Dulce de Leche Cake

This is the last decorating technique I have lined up to test.  The cake itself isn't on the wedding list, but I felt like trying something new.  And I had half a can of sweetened condensed milk left over from the mirror glaze that needed a purpose.

I'm using Preppy Kitchen's recipe, but putting in the whole egg.  I'm pretending that it makes up for not measuring the brown butter after cooking, but I really just didn't want a leftover yolk.  I'm also skipping the vanilla bean paste because he uses way too much vanilla in his recipes already.  I admit, using the recipe of someone who can't pronounce the cake he's making (watch the YouTube video) didn't instill me with much confidence.  The recipe looks right, so I'm going for it.

Preppy Kitchen doesn't use cake flour.  He only uses AP in his recipes, but is careful not to over-mix the cakes.  I'm willing to try that.  He also makes really tall 6" cakes.  This was part of a larger project that will be the next post, so I made 1/3 in two 4" pans.  Teeny tiny cakes.  They're so cute!  The next day, I saw 4" birthday cakes at Sprouts; I forget the brand.  So this is a thing and I'm trendy.

I'm breaking with my "split up the recipes" style because the dulce de leche itself is only used in the frosting.  Most similar recipes will go through two or three cans and have it every step of the way.  I'm kind of over excessively sweet cakes.  It's a browned-butter cake for the caramel flavor, then the browned-milk in the icing.  The drip is plain white chocolate ganache, so I could test the design.  Fortunately, Cousin Smurf doesn't want a drip cake.  I need to stop thinking I can decorate with chocolate.

Cake
1-2/3 C flour
1-1/3 C sugar
1/4 heaping tsp baking soda
1 heaping tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp kosher salt
3/4 C unsalted butter
1/2 C sour cream
1/2 C milk
3 eggs, room temperature
1 Tb vanilla

1.  Make the brown butter.  In a small saucepan over medium heat, melt the butter.  Reduce heat to medium-low and allow it to come to a low boil.  After a few minutes, it's going to start to turn golden.  Stir to avoid scorching, but a few flecks of brown are expected.  They'll look like vanilla beans in the cake.  When the butter turns a medium to dark gold, pull from the heat.  Allow to cool to room temperature, until it just starts to firm up.

2.  Grease two 8" or three 6" cake pans.  Line them with wax paper, then grease the paper.  Preheat oven to 345º.

3.  In a large bowl, sift together flour, sugar, baking soda, baking powder, and salt.

4.  In a small bowl, whisk together sour cream, milk, eggs, vanilla, and the brown butter.  You don't have to get the mixer dirty for this recipe.

5.  Pour the wet ingredients into the dry and stir until just combined.  Get out the major lumps, but don't over-mix.  This isn't cake flour.

6.  Fill cake pans evenly.  I actually did use the scale for this one.  Bake until a toothpick comes up clean, about 30-35 minutes.  Cool for 10 minutes on the rack, until the pans are safe to touch.  Invert and peel off the wax paper.  Cool completely before freezing or frosting.


Dulce de Leche Icing
1/2 C butter
1/2 C shortening
1 lb powdered sugar (more if needed)
1 can dulce de leche

Note: I made my dulce de leche by microwaving sweetened condensed milk on 50% in 2 minute bursts.  Stir between heatings.  I went a little too far and made a medium caramel.  It broke up in the frosting, but stayed pretty solid in the cake filling.  Store-bought dulce de leche won't do that.  It will stay caramel creamy at room temperature, and only slightly hard in the fridge.

1.  Cream together butter and shortening.  Gradually add powdered sugar and beat until uniform.

2.  Beat in 1/4 of the can of dulce de leche.  You can stop there or add another 1/4 can to make it stronger.  You may need to add more powdered sugar if you do that.


Assembly
1.  Place a dab of icing on a cake circle.  Set one layer on it.  Smooth on a thin layer of icing.  Drizzle with straight dulce de leche.  Top with next layer.  Repeat filling if doing three layers.  Once everything is stacked, do a thin crumb coat with the icing.  Chill.

2.  The second coat is your display coat of icing.  Decorate as desired.  To make white chocolate ganache, melt together 2 oz white chocolate and 2 Tb heavy cream in the microwave at 50% power until smooth.  Stir in additional cream if you want a thinner drizzle.  Drip over edge of cake or pour on top and spread to top.

Makes one 8" layer cake, about 12 servings

Difficulty rating  :-0