Dulce de Leche Cupcakes
Is it wrong to J-walk into church? …. because I do it just about every Sunday.
Is it wrong to curse at people on the road while driving to church? Cause… maybe that’s happened once or twice.
On a scale of one to total jerk… how jerky is it for me to blatantly roll my eyes at the lady on the spin bike next to me who is flirting with the obviously married man on the other side of me? Do I really need to be in the middle of this interaction? It’s 7 in the morning! Come on. Please.
Oh! And while we’re on the subject… if you take your shirt off during spin class and decide to just ride it out in your sports bra…. I’m going to try very very very hard not to label you as an attention-seeking-lady-exerciser. Do not like. We’re all hot and sweating lady…. keep you shirt on. There should be a rule. There’s gotta be a rule.
Also… exactly how much of this batter can I spoon in my mouth after spin class and before rushing off to J-walk into church? That’s the real issue. The answer? About two cupcakes worth of batter… which may or may not lead to a belly ache. Don’t do what I do… J-walk, curse, or roll your eyes at attention seeking, inappropriately flirty strangerladies. Be a nice person instead.
I happen to love making cupcakes exactly 47 times better than I like to actually eat cupcakes (cupcake batter excluded). Making individual cake treats is cathartic. They all looks the same with slight differences and imperfections. I love to line them up and take in their differences…. then cover them in frosting.
These cakes themselves are a brown sugar and buttermilk cake. The addition of brown sugar mocks the dulce de leche flavors just slightly. The cakes are more of a pound cake consistency and not so much a fluffy cake mix cupcake. The frosting is a combination of three fine fats: butter, cream cheese and dulce de leche. Only the hideous addition of sardines could make this frosting something other than delicious.
Wait… do you know what Dulde de leche is? Dulce de leche is very similar to caramel. It’s sweetened condensed milk that has been cooked down until the sugars have darkened to a rich caramel. It’s sweet and thick and perfectly acceptable to bathe in.
Some people make their own dulce de leche by boiling a can of sweetened condensed milk…. literally, in the can. While many have had success with this technique, I’m convinced that I would both injure an eye and burn my house down… so I just buy my dulce de leche. I also really like the consistency of this particular caramel product. It’s thick but still spreadable and works really well in my frosting. ((I got this particular dulce de leche at Whole Foods… but you can totally find this La Salamandra product on Amazon))
I’m not saying you shouldn’t make your own… you look perfectly capable. I’ve just never done it… so I’ll leave you to google and experiment with that whole thing on your own. Go with God. … and I love you.
Cake with cream cheese and caramel. Please don’t make me twist your arm… just get on this.
You might also like to know that I made these Dulce de Leche Sandwich Cookies. If you’re going to get the jar… you might as well go hog wild.
Dulce de Leche Cupcakes
Makes about 2 dozen cupcakes (a few more if you don’t eat a bunch of cupcake batter like I did)
adapted from The Gourmet Cookbook
For the Cupcakes:
3 cups all-purpose flour
1/4 cup cornstarch
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened
1 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
3 large eggs
1 1/2 cup buttermilk
For the Frosting:
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, softened
8 ounces cream cheese, softened
3/4 cup dulce de leche, plus more for drizzling
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 to 3 cups powdered sugar
Place racks in the center and upper third of the oven and preheat to 350 degrees F. Line two cupcake pans with paper or foil liners. Set aside.
In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, cornstarch, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Set aside.
In the bowl of an electric stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, add butter and sugars. Beat on medium speed until fluffy and pale brown, about 3 minutes. Stop the mixer, scrape down the sides of the bowl and add one egg. Beat on medium for one minute. Add the remaining eggs, one at a time, beating for one minute between each addition. Stop the bowl and scrape down the sides as necessary. Beat in vanilla extract.
Add half of the flour mixture to the egg and butter mixture. Beat on low speed and slowly drizzle in the buttermilk. Beat until just incorporated. Stop the mixer, scrape down the bowl and add the rest of the dry ingredients. Beat on low speed until just incorporated. Remove the bowl from the stand mixer and finish incorporating with a spatula. Try not to over mix the mixture.
Divide the batter between the prepared cupcake pans, filling each liner about two thirds full. Bake for 18 to 20 minutes or until a cake tester inserted in the center of one of the cakes comes out clean. Let rest in the cupcake pans before removing to a wire rack to cool completely. Cupcakes should be completely cooled before frosting.
