Strawberry Blueberry Mostachon

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This Strawberry Blueberry Mostachon is made with crushed Maria cookies, meringue, and lots of fresh fruit. You’re going to love this Mexican dessert featuring the bounty of summer!

Growing up, we always had Maria cookies in the house. These crunchy, thin Mexican cookies are made by Goya and were one of my dad’s favorites. Every morning he would grab a stack of cookies, and a steaming mug of coffee, then sit down to read the paper. That was his sacred time when he did not want to be disturbed and you knew you could ask for pretty much whatever because he would distractedly say “yes” without really listening to what you were saying That’s how I got my first kitten! 🤣

These days, hen I’m not munching on Maria cookies with my own cup of coffee, I love using them to make all sorts of treats. I’ve crushed them up and added them as a cookie layer in strawberry parfaits, used them in icebox cakes, and today, we are using them to make a Mexican meringue cake called a mostachon.

What is a Mostachon?

A mostachon is a Mexican cake made with Maria cookies, meringue, icing, and fruit. Sometimes it is called a “Mexican pavlova.” The cookies are crushed with nuts, then mixed with the meringue before being baked. Once cool, you can top the cake with frosting and your fruit of choice. I used strawberry slices and blueberries this time, but I’ve also used fresh peach slices and mango slices in the past. No matter what fres

Recipe Ingredients

Even though this dessert looks fancy, it’s quite easy to make a mostachon. Here’s what you’ll need to do it. Scroll down to the recipe card for specific amounts.

For the meringue base:

• Maria Cookies
• Toasted almonds – You could also use walnuts or shelled pistachios.
• Egg whites
• Kosher salt
• Cream of tartar
• Granulated sugar
• Baking powder
• Almond extract – You can replace this with an equal amount of vanilla extract if you prefer.

For the icing:

• Unsalted butter – At room temperature
• Cream cheese – Also add room temperature. This is important because it makes the butter and cream cheese easier to combine together.
• Vanilla extract
• Powdered sugar

For the topping:

• Fresh strawberries – Sliced
• Fresh blueberries

Do I Have to Use Maria Cookies?

If you want to make an authentic mostachon, then you should use Maria cookies. But if you prefer not to or can’t find Maria cookies you could also use any kind of crunchy vanilla cookie. Shortbread cookies would probably be my top pick in terms of replacements. After this, Nilla wafers will be my go-to cookie.

How to Make a Mostachon

Ok let’s make a Mexican meringue cake! Here’s how to do it:

Make the Meringue Base

• Prep your tools. Preheat your oven to 350°. Spray a 9-inch nonstick springform pan with cooking spray.
• Crush the Maria cookies and almonds in a food processor. They should be in fine pieces and not a powder.

• Make the meringue. Place the egg whites, salt, and cream of tartar in a clean and dry bowl. Beat egg whites on high speed until soft peaks begin to form. Add in the sugar slowly, followed by the baking powder and almond extract. Continue beating for another 3 minutes until your meringue is shiny and you have firm peaks.

• Add cookie mix. Fold in your Maria Cookies and crushed almonds using a spatula.
• Bake. Pour the mixture into your prepared springform pan. Bake for approximately 35-45 minutes until the meringue base begins to brown slightly. Remove from oven and let rest for 10 minutes. Carefully remove from springform pan and allow to cool completely.

Make the Icing

• Combine butter and cream cheese. In an electric mixer or stand mixer, beat butter and cream cheese for 1 minute.
• Add in vanilla extract and powdered sugar. Beat until completely smooth.

Assemble the Mostachon

• Add icing. Using a spatula, spread approximately half of the icing over the top of the meringue base.
• Top with fruit. Add the sliced strawberries, starting from the outside of the base and work your way to the center. Add blueberries.
• Add a fancy touch. For an extra fancy look, add the remaining icing to a piping bag and fill in the edges of the Mostachon with tiny dots of icing.
• Chill. Refrigerate for 30 minutes before serving. This will make the Mostachon easier to cut.

What is Meringue?

Meringue is one of those things that sounds super fancy and complicated, but it only needs a few ingredients and a bit of technique. In a nutshell, meringue is whipped egg whites mixed with sugar, a touch of salt and an acidic ingredient like cream of tartar.

Here are a few tips for perfect meringue every time:

• Use fresh eggs. Not a problem for chicken keepers! If you don’t have chickens then use eggs you just bought from the store vs. ones that have been sitting in the fridge for a while.
• Room temperature is best. Again, easy for us chicken keepers who store eggs on the counter. If you are using eggs that have been stored in the fridge, allow them to come completely to room temperature before making the meringue. (Cold eggs will reduce the fluffiness of your meringue.)
• Avoid any yolk. Don’t let even a spec of yolk get into the egg whites.
• Don’t overbeat. Once stiff peaks form, the meringue is done. A stiff peak is when the meringue stands up straight when you lift the beater out of it as shown in the photos above.
• Safety first. Because we are baking the meringue cake base there is no need to worry about salmonella. But if you were making meringue for some other use it would be important to heat treat your egg whites if the recipe didn’t call for baking the meringue.

Meringue is often baked into little cloud-like cookies. There are also different kinds of meringue: French, Italian, and Swiss.

Tips for Success

• Use Maria cookies. You can find them on Amazon and they’ll give you the most authentic mostachon flavor.
• Mix up the fruits. Instead of strawberries and blueberries, you could also use blackberries, raspberries, or even black raspberries. Mix them all up and make a “jumbleberry” mostachon just like I did in this berry cobbler! I’ve also used sliced fresh peaches and sliced fresh mango in the past with delicious results.
• Let it cool. It is important that you let the cake cool after it has baked. If you try to frost it too soon your icing will melt and you won’t get pretty peaks like the ones you can see in these photos.

What Goes With This Mexican Meringue Cake?

Mostachon goes with a glass of cold milk, a cup of your favorite tea, or a steaming mug of coffee. If you’re making this for a get-together and want to impress your guests, you could serve it with honey-vanilla lattes (recipe coming) or iced cardamom coffee.

How to Store

This cake needs to be stored in the fridge and is best eaten within a couple of days of making it. I recommend placing the cake in the fridge without anything on top first so that the icing can harden a bit. Then after an hour or two, cover the cake loosely with saran wrap.

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