In Uruguay, Chile and Argentina I ate a lot of dulce de leche, the delicious caramelized milk that you find in almost every sweet dish, from the famous alfajores to flans, from cakes to ice creams.
This is a variation of my classic vanilla cupcake recipe, and in New Zealand if you cannot get dulce de leche you can use a can of caramel. Some people even make caramelized milk by boiling down a can of condensed milk for two or three hours, but starting with fresh milk is better, this blog had a good step by step recipe.
Dulce de leche cupcakes
Ingredients
130 g butter
3 eggs
130 g sugar
A few drops of pure vanilla essence
200 g self-rising flour
12 tsp dulce de leche
Makes 12 cupcakes
Preheat the oven to 175°C. Line a 12-muffin tray with cupcake paper cups.
Melt the butter in a jug, either in the microwave or in the oven (while the oven is warming up for the cupcakes). Place the eggs and sugar in a mixing bowl and whisk, using an electric beater, until the mixture looks light and pale yellow in colour. Slowly add the melted butter and vanilla. Keep beating at a low speed now; add the flour little by little. Keep beating making sure that there are no lumps. Divide the mixture between the 12-cupcake cases and top each cupcake with a teaspoon of dulce de leche. Bake for about 20-22 minutes, until golden brown at the top (the dulce de leche will sink in, leaving a dot at the top). You can check if the cupcakes are ready by inserting a toothpick into the sides (not the centre with the dulce de leche!): if it comes out clean the cupcakes are ready. Remove the cupcakes from the tin and let them cool down.
This recipe is for Sweet New Zealand, the sweet monthly blogging event for Kiwi Bloggers, this month of May 2013 hosted by Bridget from the blog After Taste.
Click here to enter.
Sweet New Zealand is looking for a host for June (and the months beyond) so please contact me if you are interested.
Photos and Recipes by Alessandra Zecchini ©
