Moist layers of chocolate cake filled with rich and decadent dulce de leche. Easy to make, and very impressive. The cake was topped with Dulce de Leche Fudge.
Course Dessert
Cuisine American, Latin
Keyword cake, chocolate, dulce de leche
Prep Time 20 minutesminutes
Cook Time 1 hourhour
Servings 12people
Calories 400kcal
Author Camila Hurst
Ingredients
Chocolate Cake
1 1/2cupsall-purpose flour183 grams, 5.4 oz
1/3cupunsweetened cocoa powder39 grams, 1.38 oz
1 1/2teaspoonbaking powder
1teaspoonbaking soda
3/4teaspoonfine sea salt
1/2cupunsalted butter room temperature113 grams, 4 oz
1cupssugar200 grams, 7 oz
2eggs
2teaspoonsvanilla extract
2/3cupmilk157 ml
2/3cuphot brewed coffee read notes*157 ml
Dulce de Leche
2-14ozcans of condensed milk to make dulce de leche
Or about 2 cups of store-bought dulce de leche
Instructions
Chocolate Cake
This recipe makes for 4-6” round cakes, or 2-8” round cakes.
Pre-heat oven to 350Fº.
Butter 4-6″ cake pans and place a parchment paper circle in the bottom of pans. Butter parchment. You can also use spray oil instead. Set aside.
Sift together the flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and espresso powder, if using it instead of the coffee. Set aside.
Cream the butter at medium-high speed for 1 minute.
Add sugar slowly, cream for another 2 minutes.
Add eggs to the mixture, one at a time, scraping the bowl in between and making sure the first egg is incorporated before adding the second one.
Add vanilla extract and mix.
Slowly add milk, mix to combine.
Pour dry ingredients over wet mixture.
Fold with a spatula slowly, until ingredients are just combined.
If you see big clumps of cocoa powder, you can use the whisk to try to gently smooth the batter out.
Once batter is incorporated, pour hot coffee in the bowl. Whisk until combined.
Pour batter evenly onto baking pans.
Bake in pre-heated oven for 15-20 min. After the 12 minute mark, keep checking regularly, because you don’t want to burn your cakes or over bake them. Remove them from the oven once a toothpick comes our clean once inserted in the cake.
Once you remove it from the oven, wait 10 minutes, flip cakes onto a cookie cooling rack and let cakes cool.
Once cool, wrap each layer individually in plastic wrap and refrigerate until ready to use. I like to leave my layers in the fridge for quite a bit so they can firm up and make it easier to assemble and decorate the cake.
Dulce de Leche
You can use pre-made dulce de leche, or make it at home. To make dulce de leche at home, you take many different approaches. Check the post above to read 3 different approaches on how to make dulce de leche from a can of condensed milk.
My favorite way to make dulce de leche starts with an unopened can of condensed milk. Place sealed can in a pressure cooker with enough water to cover it plus at least 2 inches.
Then, bring the water to a boil and cook under pressure for 35 minutes.
Let pressure release naturally and let can and water cool down all the way before removing and opening the can. You can cook 2 cans at the same time.
When you open the can, it will be a thick darkened caramel inside.
Place contents in a container and put it in the fridge until cold and firm.
To assemble
Place one cake layer on a cake stand, or serving plate. Place the dulce de leche in a piping bag, pipe dollops of dulce de leche around the edges of the cake and all the way to the middle of the layer.
Top with another layer. Repeat this until you are done with the cake layers.
Keep the cake refrigerated, preferably covered so it doesn’t dry out, for up to 4 days.
Notes
*Always feel free to substitute the hot coffee for hot water. You could also add 1 teaspoon of espresso powder to the dry ingredients if that’s the case, or simply go without and use just the hot water. I have made this cake many times without coffee, using water instead, and it turned out fine. The coffee is simply used to enhance the chocolate flavor and richness, but not completely mandatory.**I preferred to keep this a naked cake, because the dulce de leche is already so rich, and works so well with the chocolate. But if you would like to frost this cake, any of the following frostings will work:Condensed Milk Chocolate FrostingDulce de Leche Cream Cheese FrostingCoconut Cream Cheese FrostingItalian Meringue Buttercream***This is the recipe for the Dulce de Leche Fudge Truffles I used to top the cake.