To make the frosting:
Place cream cheese in the bowl of an electric stand mixer. Beat on medium speed for about 30 seconds, until very soft and pliable. Stop the mixer, scrape down the sides of the bowl and add the butter and dulce de leche. Beat on medium speed until well incorporated. Stop the mixer and add the salt and powdered sugar. Beat on medium speed for about 3 minutes, until fluffy and lighter in color. Generously spoon frosting on top of cupcakes, or use a large frosting tip to pipe on frosting.
For garnish, I heated a few spoonfuls of dulce de leche of a low flame until just pourable. Then I drizzled it over the cupcakes and topped with a few sprinkles. Add a few sprinkles of fine sea salt if you’re feeling fancy. I stored the cupcakes in the fridge for an hour to chill the frosting slightly.
I like to enjoy my cupcakes within two days of preparing them. Feel free to wrap and refrigerate them because of the cream cheese in the frosting. Let come close to room temperature before serving.
Recipe: Dulce de Leche Cupcakes
Summary: Sweet Caramel Cupcakes. Love.
Ingredients
- For the Cupcakes:
- 3 cups all-purpose flour
- 1/4 cup cornstarch
- 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 3/4 cup (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened
- 1 cup brown sugar
- 1/2 cup granulated sugar
- 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- 3 large eggs
- 1 1/2 cup buttermilk
- For the Frosting:
- 1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, softened
- 8 ounces cream cheese, softened
- 3/4 cup dulce de leche, plus more for drizzling
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 2 to 3 cups powdered sugar
Instructions
- Place racks in the center and upper third of the oven and preheat to 350 degrees F. Line two cupcake pans with paper or foil liners. Set aside.
- In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, cornstarch, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Set aside.
- In the bowl of an electric stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, add butter and sugars. Beat on medium speed until fluffy and pale brown, about 3 minutes. Stop the mixer, scrape down the sides of the bowl and add one egg. Beat on medium for one minute. Add the remaining eggs, one at a time, beating for one minute between each addition. Stop the bowl and scrape down the sides as necessary. Beat in vanilla extract.
- Add half of the flour mixture to the egg and butter mixture. Beat on low speed and slowly drizzle in the buttermilk. Beat until just incorporated. Stop the mixer, scrape down the bowl and add the rest of the dry ingredients. Beat on low speed until just incorporated. Remove the bowl from the stand mixer and finish incorporating with a spatula. Try not to over mix the mixture.
- Divide the batter between the prepared cupcake pans, filling each liner about two thirds full. Bake for 18 to 20 minutes or until a cake tester inserted in the center of one of the cakes comes out clean. Let rest in the cupcake pans before removing to a wire rack to cool completely. Cupcakes should be completely cooled before frosting.
- To make the frosting:
- Place cream cheese in the bowl of an electric stand mixer. Beat on medium speed for about 30 seconds, until very soft and pliable. Stop the mixer, scrape down the sides of the bowl and add the butter and dulce de leche. Beat on medium speed until well incorporated. Stop the mixer and add the salt and powdered sugar. Beat on medium speed for about 3 minutes, until fluffy and lighter in color. Generously spoon frosting on top of cupcakes, or use a large frosting tip to pipe on frosting.
- For garnish, I heated a few spoonfuls of dulce de leche of a low flame until just pourable. Then I drizzled it over the cupcakes and topped with a few sprinkles. Add a few sprinkles of fine sea salt if you’re feeling fancy. I stored the cupcakes in the fridge for an hour to chill the frosting slightly.
- I like to enjoy my cupcakes within two days of preparing them. Feel free to wrap and refrigerate them because of the cream cheese in the frosting. Let come close to room temperature before serving.
Preparation time: 30 minute(s)
Cooking time: 20 minute(s)
Diet type: Vegetarian
Number of servings (yield): 12
Meal type: dessert
Culinary tradition: USA (General)
My rating
324 Comments Add A Comment
I followed the recipe for dulce de leche from David Lebovitz. It was very simple. The sweetened condensed milk goes into a pie plate and you bake in oven for about an hour – try it.
d
What temp, please? Sounds easy enough.
I TRIED that recipe! After 12 (TWELVE!!!) hours, it STILL wasn’t done! Epic fail.
