“Te Quiero Cupcake”

Caramel (Dulce de Leche) Cupcakes

So I took the homemade dulce de leche (click here to see how) and used it to make scrumptious cupcakes! I had my little nieces over and we had a lot of fun making these.

I lived three years in Montevideo, Uruguay and dulce de leche was everywhere you looked – in cookies, cakes, pancakes, flans and of course alfajores. You must try it if you’re ever travelling through South America, especially the ‘Havanna’ brand that can be found in Argentina. There’s no cookie quite like it… One day I’ll have a go at making it myself.

This time however, I was inspired by a caramel cupcake recipe I found in ‘Cake Days’ by The Hummingbird Bakery.

One of my favourite baking books by the way, with beautiful photos and easy recipes that consistently deliver delicious results.

I adapted the recipe slightly to include a bit of condensed milk and I used less dulce de leche than suggested. I also used cane sugar instead of caster sugar. The cakes ended up with a subtle caramel taste with a stronger, sweeter icing on top that was just to die for.

Here’s my version, makes 24 cupcakes:

Sponge:

80g (3oz) unsalted butter, softened | ongezouten boter, zacht

280g (10oz) cane sugar | rietsuiker (original calls for caster sugar | kristalsuiker)

240g (8½oz) plain flour | bloem

1tbsp baking powder | baking poeder

¼ tsp salt | zout

240ml (8½fl oz) milk | melk

½ tsp vanilla essence | vanille

2 large eggs | eieren

50g (1.75oz) dulce de leche

50g (1.75oz) condensed milk | gecondeseerde melk

(original recipe calls for 150g (5½oz) dulce de leche, no condensed milk)

Frosting:

500g (1lb 2oz) icing sugar | poedersuiker

160g (5½oz) unsalted butter, softened | ongezouten boter, zacht

50ml (1¾fl oz) whole milk | volle melk

50g (1.75oz) dulce de leche, plus extra to decorate (you can add more, depending how much of a sweet tooth you have as original recipe calls for 100g (3½oz) dulce de leche)

Method:

Preheat the oven to 190ºC (375°F) and line a cupcake tin with cases. Using an electric mixer, whisk together the butter, sugar, flower, baking powder and salt on a low speed until crumb-like in consistency.

Place the milk and vanilla essence in a jug with the eggs and whisk by hand until combined. Pour three quarters of this mixture into the dry ingredients and mix together on a slow speed, then increase the speed to medium and keep beating until smooth and thick. Scrape down the sides of the bowl, then add the remaining milk mixture and dulce de leche and continue to mix until all the ingredients are incorporated and the batter is smooth.

Divide the batter between the cupcake cases and fill each by two thirds. Place in the oven and bake for 18-20 minutes or until well risen and springy to the touch. Live to cool first in the tin, then transfer to a wire rack to cool down completely.

Make the frosting: beat the icing sugar in the electric mix with the butter on a low speed until combined and still powdery in texture. Slowly mix in the milk and once it’s all been added, increase the speed to high and whisk until light and fluffy. Add the caramel and beat well.

Once the cupcakes have fully cooled down, go ahead and spread the frosting on top. If you want to decorate with a bit of dulce de leche.

Take a big bite and I guarantee you too will be saying… “Te quiero cupcake” (“I love you cupcake”)

PS: visit our Facebook page @ couturekrumbs to see some “behind the scenes” photos, including what went wrong during the making of these cupcakes!

How to Make Perfect Dulce de Leche

Before (Condensed Milk)

After (Dulce de Leche)

If you’ve never tried this amazing spread you are missing out. Big time. Fair enough, if you’re not living in South America you’re very unlikely to find Dulce de Leche in your local supermarket. And when you do find a speciality store that sells it, quite often it just doesn’t taste right. That has been my experience here in Holland anyway.

Pumpkin–Dulce de Leche Macarons

Chocolate Tartlets with Dulce de Leche & Marshmallow

Dulce de Leche is a thick, caramel-like milk-based spread. Great for cakes, pancakes, bread or just about anything really. In certain parts of South America it’s called manjar. In Mexico and Nicaragua they call it cajeta. In Brazil it’s doce de leite.

So what do you do if you can’t get it anywhere? You make it yourself of course! And here’s how:

All you’re going to need is a can of condensed milk and a big pan full of water that covers the can. Now pay very close attention…

1) Take a can of condensed milk, unopened and remove all the packaging/label around it.

2) Place the can in the middle of a large pan.

3) Make sure you cover the can with boiling water (you can also let the water come to a boil in the pan). Let it simmer for at least 3 -4 hours. Now this is going to make a rattling noise – this is normal.

Two major rules:

4) ALWAYS MAKE SURE THE CAN IS COVERED IN WATER

5) NEVER REMOVE THE CAN FROM THE PAN WITHOUT LETTING IT COOL DOWN FIRST

Many people are scared of making their own Dulce de Leche because of fear the can will explode. All you need to do is put a timer on every 30 minutes to check on it and add boiling water if necessary and let it rest and completely cool down before you even dare open the can… if you follow those steps nothing can happen.

Come back to see how I’m going to use the condensed milk and the dulce de leche in two very delicious recipes… 😉