Dulce de Leche Cake
Combine milk, eggs, and extract in a 2-quart measuring cup. (I forgot to take a picture of this).
Mix cake flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt in a stand mixer on low speed. Add butter and mix until mixture contains coarse crumbs.
Add all but 1/2 cup milk into flour mixture.
And beat at medium speed for 1 1/2 minutes (I actually used a timer on this... CI means business when they give you times and I didn't want Chris Kimball coming down to my kitchen and scolding me.
Add remaining milk mixture and beat 30 seconds more. Scrape sides of bowl and beat for another 20 seconds.
Divide cake mixture evenly between cake pans and bake at 350 F for 23-25 minutes.
How perfect does this cake look?
For the frosting: Melt 1/2 stick butter and add 1 cup packed dark brown sugar and 1/3 cup heavy cream.
Cook until the sugar is dissolved.
Transfer to a heat proof bowl and slowly add up to 3 cups of powdered sugar stopping when your frosting has reached it's desired consistency. NOTE - this frosting dries very quickly. Once you spread it on the cake, you must work quickly to smooth it out! If the frosting dries, add a little milk or heavy cream to smoothen it out again.
Choose your most level cake layer and place it bottom side up on a plate or turntable.
Place dulce de leche in a pastry bag with a large coupler tip and line the outside border of the cake with dulce de leche (for the dulce de leche filling, I lined this a little too close to the outside and it overflowed and streaked into my icing a bit... which I ended up liking the look of so it all worked out in the end).
Add more dulce de leche and fill in between the lines.
Repeat with remaining layers (I made a 3 layer cake).
Frost and decorate your cake (and don't listen to your boyfriend's quips about the cake looking like a stegosaurus.)
Dulce de Leche Cake with Caramel Buttercream
- Cake recipe adapted from Cooks Illustrated (I also made a 3-layer cake, but this recipe is for a 2-layer cake. To add the 3rd layer, increase ingredients by 1/2)
- 2 1/4 cups cake flour (9 ounces), plus more for dusting the pans
1 cup whole milk, at room temperature
6 large egg whites (3/4 cup), at room temperature
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 3/4 cups granulated sugar (12 1/4 ounces)
4 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon table salt
12 tablespoons unsalted butter (1 1/2 sticks), softened but still cool
- Caramel Frosting
- Dulce De Leche (storebought or homemade)
- Set oven rack in middle position. (If oven is too small to cook both layers on a single rack, set racks in upper-middle and lower-middle positions.) Heat oven to 350 degrees. Spray two 9-inch round cake pans with nonstick cooking spray; line the bottoms with parchment or waxed paper rounds. Spray the paper rounds, dust the pans with flour, and invert pans and rap sharply to remove excess flour.
- Add all but 1/2 cup of milk mixture to crumbs and beat at medium speed (or high speed if using handheld mixer) for 1 1/2 minutes. Add remaining 1/2 cup of milk mixture and beat 30 seconds more. Stop mixer and scrape sides of bowl. Return mixer to medium (or high) speed and beat 20 seconds longer.
- Divide batter evenly between two prepared cake pans; using rubber spatula, spread batter to pan walls and smooth tops. Arrange pans at least 3 inches from the oven walls and 3 inches apart. (If oven is small, place pans on separate racks in staggered fashion to allow for air circulation.) Bake until thin skewer or toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean, 23 to 25 minutes.
- Let cakes rest in pans for 3 minutes. Loosen from sides of pans with a knife, if necessary, and invert onto wire racks. Reinvert onto additional wire racks. Let cool completely, about 1 1/2 hours.
- Layer cakes with dulce de leche, frost with caramel buttercream and decorate as you wish!
Source:
http://www.foodbuzz.com/recipes/1767342-dulce-de-leche-cake-with-caramel-frosting
