Dulce de… DELICIOSO!!

After working on my fondant the night before I decided I needed a cake to decorate it with.
I had bought a can of dulce de leche a few weeks ago and knew this was finally the right time to use it.

After a little googling I found a great recipe on YumSugar.com- although the original recipe called for making your own dulce de leche, I thought I’d skip that and make the delicious cake and buttercream also mentioned in the post.
Let me start by saying the cake is absolutely delicious!!!!!! If you’re looking for a great, moist-but-light cake- I would highly recommend this recipe.  This is something I will be making again!

Original Recipe

Ingredients:

***Please Ignore the Baking Soda, he snuck into the pic!!!**

For the cake:
2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
1 tbsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt
12 tbsp. (1-1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, at room temperature
1-1/2 cups sugar
2 tsp. vanilla extract
1 tsp. almond extract
1 cup milk
5 egg whites, at room temperature

For the frosting:  Since I only needed the buttercream to act like a crumb coating, I halved this recipe.
12 tbsp. (1-1/2 sticks) unsalted butter
1 package (16 oz.) confectioners sugar
1/2 cup heavy cream, plus more if needed
1 tbsp. pure vanilla extract
pinch of salt
sliced almonds, optional for garnish

Make the Cake:

1. Position a rack in the middle of an oven and preheat to 350ºF. Butter and flour two round cake pans each 9 inches in diameter and 1-1/2 inches deep.
2. In a medium bowl, sift together the flour, baking powder, and salt.
3. In a large bowl, using an electric mixer set on medium-high speed, beat the butter until light.
4. Gradually add the sugar, beating until well blended. Beat in the vanilla and almond extracts.
5. Reduce the speed to low and, dividing the flour mixture into three batches, beat the flour mixture into the butter mixture alternately with the milk just until combined.
6. In a large bowl, using an electric mixer fitted with clean, dry beaters and set on high speed, beat the egg whites until stiff peaks form.
7. Using a rubber spatula, gently fold the beaten whites into the batter just until incorporated. Divide the batter between the prepared pans; smooth with the spatula.
8. Bake until a toothpick inserted into the centers comes out clean, about 30 minutes. Transfer to racks and let cool in the pans for 10 minutes. Run a sharp knife around the pan sides to loosen the cakes. Invert onto racks and let cool completely.

Make the Frosting:

1. In a small saucepan, melt butter over medium-high heat until nut-brown in color, about 8 minutes. Remove pan from heat and pour butter into a bowl, leaving any burned sediment behind; let cool.
2. In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, add confectioners sugar, vanilla, salt, and butter. With the mixer on low, slowly add cream; beat until smooth. If frosting seems too thick, stir another tablespoon cream into the mixture.

Assemble the cake:

1. Carefully slice each of the two cooled cakes in half to make four layers. Set one layer on the cake plate. Generously spread about 1/3 cup of the dulce de leche on top. Top with another cake layer and spread with another 1/3 cup of the dulce de leche. Repeat with another cake layer and top with the final forth cake layer. Set dulce de leche aside.
2. Frost the top and sides of the cake with the frosting. If using the sliced almonds, press into the sides of the cake. Drizzle with remaining dulce de leche. Refrigerate until serving.  I omitted the almonds.

Wanna see how it turned out?
Stay tuned for part 3