Empolvados are the Chilean bakery classic — small, soft sponge cakes filled with manjar (dulce de leche), then coated entirely in powdered sugar so they look like little snowballs. The name means 'dusted' or 'powdered,' and they are the messiest, sweetest, most beloved Chilean tea-time treat.
Empolvados (literally 'dusted ones') are a traditional Chilean bakery sweet — small round sponge cakes, split and filled with manjar (Chilean dulce de leche), then rolled in powdered sugar until completely coated. They are the messiest of Chilean sweets (the powdered sugar goes everywhere), and are eaten at afternoon tea (once), at birthday parties, and at community gatherings. Every Chilean bakery sells them alongside calzones rotos and cuchuflíes. The combination of soft sponge, sticky manjar, and dissolving powdered sugar is distinctly Chilean.
A small, round, white-dusted ball of cake. Bite in: the powdered sugar dissolves on the tongue, the sponge is soft and vanilla-scented, the manjar inside is thick, sweet, and caramel-rich. The sugar dust gets on your shirt, your fingers, your face. It is the most joyful, most messy Chilean sweet.
The sponge must be soft and slightly stale (fresh sponge is too fragile to handle). The manjar must be thick (not runny — it would soak through the cake). The powdered sugar coating must be generous and applied just before serving (it dissolves with humidity). The cakes are split, filled, sealed, and then rolled in sugar.
Variations
Some soak the sponge in wine or pisco before filling; some add coconut to the sugar; some fill with jam instead of manjar.
On the Palate
Where Empolvados sits in the Chilean flavor cloud
Ingredients
Serves 8How it's made
7 steps · 35 min active + 25 min waiting
- 13 min
Preheat oven to 180°C; line a muffin tin.
- 28 min
Make sponge: beat 4 eggs with 150 g sugar to ribbon stage; fold in 150 g flour and 1 tsp baking powder.
Watch outBeat the eggs and sugar to the ribbon stage — a lifted whisk should draw a trail that holds a moment on the surface; that trapped air is all the lift the sponge gets.
- 315 min
Pour into 8 muffin cups; bake 15 minutes; cool.
- 45 min
Slice each cake in half horizontally.
- 55 min
Spread 1 tbsp manjar between the halves; sandwich.
- 63 min
Roll each filled cake generously in powdered sugar.
Watch outRoll each filled cake in powdered sugar generously and only near serving — the sugar dissolves into a wet film if it sits out too long.
- 71 min
Dust more sugar on top just before serving.
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