Dulce de Leche Cupcakes
These Dulce de Leche cupcakes are a treat that the whole family can enjoy! And, they come with a little surprise. The cupcake itself is a deliciously moist little confection that is mildly flavored like chai. So, if you are a lover of spiced ginger or molasses cookies or chai tea, you are going to love these. And, if you love my Dirt Bomb recipe, the tops of these cupcakes are brushed with butter and dipped in cinnamon sugar, just like the dirt bombs!
The surprise of these cookies is that there is a dollop of dulce de leche in the middle of each little cake. Top that with a Dulce de Leche Buttercream, and life couldn’t get better. I promise!!
Begin this sassy dessert by combining the dry ingredients together. Add butter and oil and mix it all together until you have a lumpy mixture. Then the egg whites, vanilla and sour cream get combined into the mixture.
Portion out the batter and bake until the cupcakes are springy to the touch.
Once baked and cooled, the fun begins. I used a very small cookie cutter to remove about a half-inch hole in the middle of each cupcake. Then, with melted butter and cinnamon sugar, brush the butter on the tops and push the top of each cupcake into a bowl of cinnamon sugar.
At this point, I make the Dulce de Leche buttercream by beating the butter for a few minutes until the butter is pale in color. Add the confectioners’ sugar and then the dulce de leche and beat until the buttercream is fluffy. Put the buttercream in a piping bag with your favorite tip.
In the meantime, put the remaining dulce de leche in another piping bag and fill in the holes in each cupcake. Top each one with a swirl of buttercream. It is now time to eat these bad boys!!! Enjoy!
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Dulce de Leche Cupcakes
Makes: 12 cupcakes
Prep Time: 30 minutes
Bake Time: 20 minutes
Total Time: 50 minutes
Ingredients
Churro Cupcakes:
- 1 & 1/4 cup (170 g) cake flour (refer to the Notes section below for cake flour substitute)
- 1/2 cup (100 g) granulated sugar
- 1/2 cup (95 g) packed brown sugar
- 1/2 tsp baking powder
- 1/4 tsp baking soda
- 3/4 tsp cinnamon
- 1/2 tsp ground nutmeg
- 1/4 tsp ground cloves
- 1/4 tsp ground ginger
- 1/4 tsp fine salt
- 1/4 cup (55 g) unsalted butter, room temperature
- 1/4 cup (60 ml) canola oil
- 2 large egg whites, room temperature
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 1/2 cup (110 g) sour cream, room temperature
- 1/3 cup (80 ml) whole milk, room temperature
Cinnamon Sugar Coating:
- 1/4 cup (50 g) granulated sugar
- 1 tsp cinnamon
- 2 tbsp (30g) unsalted butter, melted
Dulce de Leche Buttercream:
- 1 cup (230 g) unsalted butter
- 2 cups confectioners’ sugar
- 1/8 tsp fine salt
- 1 & 1/4 cups (380 g) dulce de leche, divided (half for filling and half for buttercream)
Instructions
Churro Cupcakes:
Preheat oven and line cupcake tin. Preheat your oven to 350°F and line a 12-hole cupcake pan with paper liners.
In a large bowl, add the cake flour, white and brown sugar, baking powder and baking soda, cinnamon, cloves, nutmeg, ginger and salt and whisk together.
Add the butter and oil into the bowl and mix together on medium speed using hand-held electric beaters. It’s okay for the mixture to look lumpy. Add in your egg whites and beat again until mixed in.
With the beaters running on low, add in the vanilla extract and sour cream, then finally the milk and beat until just combined.
Divide the batter evenly between the 12 cupcake paper liners (the batter should reach 2/3 full). Bake for 20 minutes or until the cake is golden and springs back when gently pressed in the middle.
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 cake from the center of the cupcake. Don’t go all the way to the bottom, only 1/2-inch deep holes are needed.
Cinnamon Sugar Coating:
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 Buttercream:
In the bowl of an electric stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat the butter for 5-10 minutes on medium speed, scraping down halfway, until the butter is noticeably paler in color. Add confectioners’ sugar and beat on low speed, gradually increasing to medium-high for two or three minutes. Add half of the dulce de leche (for the buttercream) 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:
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.) Fill another piping bag fitted with your favorite piping tip and pipe swirls of buttercream onto the top of each cupcake. Cupcakes are best eaten the same day.
Recipe by Emma Duckworth Bakes
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