Easy Passover Dessert - 3 Ingredient Matzo Cake

This easy Passover dessert has just 3 ingredients and takes 15 minutes to prepare: layers of crispy matzo, rich and sweet dulce de leche, and a generous drizzle of chocolate on top makes an AMAZING matzo dessert.

This matzo cake needs to be prepared in advanced, saving you time when you have guests over, and it travels well!

This  easy no-bake matzo cake is a kosher-for-Passover version of my Dulce de Leche Wafer Cake. (Keep reading to learn how to make your own dulce de leche on the stove-top on in a pressure cooker.)

This is a GREAT recipe for Passover, or to use leftover matzo.

But back to this cake.

This easy matzo dessert has only 3 ingredients in it:

• condensed milk OR dulce de leche (more on that later!)
• matzo
• chocolate (with an optional ingredient of coconut oil)

If you're keeping kosher, make sure that all three ingredients are marked as kosher for Passover.

You definitely need to make this cake a day in advance before serving it. It needs to rest at least overnight to let the dulce de leche soak into the matzo. Otherwise you'll end up with runny dulce de leche and crumbly matzo.

However, this cake lasts for several days at room temperature (as long as you don't live in a hot climate, put it in the fridge if you do!) so it's a great dessert to have on hand for the holiday.

More easy 3-ingredient desserts: Ritz Cracker Thin Mint Cookies

How to slice matzo cake

This recipe makes 8-9 large servings (depending on how you slice it, see diagram) or 16 smaller servings. If this is one of many desserts at a party, definitely go for the smaller pieces. If this is *the* main dessert at your Seder, then go for 8-9 pieces and make two of these if you have to.

I prefer slicing it into 8 pieces. That way people can have a large piece of they like, or they can cut one of the triangles in half and end up with a 1/16 serving.

Either way, this cake slices very nicely. Just use a large knife to press straight down into the cake as you cut it, instead of sawing back and forth. Don't try to cut slices smaller than the 16-piece diagram though.. if you try to do that, the cake will crumble a bit.

Matzo cake with dulce de leche

This matzo cake has layers of dulce de leche spread generously on matzo. This softens the matzo and makes it sweet, delicious, and easy to slice without crumbling all over. This is why you need to give it time before cutting into it.

This recipe uses 9 slices of matzo and exactly one 14-oz can of dulce de leche.

However, I always recommend having 2 cans of dulce de leche on hand just in case you want to make a taller cake with more layers of matzo, or want to make two shorter cakes, or end up eating half the can by the spoonful while preparing the cake.

You can make dulce de leche happen one of two ways:

1. Make it yourself from condensed milk (more on that below)
2. Buy it

Just make sure not to get caramel sauce or caramel syrup - it will be very sweet and won't have the creamy milky base because it is typically made from sugar and water, not from condensed milk.

Please note that many of these products would not be certified as kosher or kosher for Passover, especially if they are made for markets outside of the US. If that is important to you, keep reading to make your own dulce de leche from a can of sweetened condensed milk.

And of course, check the ingredients for preservatives or thickeners, if you care about that sort of thing. The Nestle dulce de leche does have agar added as a thickener plus a couple of other additives. Normally advocate against that, but we are not making a health food over here, so sometimes it is OK for convenience. 

Making dulce de leche

You can easily make dulce de leche from a can of condensed milk! Make sure you start with sweetened condensed milk, not evaporated milk. It does take some time to make dulce de leche - you'll need a few hours, but it is very easy. Because it takes a while, I recommend making 2 cans at a time. 

You can make dulce de leche on the stove top or in the Instant Pot.

Stove top dulce de leche

1. Remove the label from the cans of condensed milk. (As I said above, I recommend making 2 cans at a time.) Inspect the cans to make sure there are no dings in them. If there are, use a different can of condensed milk. This is because the cans will be under a lot of pressure as their contents heat up, and you don't want them exploding if there are any weak spots in the cans.
2. Place the cans on their side in a LARGE pot and fill it with water. Make sure the water level is well above the top of the cans of condensed milk.
3. Bring the water to a boil, lower the heat, cover, and allow to simmer for 1 hour. Make sure that there always enough water in the pot to keep the cans fully submerged. If the water starts evaporating, add some more.
4. Allow the water to cool down to a temperature where you're comfortable touching it, then remove the cans from the water. Allow the cans to come to room temperature before opening them.
5. Open one can at a time (in case you don't use the second one right away!). Stir the dulce de leche or process it in a blender for a few seconds to get it to be nice and creamy.

The Tough Cookie has a good recipe to make dulce de leche in a can, except her recipe calls for cooking it for 3 hours. The longer you cook it, the more caramelized and brown it will become. I don't like my dulce de leche to be too brown, which is why I only cook it for 1 hours.