Caroleena, I made that recipe twice, and it turned out very good, the second time I left it 15 extra minutes because I had 2 cans of condensed milk. You should try again, I don’t see why didn’t work :)
Gonna’ make these…but need to tell you that if you follow the recipe on the Pioneer Woman Tasty Kitchen…dulce de leche is incredibly easy and CHEAP to make…Try it…and I didn’t hurt myself! I sometimes eat this out of the jar with a BIG spoon…soooo good.
While it is true it is easy to make, it is never the same. Trust me, as a dulce-de-lecheholic argentinian (La Salamandra is from here), there is an abyss from difference between brands and types of dulce de leche. There is the one used for cakes (quite thick), the traditional one, the colonial-type and the fancy-type. La Salamandra is a very good brand to try. Though I think you should try both and decide which is your favourite (If you can get it over there, Lapataia, an uruguayan brand of dulce de leche also produced in argentina is the best in my opinion). But be carefull…is is addictive (I eat it out of the jar far too often….my poor waistline!)
Oh my! That looks amazing, Joy!!
Joy-
What size tip are you using to frost the cupcakes?
honestly… i don’t know. a big one.
Looks like a Wilton 1M tip.
Never worked with ducle de leche before….but when heating over a low flame in a heavey sauce pan it never had the consistency for dribbling. Was it the brand maybe?
Delicious overall.
Hi! Well, I made my own dulce de leche (took 2 tries!) then I made these lovely cupcakes.I love the smiles I got from giving them away. Thank you so much for a great recipe & a wonderful post.
these look amazing. love dulce de leche too!
What tip did you use to ice these? It seems perfect and I like that.
Joy, I went to my local Whole Foods and they didn’t have ANY dulce de leche. So, because I have no patience to order it off Amazon, I bought classic caramel sauce (“rich sauce of slow-cooked caramel”). Will using this mess up the consistency or taste of the frosting?? I’m dying to make these today! HELP :)
you may just need to add a bit more powdered sugar… but i think 3/4 cup will do you just fine. happy baking!
Thanks for the tip! I made these today and they were a huge hit with friends and roommates. Only problem I ran into was that my frosting was very runny. I even let it sit in the fridge for an hour before piping it, and it still didn’t hold a shape. Oh well… they still tasted great!!
Well, I’m from Argentina so I can take as much Dulce de Leche as I want to :D. A tip (I guess it is kind of expensive there): You don’t need to make it from zero. You can start with condensed milk and then slowly add a little bit, and just a little bit, of baking soda (otherwise It won’t be totally brown!)
Hope it helps!
Cheers, and nice blog BTW :)
lovely post, thanks for a great start to the day :-)
When I read you ate that much batter, I thought you must be a real batter-lover. But, seriously, I wanted to settle down with a big spoon–yum! I’ve baked my cupcakes, made the dulce de leche (overnight crockpot), and am going to frost up these bad boys after church…I can’t wait!!!
I’m making these right now and brought my computer to my dining room while the cupcakes are baking. And I’m sitting here typing with a spoon in my mouth and the bowl of batter next to me. I’ve never been a batter-lover but this stuff is heavenly. I’m pretty sure this is the baking equivalent of crack.
Just made these and I’ve got to say, YUMMO!!! The Whole Foods near me didn’t have the Dulce de Leche so I went to my local ethnic food store and bought 3 cans of “Carnation Dulce de Leche”… OMG, so yummy… I may eat the other two cans with a spoon…
I’m on a DIET, Diet, DIET!!!! If I’m good the rest of March, I will be happy to bake them and taste them. They really look yummie!
ignore these cupcakes until the end of march. ignore ignore ignore.
ahhhhhhhhhh…took cupcakes to work…..the best comment? “that was the best cupcake i have ever eaten. i am a chocolate snob, but for a non-chocolate item, these cupcakes were beast, y’all. (like my middle school teacher speak? they teach me as much as i teach them. awww)
they were delightful! luckily I live in TX so dulce de leche is easy to find. when I lived in Seoul I did make it with the can of condensed milk/water/oven and it worked perfectly and kept forever–at least I never got sick from any of the spoonfuls I ate literally month or so later….
Hi! I just made these today and I think I might have added a little too much Dolce de Leche to the frosting mix because the frosting came out pretty wattery and was very sloppy looking when I applied it to the cupcakes…..strange. Anyways, they were delicious none-the-less but if anyone has any pointers, reply to this comment :) Thanks for the recipe Joy, they were delish!
