I made these cupcakes for Kristine to take to her friend’s bachelorette party last weekend. I got a call on my way to the movies asking if they were nut-free; I said there weren’t nuts in them, but I couldn’t guarantee anything. Apparently they were so good, one of the girls risked an allergic reaction to have one. Is there really anything else to say after that? 🙂

Well, one quick note on dulce de leche: it’s essentially a thick, sweet, caramel sauce that you can buy in jars, usually near the peanut butter/jam/nutella section of the grocery store. It’s Argentinian (hence the name, pronounced dul-say de le-chay), and you can make your own by slowly cooking sweetened, condensed milk. For those of us who just need to get on with our lives/cupcakes, the jar is just fine.

This is a vanilla cupcake, filled with straight dulce de leche from the jar, and topped with dulce de leche buttercream. Amazing.

Dulce de Leche Cupcakes

Source: Cupcakes – Barefoot Contessa, Icing – Joy the Baker

Ingredients:

Cupcakes

2 1/4 sticks butter, at room temperature

3 cups sugar

6 eggs, room temperature

1 cup sour cream room temperature

1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract

3 cups flour

1/3 cup cornstarch

1 tsp salt

1 tsp baking soda

Icing

3 sticks butter, room temperature

3 tbsp whipping cream (or milk will do in a pinch)

1 tsp vanilla

4 cups icing sugar

3/4 cup dulce de leche

Directions:

1. For cupcakes, preheat oven to 350 and line two muffins tins with paper liners.
2. With an electric mixer, cream butter and sugar together until light and fluffy. Add the eggs, 2 at a time until well blended, then add sour cream and vanilla.
3. Sift together the flour, cornstarch, salt and baking soda in a separate bowl, then slowly add to the wet ingredients until just blended. Fill cupcake liners 3/4 full and bake for 20-30 minutes, until a cupcake comes out clean. (Note: the original recipe says to fill the liners to the top – don’t do this – they will overflow when they start baking. Mine were on the verge). Cool completely.
4. If you want, cut out a small cone from the middle of each cupcake and fill with dulce de leche.
5. For the icing, cream together butter and icing sugar with an electric mixer. Add the cream and vanilla, beat until smooth, and finally add the dulce de leche and beat to incorporate.  (Note: I made my icing in the food processor after seeing it on Smitten Kitchen, and it worked like a dream). Decorate your cupcakes and watch as people risk a trip to emerg just to try your treats.