Dulce De Leche Cupcakes Recipe

5 from 5 votes

Lightly spiced cupcake dipped in cinnamon sugar, filled with luscious caramel and topped with silky smooth Dulce de Leche Russian Buttercream, make these an irresistible addition to your Autumn (Fall) baking.

Recipe from 'Frosted' by Bernice Baran or Baran Bakery.

Prep Time30

Cook Time20

Total Time50

Course: Cakes & Cupcakes

Cuisine: American

Servings: cupcakes

Calories: 405kcal

Author: Emma Duckworth

Equipment

Ingredients

Churro Cupcakes

170 g cake flour Refer to the Notes section below for cake flour substitute.
100 g granulated sugar
95 g packed brown sugar
½ teaspoon baking powder
¼ teaspoon baking soda
¾ teaspoon cinnamon
½ teaspoon ground nutmeg
¼ teaspoon ground cloves
¼ teaspoon ground ginger
¼ teaspoon fine salt
55 g unsalted butter room temperature
60 ml canola oil
2 large egg whites room temperature
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
110 g sour cream room temperature
80 ml whole milk room temperature

Cinnamon Sugar Coating (See notes below)

100 g granulated sugar
1 teaspoon cinnamon
30g unsalted butter melted

Dulce de Leche Russian Buttercream

230 g unsalted butter
⅛ teaspoon fine salt
380 g dulce de leche 1 can (alternatives in notes below), divided (half for filling and half for buttercream)

Metric - US Customary

Instructions

Churro Cupcakes

Preheat oven and line cupcake tin. Preheat your oven to 180°C (350°F) and line 12 hole cupcake pan with paper liners.
Mix dry ingredients together. In a large bowl, add the cake flour (or plain/all-purpose flour & cornflour if you are substituting the cake flour with them - see notes below for quantities). Also add white and brown sugar, baking powder and baking soda, cinnamon, cloves, nutmeg, ginger and salt and whisk together.
Add the fats and mix. Add the butter and oil into the bowl and mix together on medium speed using hand-held electric beaters. If the mixture looks a bit lumpy, don't worry!
Add eggs whites and mix. Add in your egg whites and beat again until mixed in.
Add in wet ingredients. With the beaters running on low, add in the vanilla extract, sour cream, then milk and beat until just combined.
Scoop into cupcake liners and bake. Divide the batter evenly between the 12 cupcake paper liners- the batter should reach ⅔ full. Bake for 20 minutes or until the sponge is golden and springs back when gently pressed in the middle.
Cool and core the cupcake center. Leave cupcakes in the pan for ten minutes before removing and cooling completely on a wire rack. Once cooled, use a small spoon, paring knife or apple corer to remove a small amount of sponge from the center of the cupcake. Don't go all the way to the bottom, only a 1 cm (¼ inch) deep holes are needed.

Cinnamon Sugar Coating (see notes below)

Coat cupcakes in cinnamon sugar. Mix together sugar and cinnamon in a small bowl. Brush the tops (and sides if you wish) of the cupcakes with melted butter and dip (or roll if you have done the sides) in the cinnamon sugar tapping off any excess.

Dulce de Leche Russian Buttercream

Beat butter. In the bowl of an electric stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment. On medium speed, beat the butter for 5-10 minutes, scraping down halfway, until the butter is noticeably paler in colour.
Mix in dulce de leche. Add half of the dulce de leche and salt and mix at low speed until combined. Add the remaining dulce de leche and mix again for another minute or so until well combined.

To Assemble

Fill cupcake holes. Add dulce de leche for the filling into a small piping bag and fill the cupcake holes with dulce de leche. (Add any remaining dulce de leche into the buttercream.
Pipe Russian Buttercream. Fill another piping bag fitted with your favourite piping tip (I used an open French Star tip) and pipe swirls of buttercream onto the top of each cupcake. Cupcakes are best eaten the same day.

Notes

Step-by-Step Photos: My blog post includes helpful step-by-step photos to help guide you through making this recipe.

To store: Store in an air-tight container for up to 2 days. Cupcakes can be refrigerated for up to 4 days but they will dry out.

To freeze: Unfrosted cupcakes can be frozen in an airtight freezer-safe container for up to 3 months. Thaw at room temperature and decorate according to your recipe.

TIP 1: Ice cream scoop. An unlikely implement for making cupcakes but it makes adding the runny batter to the cupcake cases an easy task. 1.5 scoops of batter per cupcake was an ideal amount for me.

TIP 2: Apple corer: To remove the centre of the cupcakes, instead of fiddling around with a knife or spoon, use a corer to easily remove a small amount of sponge.

TIP 3: Pipe the filling. Use a small piping bag or a plastic sandwich bag with the corner snipped off, to pipe the dulce de leche into the small holes in the sponge. Makes for a neater process.

TIP 4: Smooth Buttercream. If there are air bubbles in your buttercream after creaming the butter in the stand mixer bowl, then use a rubber spatular to stir the buttercream. The bubbles will slowly be pushed out and reduce.

Note 1: Cake Flour Substitute: For this recipe use 180g (1.5 cups) plain (all-purpose) flour, remove 45g (3 tablespoons) of your plain (all-purpose) flour, then add into the bowl 30g (3 tablespoons) cornflour. Pass flour mix through a sieve, twice.

Note 2: Bernice in her recipe coats the top and sides with cinnamon sugar. I only coated the top meaning there was a lot of cinnamon sugar left. Either reduce those ingredients by half, if you do the same or save the cinnamon sugar for another recipe.

Nutrition