I didn’t have any luck finding dulce de leche at the store today so I was just going to settle for Fran’s caramel sauce. But then I read your post again and I’ll be heading to Whole Foods this week! I made the cupcakes tonight and plan on freezing them, then pulling them out and frosting them this weekend when we have company over. I’m so excited, just the plain cupcakes smell SO good!
We found dulce de leche in the Mexican section of our local grocery store. I believe it was a HyVee, which is not a national brand of store, but maybe other grocery stores have equally awesome Mexican sections! Good luck and enjoy the cupckes! We sure did.
Hi! Today is my first visit , your blog is really amazing! I am from Argentina and the dulce de leche you are showing in the picture is one of the best we have here in Buenos Aires! xoxo
I made these the other day- sooo yummy! I had to use caramel instead of dulce de leche but they were still delicious.
I’ve been following your blog for awhile now but never left a comment…I had to break my silence for these cupcakes. I made them on Sunday and they were amazing!!
I linked to your red velvet cupcakes today! Gonna give them a whirl. Maybe these dulce de leche ones will be next!
I’m in process of making these now. Cupcakes are baked (and DELICIOUS!), but the frosting is sooooo runny. I’ve already added 4 cups of powdered sugar and it looks like I’ll need another 2 or so….wondering why?
Hi….a have a question…when did you used the buttermilk….because i see it in the ingredients but not in the instructions
it’s in the instructions. you add it into the batter with the dry ingredients.
You cakes seems so freaking delicious out :D
My friend Aubrey and I made these over spring break, and we ate every last one of them. My tip to anyone, don’t EVER throw away the extra frosting. We had eaten so much of it when we were making them we made the mistake of throwing away the extra frosting. Of course, we regretted it the next day when we wanted to add more frosting to our cupcakes. These were delicious and we’ll be making them again!
Joy. To The World. These cupcakes are out of control amazing. I just made a huge batch of them as a belated birthday gift to myself and proceeded to get all Martha Stewart–iced them up and brought out anything I could find to top them with–chocolate chips, cinnamon, sea salt, slivered almonds, coconut, and sprinkles. I walked down to a friend’s house and we had ourselves a little dulce de leche cupcake decorating party. So, basically you made my birthday cupcakes without even knowing it. THANK YOU! :)
Joy. To The World. These cupcakes are out of control amazing. I just made a huge batch of them as a belated birthday gift to myself and proceeded to get all Martha Stewart–iced em up and scavenged for anything I could top them with–chocolate chips, cinnamon, sea salt, slivered almonds, coconut, and (pf course) sprinkles. I walked down to a friend’s house and we had ourselves a little dulce de leche cupcake decorating party. So, basically you made my birthday cupcakes without even knowing it. THANK YOU! I knew we were close friends :)
Making your own dulce de leche is very easy. Just put the can in a tall pan and boil for about 2 hours (moderate heat). Taste and texture is perfect! Good luck.
hey! the best to cook condensed milk to make dulce de leche, is cooking at least 4 unopened cans ( you are saving a lots of $$ in your energy bill), boil them for at least 3 hours and a half…yes, I know, sounds like an eternity, but let me tell you that works!!! The most important detail is: keep the water in the pan always covering the cans, adding more water all the time.I made some cans explode.(sticky-nasty-smelly cooking experience!)…so please, don’t let the water evaporate!
My mouth literally started watering when I saw these cupcakes… maybe it has something to do with the fact that it is closing in on mid-day and I haven’t eaten yet. Any who! These look delicious and now I have another excuse to make the hour long drive to Indianapolis to go to Whole Foods this coming week. I know my husband is going to love these for his birthday! Thank you!!! (and I am sure he will thank you as well!)
oh. my. gosh. all i have done is eat the batter (7 more minutes for cooked cupcakes), and i already know these are my new fave cupcakes. thank you!
Loved these! I almost made a different cake part and this icing since you said this was a denser cake, but I’m glad I went with this. It was a perfect balance for the icing. So delicious! Thanks!
Hi Joy, these cupcakes look great! If I want to make them into mini cupcakes, how long should I bake them for??
Thanks!
LOVE this post! The cupcakes look lovely and yummy, but the post oh how I can relate! Thank you so much for this! You totally just made my month!!!
These cupcakes are ridiculously delicious.
