Dulce de Leche Cupcakes

Vanilla sponge with a creamy caramelized milk filling makes these dulce de leche cupcakes the perfect sweet treat! They’re topped with a silky cream cheese frosting swirled together with more dulce de leche. Ready from start to finish in under an hour, you’re going to love this easy recipe.

If you’ve tried dulce de leche, you know the allure. It’s sweet and creamy with that amazing, caramelized milk flavour. I’m definitely not above enjoying a spoonful of it right from the jar.

These dulce de leche cupcakes started out as simple vanilla cupcakes, which are wonderful in their own right, but when you bite into one and find a hidden tunnel of dulce de leche inside, you’re going to fall in love.

Jump to:

• Ingredient Notes
• How to Make Dulce de Leche Cupcakes
• How to Create Dulce de Leche Cream Cheese Swirled Frosting
• Recipe Tips
• Frequently Asked Questions
• Storage Instructions
• Dulce de Leche Cupcakes

This recipe is adapted from the Vanilla Cupcake recipe in The Hummingbird Bakery Cookbook by Tarek Malouf (Ryland, Peters, and Small, 2009). This little book is full of the American homemade baking that the British bakery is known for. The vanilla cupcake recipe is one of my favourites!

Depending on the size of your jar, you probably won’t use the entire thing for this recipe, so if you’re looking for ways to use it up, you could try my recipe for dulce de leche mousse. Just a warning though, you might be tempted to eat the entire bowl in one sitting!

Ingredient Notes

See the recipe card below for the full ingredient list.

• Vanilla extract: The cupcake sponge is a simple vanilla flavour so you want to use the best vanilla you can find. I like to use pure vanilla extract for its great flavour but use whichever works for you.
• Dulce de leche: This is a thick spread made by cooking down milk and sugar or boiling condensed milk. Look for it in jars near the jams and spreads in your grocery store. You’ll use it to fill the vanilla cupcakes and for swirling with the cream cheese frosting.
• Cream Cheese: I’ve chosen a cream cheese and dulce de leche swirl frosting. I recommend using full-fat brick-style cream cheese as it will hold its shape better than lower-fat varieties that usually contain more water.

How to Make Dulce de Leche Cupcakes

This recipe takes the humble vanilla cupcake and jazzes it up by filling it with dulce de leche and then topping it with a cream cheese dulce de leche swirl.

You’ll notice I use a slightly different technique to make these cupcakes than you might be used to. It’s called ‘reverse creaming’ which happens when we mix all the dry ingredients together with the butter and then slowly add the remaining wet ingredients.

1. Mix dry ingredients with butter. Add the flour, sugar, baking powder, salt, and butter to the bowl of a stand mixer or to a large bowl if you’re using a handheld mixer and combine until you have a mixture that looks like wet sand.
2. Add wet ingredients. Slowly pour in the milk and then add the eggs and vanilla as you continue to mix.
3. Bake. Fill the baking liners ⅔ full and bake on the centre rack until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean.
4. Make frosting. Combine room temperature cream cheese and butter until smooth, then add a pinch of salt and vanilla. Start adding the powdered sugar gradually on low speed until it is all added, then turn it up to high and beat until it is thick and smooth.
5. Fill. Wait until the cupcakes have cooled completely before filling and frosting. Use a small paring knife to cut out small holes in the middle of each cupcake and fill with a spoonful of dulce de leche. You can either top the filling with the piece of cupcake you cut away or you can frost right on top of the filling.
6. Frost. Use a piping bag to create a swirled look or use an offset spatula for a more rustic appearance.

How to Create Dulce de Leche Cream Cheese Swirled Frosting

Everyone will be really impressed when you pull off this technique. It’s super simple to do!

1. Make your cream cheese frosting.
2. Lay out a flat piece of plastic wrap on the counter.
3. Put spoonfuls of cream cheese frosting in a line across the middle of the plastic wrap leaving a few inches at both ends.
4. Put spoonfuls of dulce de leche right beside the cream cheese frosting.
5. Carefully roll the plastic wrap over the frosting and dulce de leche and then grab the ends of the wrap and slowly twist them together. Think of the shape of a Christmas cracker or a wrapped candy. That’s what you’re aiming for.
6. When you’re ready to frost, snip one end off the plastic wrap and put the open end into the bottom of a prepared piping bag. Now just squeeze the bag just as you would when frosting a cupcake. You’ll see the frosting starts to come out in a beautiful, swirled pattern.

If cream cheese frosting isn’t for you, then an easy vanilla almond buttercream frosting would work really well here too.

Recipe Tips

• Room temperature ingredients. It will be so much easier to mix your cupcake batter together if the eggs, butter, and milk are at room temperature. You also want the cream cheese and butter to at room temperature before making the frosting.
• Test for doneness. Your cupcakes are ready when the tops spring back after you press them lightly with your finger. You can also insert a toothpick into the centre of a cupcake and if it comes away clean, they’re done!

Frequently Asked Questions

Storage Instructions

Leftover unfrosted cupcakes can be stored in an airtight container covered for up to 4 days.

I recommend using a deep enough container so that the tops of the cupcakes won’t touch the inside of the lid. The cupcakes can get a bit sticky as they sit, which is completely normal! You just don’t want your cupcake tops to tear off when you open your container lid.

Frosted cupcakes can be stored at room temperature in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 4 days.

If you make these dulce de leche cupcakes, I’d love to see them! Share it on Instagram: #bakersbookshelf