When I saw a recipe for dulce de leche pound cake, my heart jumped. I adore anything with dulce de leche and I so wanted to make that cake. The problem is that it has gotten more and more difficult to make dulce de leche at home. For some reason, sweetened condensed milk is no longer what it used to be. There was a time when we would drop a whole unopened can of sweetened condensed milk in a pot of gently boiling water for an hour and, once the can has cooled, we’d open it and we would have dulce de leche. These days, even if you boil the unopened can for two hours, the liquid inside stays thin and hardly changes color. I even tried making dulce de leche in the oven, David Lebovitz style, and the sweetened condensed milk was still sweetened condensed milk after an hour and a half. I just gave up. When we see dulce de leche in jars in food markets, we’d buy, but not too often because they are not inexpensive.
Still I wanted to make that cake. I thought for a few moments and realized that I had something that was equally good — salted caramel. I often keep a jar of the stuff in the fridge. Homemade salted caramel. I decided I’d use it. And I’m glad I followed my instinct because my salted caramel cake turned out wonderfully. It’s Old World and old school — something your grandmother would have baked when you were a kid before the age of fancy-looking cakes that often look better than they taste. The recipe is very simple — ideal for bakers who are just learning the rudiments of baking. It will also make a wonderful baking project with kids. I baked this cake with Sam although her participation consisted of taking photos. Thank you, sweetie, love the step-by-step photos.
Adapted from Technicolor Kitchen’s Dulce de Leche Pound Cake.
Recipe: Salted caramel cake
Ingredients
- 1/2 c. of butter plus more for greasing the pan, at room temperature
- 1/2 c. of salted caramel (recipe)
- 1 c. of dark brown sugar
- 1/2 c. of white sugar
- 1 vanilla bean or 1/2 tsp. of vanilla extract
- 3 large eggs
- 1 and 1/2 c. of all-purpose flour
- 1/2 tsp. of baking powder
- 1/4 tsp. of salt
- powdered sugar, cinnamon and cocoa powder for dusting
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350F.
- Butter the sides and bottom of a 7″x11″ pan.
- Place the butter, sugars and salted caramel in a mixing bowl.
- With an electric mixer or a wire whisk, beat until smooth.
- Add the eggs, one at a time, mixing after each addition.
- Add the vanilla or vanilla extract, baking powder and salt.
- Add the flour, little by little, mixing after each addition.
- The cake batter will be heavy.
- Scrape the cake batter into the buttered baking pan.
- Bake for 30 minutes at 350F or until a toothpick inserted at the center comes out clean.
- Cool the cake in the pan. The sides will pull away from the pan as the cake cools.
- Cut the cake into six to eight portions. Place a portion on a plate, sprinkle with powdered sugar, cinnamon and cocoa powder. Serve.
Preparation time: 15 minute(s)
Cooking time: 30 minute(s)
Number of servings (yield): 6 to 8
“…the age of fancy-looking cakes that often look better than they taste”.
This is really sad but so true!
And PRICE is also no good measure of good quality nowadays. It may look good, cost an arm and leg, be located in an expensive mall and still be RUBBISH!
Same is true about restaurants.
you did not mention which milk you used. try milkmaid ‘coz alaska is a “filled milk”. but if you are using milkmaid already…. “what hasn’t changed these days?”…. though i haven’t tried it (i’m scared), some says, the can should be shaken a little bit to feel if there’s still liquid inside. and the cans should be left in the hot water until it cools down – to cook the milk further. i always cook mine longer, coz lpg here is dirt cheap -P180/cylinder.
to save lpg, you can boil a few cans just label it with the date it was cooked. cooked condensed milk will last six months. you can also try cooking the milk, double boiler style-it might work.
you know ms. connie, i used sell yema many years ago, just condensed milk and no eggs. i haven’t heard of dulce de leche then but since it’s just purely condensed, a little bit of margarine and peanuts, it’s just like dulce de leche with ground peanuts or pinipig. i just cook the condensed milk in a very low fire but non-stop “halo” and it works.
Tried both Carnation and Alaska. Both with disastrous results. Will try Milkmaid.
alaska is sweetened condensed “filled” milk – made of vegetable oil from coconuts. carnation evap and condensada are “creamers” – i would assume also made from vegetable oil just like their alaska counterpart – Alaska evaporada/condesada. This maybe the reason you are not getting good results.
I became aware of these thru blog hopping. I used to be clueless, buy whatever is available. But now, when I need evap and condensed, I use Alpine and Milkmaid respectvely because they are “full cream” and made from cow’s milk. That is why they are a bit expensive than other brands.
http://www.alaskamilk.com.ph/prod-faqs.php
my mom swears by Milkmaid too and Alpine. she said carnation and alaska are poor substitutes when it comes to cooking. medyo obvious din naman sa price. reading your comments made me realize she must have a point there
just wanna share another dulce de leche recipe – http://www.applepiepatispate.com/dessert/dulce-de-leche-recipe/
Thanks! Personally, I don’t like procedures that require being watched over. That’s why I loved the boil-in-the-can recipe.
me too
Oh wow. Another recipe to try!
You’re just the best, Ms Connie!
salt and caramel combo is always a good treat
Connie, I prefer the boil-in-the-can recipe too for dulce de leche
From the cross section photo, I can tell that the texture is great, totally unlike that of those tasteless layered spongy cakes. Bravo! It’s a keeper that takes less than an hour to get.
Thank you. I’m not very fond of sponge cakes which I find too dry.
Aw, thanks, Barbie.
Dexie, right, lazy but effective. At least, used to be effective, in my case.
This looks easy enough for me to try. And I have the ingredients in the pantry. I’ve no salted caramel on hand, though. Do you think nutella will do? I’ll do it anyway. I sure hope it turns out okay. Xfingers.
this sounds really good. Have you tried butter mochi?
Not yet. I’d love to try it soon though as I am a coconut fan.
hi miss connie. have you tried this using a turbo broiler? i wanted to try to bake this for my lola but we don’t have an oven. i’ve been reading articles saying that it’s possible to bake using a turbo broiler but adjustments should be made with regards to the time and temperature settings. i was just wondering what would be the temperature and time for this recipe. thank you in advance, miss connie.
No, I have not.
hello ms connie just like to ask what brand of mixer are you using coz im planning to buy one. also thinking if going to get a hand or stand mixer…
Imarflex — a stand mixer AND a hand mixer.