Postre Chajá

1. For the sponge cake preheat oven to 180 degrees Celsius and prepare either one or two 20cm/8 inch cake pan(s). Line bottom with parchment paper. Then divide the eggs into egg white and egg yolks. Use a bigger bowl for the egg yolks. If you have a glass or metal bowl, use that one for the egg whites. Be sure that bowl is free of fat/grease and that your mixer was properly cleaned. First beat the egg whites on medium speed with a pinch of salt until soft peaks form. Set aside. Without cleaning our mixer, beat the egg yolks with the sugar. Beat until the color becomes much paler and you have a creamy consistency. This usually takes several minutes.
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3. Gently pour one third of the egg whites on top of the mixed egg yolks and sift the flour and cornstarch on top. Don't skip this step. It is important that the flour mix was sifted. Gently mix all ingredients with a spatula. Try to incorperate the flour mix and egg whites without losing volume. Add the last two thirds of beaten egg whites and gently fold the mixture. Don't overmix. Put batter into the prepared cake pans and immediately bake. Don't let the batter sit for too long as it will quickly lose volume. Bake for 35 minutes if using one springform or 25 minutes if using two. Let cool a little before gently getting them out of the form. Tip: if making the day before, wrap in cling wrap, it is much easier to cut in half once cold.
   35 minutes25 minutes
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5. For the meringue beat egg white until soft peaks form, add pinch of salt and continue beating on high while adding the sugar. Beat for at least three more minutes until glossy and shiny. Pipe small stars or other shapes with the meringue on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Dry for about 45min at 100 degrees Celsius in the oven. Keep in airtight container until further use.
   45 minutes
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7. For the filling beat heavy cream, vanilla extract and sugar until stiff peaks form, slice peaches in thin slices. Cut cake in four layers, this is much easier done once the cake layers are cold. Brush cake layer with some of the peach juice left, then pipe thin layer of whipped cream around the edges, place the peach slices in the middle on first layer on cake, on the second layer only spread the dulce de leche. Repeat layer with brushed peach juice, whipped cream and peaches for the third and final layer. Be sure to reserve enough peach slices for the top. Spread thin layer of whipped cream on the sides of the cake and pipe on some roses around the edges if desired. Heat the peach juice and mix the cornstarch with a bit of water until you see no lumps. Once juice is hot, add the cornstarch and stir until glaze thickenes. Pour over peaches of the top layer cake. Crush the meringue and pat around the sides. Serve immediately.

Cooking notes

Baked goods are unforgiving with rounding — use weights rather than volumes whenever possible, and verify pan capacity if you scale up or down significantly.

For volume-to-weight conversions of any ingredient — flour, sugar, butter, salts — use the ingredient converter. To translate the recipe's oven temperature between °C, °F and gas mark, see the temperature converter.

When you scale this recipe up or down, remember that cooking time does not scale linearly. A doubled cake takes longer, but not twice as long; a doubled soup takes roughly twice as long. The cooking-time guide gives sensible starting estimates by dish geometry.