Instant Pot dulce de leche

Make sure you start with sweetened condensed milk, not evaporated milk.

1. Remove the label from the cans of condensed milk. (As I said above, I recommend making 2 cans at a time.) Inspect the cans to make sure there are no dings in them. If there are, use a different can of condensed milk. This is because the cans will be under a lot of pressure as their contents heat up, and you don't want them exploding if there are any weak spots in the cans.
2. Place the wire steam rack into the Instant Pot. Place the cans on their side on the wire steam rack in the Instant Pot and fill the inner pot with water. Make sure the water level is well above the top of the cans of condensed milk but below the max fill line.
3. Close the Instant Pot, set the valve to sealing, and cook on the manual setting at high pressure for 10 minutes.
4. Allow for natural pressure release, then carefully open the Instant Pot and allow the water to cool down until comfortable to the touch.
5. Remove the cans from the water. Open one can at a time (in case you don't use the second one right away!). Stir the dulce de leche or process it in a blender for a few seconds to get it to be nice and creamy.

Chocolate for drizzling

You can use any kind of chocolate for the drizzle on this Passover cake - white chocolate, milk chocolate, or dark chocolate. I prefer dark chocolate because it goes nicely with the caramel flavor of dulce de leche. I find the combination of caramel and milk chocolate to be too sweet. 

Not only is it delicious (it has a nice flavor thanks to orange, vanilla, and other flavors blended into the chocolate), but it is finely grated, making it so easy to melt. 

One bag of American Chocolate has lasted me enough to make five dulce de leche cakes so far, and there is still plenty left. So it is a pretty good value every though it seems a little expensive first.

If you want your melted chocolate to be thinner, I recommend adding a teaspoon of coconut oil to the grated chocolate so that it is more runny. If you want thicker drips of chocolate, then skip the coconut oil.

Print Recipe

4.86 from 7 votes

Easy Passover Dessert - 3 Ingredient Matzo Cake

An easy Passover dessert made with just 3 ingredients and 15 minutes of prep. Layers of crispy matzo, creamy dulce de leche, and a generous drizzle of chocolate. Make this easy matzo cake a day in advance to save time when you have guests over!

Prep Time15 minutes mins

Setting time8 hours hrs

Total Time8 hours hrs 15 minutes mins

Course: Dessert

Cuisine: American, Jewish

Diet: Kosher, Vegetarian

Servings: 8 pieces

Author: Kate

  Cook Mode: Prevent your screen from going dark

Ingredients

• 9 matzo squares
• 1 14-oz can dulce de leche - (see notes)
• ⅓ cup chocolate chips - or grated chocolate, for melting
• 1 teaspoon coconut oil - (optional)

Instructions

• Spread the dulce de leche evenly over a matzo square, taking care to coat every inch but to scrape off any extra dulce de leche.
• Gently place a second matzo square on top of the first one, and spread dulce de leche over it too. Repeat until you are out of dulce de leche.
• In a dry microwave-safe bowl, melt your chocolate in 30 second intervals, stirring every 30 seconds. If you want a thinner melted chocolate, stir in 1 teaspoon coconut oil.
• Drizzle the melted chocolate all over the top layer of the matzo cake.
• Let the cake rest at room temperature (or in the fridge if you live in a hot or humid climate) for at least 8 hours, or overnight (up to 2 days is fine!).
• Use a large knife to cut the matzo cake into pieces (read the blog post for nerdy diagrams showing how to cut it into 8, 9, or 16 pieces).

Notes

• I recommend having 2 cans of dulce de leche on hand, just in case. This is because you might choose to make a taller matzo cake, or you might choose to make 2 shorter cakes (maybe 6 matzo layers each?). If you are making dulce de leche from condensed milk, it takes several hours to do so, so you want to make 2 cans at a time just in case you decide you need more. Read the blog post for how to make dulce de leche on the stove top or in a pressure cooker.
• The BEST chocolate for melting is American Heritage Grated Chocolate.
• You can decorate this cake any way you want if you prefer not to drizzle melted chocolate over it. Top it with chocolate chips, toasted coconut, dried fruit, crushed nuts.

1

Nutrition

Serving: 1g | Calories: 262kcal (13%) | Carbohydrates: 45g (15%) | Protein: 6g (12%) | Fat: 6g (9%) | Saturated Fat: 4g (20%) | Polyunsaturated Fat: 2g | Cholesterol: 16mg (5%) | Sodium: 69mg (3%) | Fiber: 1g (4%) | Sugar: 28g (31%)

The nutritional information displayed is an estimate and not to be used as dietary or nutritional advice. Consult a nutritionist or dietician for nutritional info based on the exact ingredients you use.