These delicious Salted Dulce de Leche Cupcakes belong to my book Fantastic Filled Cupcakes, I am sharing with you because it's one of my favorite recipes from the book! They are filled with dulce de leche, and topped with a Salted Dulce de Leche Cream Cheese Frosting.
Course Dessert
Cuisine American
Keyword cupcakes, dulce de leche
Prep Time 40 minutesminutes
Cook Time 18 minutesminutes
Total Time 58 minutesminutes
Servings 14cupcakes
Calories 240kcal
Author Camila Hurst
Ingredients
Chocolate Cupcakes
1 1/2cupsall-purpose flour190 grams
1/4cupunsweetened cocoa powder31 grams
1tspespresso powder
1tspbaking soda
3/4tspbaking powder
1/2tspfine sea salt
1/2cupcanola oil120 ml
1cupgranulated sugar200 grams
1cupbrewed coffee*240 ml
1tbspwhite vinegar
2tspvanilla extract
Dulce de Leche Filling
1/2cupdulce de lechesee notes
Salted Dulce de Leche Cream Cheese Frosting
1/2cupcream cheese, room temperature113 grams
3/4cupunsalted butter, room temperature170 grams
1/2cupdulce de leche150 grams
4cupspowdered sugar500 grams
1/2tspvanilla extract
1/2tspsaltplus more coarse salt for the top
Instructions
Chocolate Cupcakes
Pre-heat oven to 350ºF (177ºC) and line 14 cupcake tins with cupcake liners.
Sift the flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, baking powder, espresso powder, and salt together in a large bowl, and set aside. In another bowl, mix the oil, sugar, coffee, vinegar, and vanilla together.
Pour the dry sifted ingredients over the wet ingredients and whisk briefly, until incorporated. Be careful not to over mix. As soon as you see no more streaks of dry mixture, stop whisking. Over mixing the batter may result in tough and dry cupcakes.
Distribute the batter evenly between the cupcake pans, filling about 2/3 of the way.
Bake the cupcakes for about 18 minutes. Start checking if the cupcakes are baked at the 15 minute mark, and keep baking and checking as necessary.
To see if the cupcakes are ready, gently press with your finger on top of the cupcakes, and if they spring right back, that means they are done baking.
Let the cupcakes cool down before filling and frosting.
Salted Dulce de Leche Cream Cheese Frosting
To make the Salted Dulce de Leche Cream Cheese Frosting, start by beating the cream cheese and butter together with an electric mixer, at medium-high speed, for 4 minutes, until fluffy and creamy. Add the dulce de leche to the bowl and beat for 30 seconds to combine.
Scrape the sides of the bowl to make sure everything is getting incorporated together.
With the mixer off, add the powdered sugar to the bowl and mix on low until the powdered sugar is incorporated. If the buttercream is too dry, add one or two teaspoons of milk or water to help combine the ingredients together. Once the sugar has been incorporated, raise the speed to medium-high and cream for another minute. Add the vanilla extract, the salt, and mix until combined. If the buttercream is too runny, add some more sifted powdered sugar to the mixture, and if the buttercream is too dry, add a teaspoon or so of milk or water until you achieve the desired consistency.
To assemble the cupcakes, use a spoon to remove the center of each cupcake. Use a piping bag or a spoon to fill the cupcakes with the Dulce de Leche.
Place the Salted Dulce de Leche Cream Cheese Frosting in a piping bag fitted with the piping tip of choice. Pipe the frosting on top of the cupcakes, and top with some more coarse salt.
Storage
These cupcakes will store well in the fridge for up to 4 days, covered.
Notes
Coffee: You can use hot water if you don’t want to use coffee, and you can also skip the espresso powder in the recipe if desired. The coffee helps give depth of flavor and richness to the chocolate cupcakes, but the water will work just fine here.Dulce de Leche: Check out my full Dulce de Leche Guide here, including recipes of different methods of going about making dulce de leche at home, or instructions on how to buy it, where to find it, and what are the best brands.