For those who are scared of boiling cans, here is a dulce de leche recipe from scratch: http://straightfromthefarm.net/2007/12/19/dulce-de-leche/
Now, I haven’t actually made it from scratch yet, but it looks legit.
Speaking of dulce de leche… have you had Alfajores – the amazing Argentine cookie made with crumbly corn meal and cookies sandwiched between deliciously gooey dulce de leche and dipped in coconut? Our friend just brought some back from Buenos Aires and they’re amazing. I would love to see a recipe from you!
This looks absolutely amazing, I love cupcakes and I am always in search of some. I love them so much I gave them up for Lent :(
hi! i’m from argentina and i want to add a tip: there’s diferent types of dulce de leche the best for this recipe is the DULCE DE LECHE PASTELERO or pastry dulce de leche.
Thank you so much for this…
holymotheroflovelycupcakes. seriously. i just made these and they were a-ma-zing. i’m making another batch tomorrow for coworkers. seriously, by far my favorite cake/frosting/heavenly combination ever. and TOTALLY do the sea salt sprinkles. they MAKE this cupcake.
Just baked a batch of these and they were simply deeeelightful! The cake texture is just perfect and the combination with the frosting– wow! My only question is that my frosting came out really liquidy so were a big mess to pipe… Could that be because I left it out a bit before piping? (I do live in a ridiculously hot country).. Should I have chilled it before?
I think chilling the frosting before piping would certainly help.
I just made your cupcakes this afternoon. They were delicious. I got a lot of compliments on them. Thank you for sharing your recipe and photos. Great job.
I just linked up to your blog to share the recipe. I didn’t have time to take photos today. And your photos are done so nicely.
Thanks again!
Came home last nite around 6:00 pm and decided to make your Dulce de Leche cupcakes. I have been dying to try these to picture just looks so yummy. Now, I am on a strick diet so I didn’t even lick a finger and I so bad wanted to make these to celebrate Cinco de Mayo in respect to the 3 chihuahuas in the family. Recipe made 27. I took 12 to work this AM (drive a school bus) and the rest is going this weekend to visit my precious 3 grandsons.
Oh, by the way, if you all love family friendly blogs check out the one about my 3 grandsons
http://www.lighthouseexplorations.blogspot.com/
and the feedback on the cupcakes was, they were to die for!!!!!!
I am going to stick one in the freezer for me, when I am off this crazy diet.
Love your site.
I am going to try these today for our Cinco De Mayo party at school (if they get that far. Maybe it might be for my own personal cinco de mayo party ;). They look wonderful!
Thought I would give my Sister in law a shout out because she did a blog post (or 3) on 6 different ways to make your own dulce de leche. She is very thorough in her experiment and it is a fun read!
http://noemptychairs.wordpress.com/2009/11/11/dulce-de-leche-six-ways-part-one/
Thanks for the recipe. I am excited to get started.
I made these for Cinco de Mayo and although I’m totally a chocolate girl, these were the most palate-pleasing cupcakes I’ve ever made. Ever. Seriously. Something about the combination of salty (I salted my dulce de leche) and the buttery sweetness. I had to use closer to 6-7 cups of powdered sugar for the icing in order to make it pipable, but I don’t think it took away from the flavor. My question to you, Joy, is why do my from scratch cupcakes always sink in the middle? This is literally the only batch of cupcakes I’ve ever made that didn’t have that issue. Ideas? (the consistent answer I’m getting when I google it is “too much heat” or “too much leavening” and I’ve experimented with both…)
Anyway, thanks again, for another hit!
I’ve made these cupcakes twice and gotten great compliments both times. They’re delicious! Dulce de leche is a little hard to find where I am, but it’s worth the effort it took to find it.
I have made many cupcakes but that is truly the best tasting batter of any cake recipe!! The cupcakes turned out perfect also!! Just getting ready to make the frosting and I’m sure it will be divine!
I just made mini cupcake versions of these. They are absolutely delicious. I am going to bring them to a party now and I am sure people will love them and me.
Thank you Joy… you’re also hilarious.
Something went wrong for me with these cupcakes, and I’ve reviewed the recipe over and over and I just can’t see where I messed up. It seemed like a lot of baking soda for a cupcake as soon as I added it, and then my batter turned out more like pancake batter than cake batter – really airy, not smooth like most cake batters. In the oven, my cupcakes basically exploded all over the pan and then collapsed in on themselves. Darn!