gives you way better results.  
The cake batter in a square tin, before being baked.
The cake in a square tin, after being baked.

The milk soak

We are going to soak the cake layers with chocolate milk.

I love pouring milk over a lot of my cakes, it adds extra flavour and extra moisture.

So when I saw that this cake also has milk soaked into the cake layers, I knew I would like it.

For the milk soak, we are using chocolate milk.

For this, all you need is:

  • Whole milk
  • Cocoa powder
  • Granulated sugar – or brown sugar, either works.

To make it, you just need to heat those ingredients together until the cocoa powder has dissolved.

The chocolate milk in a pot.

Assembling the cake

Before putting the cake together, you need to make sure that the cake has cooled completely and the milk has also cooled too.

I guess it’s important that the brigadeiro has cooled too, but there’s no way that hasn’t cooled down at this point. It’s been in the fridge for long enough.

To assemble, this is what you are going to do:

  • Cut your COOLED cake layer in half, horizontally, making 2 layers.
  • Add 1 layer into a 9 inch square cake tin.
  • Pour half of the milk over this cake layer.
  • Add 2/3 of the brigadeiro into the tin, on top of the cake layer. Spread this out.
  • Add the second layer of cake and pour the rest of the milk over this.
  • Now add the rest of the brigadeiro and spread this out.
  • Throw some chocolate sprinkles on top, then that’s the cake assembled.
The cake in a tin, after being assembled.

Leaving the cake to chill

This cake is supposed to be eaten cold, it tastes best this way.

But also the brigadeiro needs time to completely set up and the cake layers need time to fully soak up the chocolate milk.

So make sure to leave the cake to chill in your fridge.

It’s best to leave it overnight, but then the next day it is finally done WOOHOO.

I make a lot of cakes. Here are some other cake recipes I think you will also like:

Bolo Gelado de Brigadeiro
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Bolo Gelado de Brigadeiro

4.8 from 67 votes

Ingredients

  • For the brigadeiro:

  • 2 x 397 g cans of condensed milk

  • 50 g unsalted butter

  • 20 g cocoa powder

  • 200 g dark chocolate

  • 400 ml double cream

  • For the cake:

  • 70 g cocoa powder

  • 1 teaspoon instant coffee

  • 120 ml hot water

  • 180 g unsalted butter, softened

  • 150 ml vegetable oil

  • 180 g granulated sugar

  • 180 g soft light brown sugar

  • 6 large eggs

  • 200 ml buttermilk

  • 300 g plain flour

  • 1.5 teaspoons baking soda

  • 1 tablespoon white vinegar

  • For the milk soak:

  • 400 ml whole milk

  • 1 tablespoon cocoa powder

  • 1 tablespoon granulated sugar

  • Extras:

  • Some chocolate sprinkles

Directions

  • Making the brigadeiro:
  • In a large pan or pot, add all the ingredients for the brigadeiro.
  • Place this onto medium heat and heat, whiles constantly stirring, until the mixture thickens. It should be a thick custard like texture.
  • Pour this into a bowl and cover with cling film, making sure the surface of the cling film is touching the surface of the brigadeiro.
  • Leave this in your fridge to cool down and thicken up.
  • Making the cake:
  • Start by pre-heating your oven to 180c. Also grease and line a 9 inch square cake tin, leave this aside.
  • In a large bowl, add the cocoa powder, coffee and hot water. Whisk these together, then leave this aside to cool down for 5-10 minutes.
  • After it has cooled down, add the softened butter, oil and both sugars. Beat these together for 5 minutes.
  • Add 3 of the eggs into this and mix. Then add the remaining eggs and also the buttermilk, mix these in too.
  • Now add the flour and mix just until you get a smooth batter.
  • In a small separate bowl, add the baking soda and then pour the vinegar over it. This will start bubbling, just give it a quick mix, then pour it into your cake batter and whisk this in.
  • Pour this batter into your prepared cake tin and bake for around 50 minutes - 1 hour. Or until a toothpick inserted into the centre of the cake comes out clean.
  • Once baked, leave aside to cool down completely.
  • Making the milk soak:
  • In a pot, add the ingredients for the milk soak.
  • Heat this on medium heat until the cocoa powder has dissolved. You could also do this in your microwave.
  • Leave this aside to cool down too.
  • Putting the cake together:
  • Once the cake has cooled down completely, and the milk soak has cooled down too, we can put the cake together.
  • Start by cutting the cake in half, horizontally, so you have 2 cake layers.
  • Get a 9 inch square cake tin, this can be the same one you baked the cake in. But clean it first.
  • Add one of the cake layers into the tin.
  • Pour half of the milk soak over this. Then add 2/3 of the brigadeiro into the tin. Spread this out.
  • Add the second layer of cake on top, then pour the rest of the milk over it.
  • Add the rest of the brigadeiro and spread this out.
  • Now add some chocolate sprinkles on top.
  • Leave this to chill and set up in your fridge overnight.
  • The next day, cut it into pieces and enjoy!

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2 Comments

  1. Ira
    February 12, 2026 / 1:30 am

    S tier recipe, definitely make sure ur filling is cold enough or it won’t set properly later and will just spill out the sides.

  2. Beep Peeb
    April 30, 2026 / 7:08 pm

    IT WAS SOOO TASTY
    Demolished half the cake by myself. The brigadeiro was 🤤. I was licking the spoon (IT IS FINE, MY FAMILY IS EATING IT)