No Bake Guava Charlotte Cake - Mexican Carlota

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This creamy Mexican Guava Charlotte [Carlota] Cake is an easy, five-ingredient, no-bake delicious dessert, perfect for celebrations. No wonder it's a Christmas staple in virtually all Mexican households.

A woman holding cake stand with Mexican guava Carlota cake.

This easy dessert, a Mexican icebox cake version, is made with layers of Marias cookies and cream cheese/condensed milk/guava sauce, filling flavored with lime juice and topped with guava sauce. SO DELICIOUS!

I bet you're dying to know...

Table of Contents

1) 📃 Why it Works

2) 🍰 Charlotte Origin

3) 🛒 Ingredients and Notes

4) 🔪 Instructions

5) 👩‍🍳 Expert Tips

6) ❓ Frequently Asked Questions

7) More easy no-bake cakes to try

8) 📖 Recipe

9) No-Bake Guava Charlotte Cake - Mexican Carlota

📃 Why it Works

It's a perfect recipe to whip up any time of the year.
Guava paste is available year-round.
It only needs five ingredients. What's not to love?
Best part? There's no baking involved, so it's impossible to mess up [plus another recipe to save for summer when the oven stays off].

🍰 Charlotte Origin

Russian Charlotte or Charlotte Russe is a dessert invented in London by the French chef Marie-Antoine Carême, who named it in honor of his ex-employer George IV's only child, Princess Charlotte, and his current, Russian employer, Czar Alexander I. Russe is the French word for "Russian."

The dish was called Charlotte à la Parisienne (Parisian Charlotte) initially, but later, the dessert became famous all over the world under the name Charlotte Russe (Carlota in Spanish).

It is a dessert in which the mold is laid out with ladyfingers or a finished Swiss Roll biscuit and filled with Bavarian cream and whipped cream.

Flat lay of the guava Carlota cake with a slice cut out.

In English, Carlota or Charlotte is a refrigerator cake or an icebox cake, and in Mexico, it is typically made with condensed and evaporated milk.

If you know me and my cheesecake addiction, it's clear why I chose this cream cheese edition. Plus, I've been obsessed with guava lately.

This is hands down the easiest cake I've ever made; it's borderline a cheesecake!

🛒 Ingredients and Notes

With only five simple ingredients, you can make Guava Charlotte Cake, Mexican-style.

Ingredients for Guava Charlotte no-bake cake

Maria cookies: delicious wheat flour cookies or biscuits sweetened with brown sugar, making them sufficiently sweet without being overwhelming. They are perfect for dipping into hot tea or coffee and also great with milk for breakfast.

If you can't find Marias cookies by Gamesa (Mexican), use Maria cookies by Goya (American). Also, these are good substitutions:

Marie biscuits
Graham crackers
Vanilla wafers
Digestive biscuits
Arrowroot biscuits
Ladyfingers

Guava paste: It is fairly readily available in most stores; Kroger, Target, and Walmart all sell it. It's usually found in the world food aisle and also on Amazon.

🔪 Instructions

Four-step photos for making the Charlotte cake.

Make guava sauce - heat the paste with water until melted and thick sauce forms.
Make the filling - beat cream cheese with condensed milk and lime juice. Mix in half of the guava sauce.
Assemble - arrange Maria cookies on the bottom of a springform. Spread ⅓ of the filling, making sure the cookies are completely covered. Repeat the process two more times, with filling as the last layer.
Finish - Spread the remaining sauce over the top layer. Refrigerate for two hours or until firm.

📝 NOTE: Looking for the FULL recipe to print? You can find it below in the recipe card!

👩‍🍳 Expert Tips

Use an offset spatula to spread filling evenly across the cookies, as you don't want it pooling up in one area. You want a beautiful, level surface for the next layer of cookies.
You want the filling to get really cold and firm, all the while softening the cookies so you can slice through them with ease when your wait is finally over.
To cut the cake, warm your serving knife under hot water, dry it off, then make a clean slice. Do this for each cut.

❓ Frequently Asked Questions

Can I make this Charlotte cake gluten-free?

Of course! Use the gluten-free version of Maria biscuits or your favorite GF cookies.

How long does it last?

If you don't eat it all at once (almost happened, I swear), the Guava Charlotte Cake will last up to 5 days in the refrigerator. It's best to keep it tightly wrapped in plastic wrap.

Can I freeze it?

Yes, keep it in the freezer until the night before you'd like to serve it (up to 3 months).

Mexican icebox cake with guava on a cake stand placed on a table.

Use Up Leftover Guava Paste in These Recipes:

Other Ways to Use Up Leftover Guava Paste

Stir a bit of melted guava paste into regular barbeque sauce – it makes for irresistible grilled meats.
Use the sauce as a filling for Polish kiflies.
Top a wheel of brie with a few slices of guava paste and nuts of your choice. Wrap in puff pastry and bake for 30 minutes at 400 degrees Fahrenheit. Allow resting for 10 minutes before cutting.

More easy no-bake cakes to try

A close up of the Carlota slice on a plate with a fork and lime.

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📖 Recipe