Strawberries with whipped cream, condensed milk and a spoonful of Milo over the top. Five minutes, no cooking, and it is the dessert Colombian households make when there is no time to make one.
The Milo is the point
Take the Milo out and this is strawberries and cream, which exists everywhere. Put it in and it is Colombian.
Milo is malted chocolate powder, sold in a tin, mixed into milk for children across Latin America. Here it goes in dry, a tablespoon between each layer, and it stays slightly granular against the cream.
Cocoa powder is not the same thing. It is bitter, unsweetened and much finer, and it disappears into the cream instead of sitting in it.
Soft peaks only
The cream is whipped first, with a tablespoon of sugar and half a teaspoon of vanilla, and it should stop at soft peaks: a peak lifted on the whisk that folds over on itself rather than standing up.
Two hundred grams of chopped strawberries are then folded in, and they thicken it further. Cream already at stiff peaks turns grainy at that point, which is the first stage of becoming butter and cannot be reversed.
Assemble it late
Condensed milk in the bottom of the glass, then strawberries and cream, then Milo, and repeat.
That structure lasts about an hour. Strawberries in sugar and cream release juice steadily, the Milo absorbs it and softens, and what was three distinct layers becomes uniformly pink.
It still tastes good. It just stops looking like anything.
Cold everything
Cream whips because the fat in it is solid enough to trap air, so cold cream in a cold bowl gets to soft peaks faster and holds there longer.
If the kitchen is warm, put the bowl and the beaters in the fridge for a few minutes first.
More quick desserts
- Strawberry dessert — with condensed milk, set.
- Strawberry milkshake — the same fruit, blended.
- Banana split — the other five-minute one.
- Three milks dessert — condensed milk again.
Fresas con Crema FAQ
The malted chocolate powder that goes into milk all over Latin America. Sprinkled between the layers it gives a dry, malty crunch against the cream. Cocoa powder is not a substitute: it is far more bitter and it dissolves.
Soft peaks. Folding the strawberries in thickens it further, and cream taken to stiff peaks first goes grainy by the time it is mixed.
Not really. Strawberries release juice as they sit in sugar and cream, and within an hour the layers blur into pink. It is a five-minute dessert and it is meant to be eaten as one.
The recipe does not say, and it goes in the bottom of each glass as a layer. A spoonful or two per glass is what most people use.
No, but the layers are what make it look like the photograph. Mixed together it tastes the same and looks like pink cream.
Fresh. Frozen ones release a great deal of water as they thaw and turn the cream runny.
📖 Recipe
Ingredients
- 200 g strawberries
- ½ cup cream (cold, for whipping)
- 1 tablespoon powdered or granulated sugar
- ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
- Condensed milk (a layer in the bottom of each glass)
- 5 tablespoons Milo (one per glass, plus some to finish)
Notas
Instructions
- Whip the cream with the sugar and the vanilla extract until it thickens.
- Hull the strawberries and wash them.
- Cut them into cubes or slices and put them in a bowl.
- Fold the strawberries into the whipped cream.
- In each glass, put a layer of condensed milk in the bottom, then a layer of strawberries and cream, then a tablespoon of Milo, and repeat until the glass is full.
- Finish with a whole strawberry and a little more Milo.
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