Christmas

Dulce de Leche Frosting

October 15, 2013
4
1 Ratings
Photo by James Ransom
  • Makes frosting for 12 cupcakes
Author Notes

This is the frosting I use for my dulce de leche filled cupcakes. It gets piped on in a thick, gorgeous swirl and then gets help from a dulce drizzle and a sprinkle of fleur de sel, for that salted caramel combo that can't be beat. —Amanda Shulman

Test Kitchen Notes

This frosting is super easy to pull together and the tartness of the cream cheese cuts the sweetness perfectly. At only 3 tablespoons of dulce de leche, I don't find that a deep caramel flavor shines through, but the flavor is there, and you can up it to taste. Because you end up with a lot of dulce de leche left over after baking it in the oven, I used the leftovers to fill chocolate cupcakes and top with this icing. Delicious. I can see it pairing really well with a carrot cake. —Dawne Marie

What You'll Need
Ingredients
  • Homemade Dulce de Leche
  • 14 ounces sweetened condensed milk (1 can)
  • Dulce de Leche Frosting
  • 8 tablespoons softened butter
  • 1/2 cup cream cheese, room temperature
  • 1 teaspoon good quality vanilla extract
  • 1 tablespoon heavy cream
  • 2 1/2 cups powdered sugar
  • 3 tablespoons cooled dulce de leche
Directions
  1. Homemade Dulce de Leche
  2. Turn the oven to 450 degrees F. Open the condensed milk and pour it into a pie or cake pan. Cover this tightly with tin foil. Set this pan in a water bath (a larger pan filled with warm water) so the water comes about halfway up the pie pan’s edge. Bake in the oven for about 1 hour and 20 minutes, until golden brown. Stir once removed from the oven and then cool until room temperature. Keep in the fridge until ready to use.
  1. Dulce de Leche Frosting
  2. In a bowl fitted with an electric mixer, beat together the cream cheese and butter. Then add the vanilla and heavy cream. Gradually add in the powdered sugar and dulce de leche and beat on high for about 5 minutes, until light and extremely fluffy. Adjust texture adding more powdered sugar to thicken, and more heavy cream to thin out.

See what other Food52ers are saying.

  • Annarie Van Der Vyver
    Annarie Van Der Vyver
  • narmer
    narmer
The kitchen is my haven and feeding people is my activity of choice. Butter is as crucial to my life as air, and if you put avocado or bacon on anything and put it in my vicinity, consider it gone. Check out my recipes and food adventures on stayhungree.com.

2 Reviews

Annarie V. January 17, 2017
You can also boil the can just be sure to keep it covered with water. From half an hour to four hours depending on how dark you want the caramel. Half an hour in the pressure cooker.
 
narmer November 7, 2013
the cake looks really nice. what is it, and is there a recipe for it? cheers!