I am rubbish at cake decorating. Honestly, I really am.
Please don’t think that’s false modesty on my part – I know there are lots of things that I’m good at – it’s just that my decision making tends to go wonky when I’m decorating a cake.
This latest attempt is a good case in point. Big Boy has declared it his new favourite, which is the only reason this post is being written. It certainly isn’t because of the photo below. I started out with a sculpted bundt pan, decided to ice it with a thick frosting (mistake), thought I could save it by drizzling dulce de leche all over it (see what I mean about the wonky decision making?), then decided to fill the centre with chopped up hazelnut praline.
By the end of it, I’d created…ta-dah…a volcano!
Thankfully the cake was delicious, so no-one really cared how it looked!
It was quite a lot of work – I started by making dulce de leche from scratch a few days earlier (which took nearly three hours), then adjusted my tried and tested white chocolate bundt cake recipe to suit. The best bit though was the browned butter frosting, adapted from a Maya Angelou caramel cake recipe.
The cake recipe results in enough batter for one large 16 cup bundt, or a 10 cup bundt plus a small 8″ round cake…
A simple drizzle of DDL would probably have been a prettier option, but the browned butter frosting really did set off the flavours so well…
Dulce de Leche Cake with Browned Butter Frosting
(a Fig Jam and Lime Cordial original recipe)
Cake
- 450g (3 cups) plain (AP) flour
- 1 tsp baking powder
- ¼ tsp bicarbonate of soda (baking soda)
- ½ tsp salt
- 250g (2 sticks/1 cup) unsalted butter, softened
- 440g (2 cups) white sugar
- 2 tsp pure vanilla extract (we used homemade)
- 5 large (59g) eggs, at room temperature
- 1 jar of dulce de leche – 120g (4oz) for the batter, rest for filling and topping
- 250g (1 cup) thick Greek yoghurt (we used homemade)
1. Preheat oven to 160C (320F) with fan. Spray a large aluminium bundt pan with oil. If you’re using a smaller decorated bundt pan, spray an extra pan or muffin pans with oil to contain the excess batter.
2. In a bowl, sift together flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt.
3. Cream the butter and sugar in a large bowl using an electric mixer on medium speed until light and fluffy. Add the vanilla and the eggs, one at a time, beating for 20 seconds after each addition. Add a little of the flour mixture if necessary to stop the batter from curdling. Slowly beat in 120g of the dulce de leche. Scrape down the bowl.
4. Add the flour mixture in thirds, alternating with the Greek yoghurt. Beat for 45 seconds after each addition. You want the last addition to be flour rather than yoghurt (improves the final texture of the batter). Spoon a layer of batter into the bundt pan, then dot blobs of dulce de leche in the middle to form a ring of filling, then top with more batter. I usually fill my bundt pans to two-thirds full and ladle any excess batter into small baking pans.
5. Bake for 50 – 60 minutes (I start checking after 45 minutes) – the top will be brown and a cake tester inserted in the centre will come out with a few crumbs on it. Allow the cake to cool in its tin for 15 minutes (don’t be impatient), then gently loosen around the edges before inverting onto a wire rack to allow the cake to finish cooling at room temperature. Trim the bottom of the cake so that it sits flat on the cake board before icing.
Note: any smaller cakes will need much less time to cook – my small 8″ round cake was done in about 30 minutes.
Frosting
- 180g (12 US tablespoons) unsalted butter
- 450g (16oz) icing sugar mixture (confectioners’ sugar)
- 120ml (½ cup) full fat cream
- 3 teaspoons vanilla extract
- pinch salt
1. Brown the butter in a heavy saucepan over medium heat – don’t let it burn! (Pete does this bit for me.) Allow to cool. Stir in the cream and vanilla extract.
2. In a large mixing bowl, whisk the salt into the icing sugar mixture, then gradually stir in the butter/cream and beat until smooth. Make sure to get all the browned butter solids from the saucepan – they’ll add little flecks to the frosting. Add a bit more cream if needed.
3. Cover the cake with frosting, smoothing out as best you can (it helps if you don’t use a bundt pan with wavy sides). Drizzle over more dulce de leche and fill the centre of the cake with chopped up chunks of hazelnut praline (berries would be nice too).
I made a slightly tragic attempt at icing the smaller cake as well…
This is definitely a cake I’ll make again, but next time I’ll use my large 16 cup bundt pan with smooth sides!
Fig Jam and Lime Cordial 
Mmm that looks delish! I love dulce de leche, and of course it would taste amazing in cake :)
It was quite a sweet cake, but delicious nonetheless. My Big Boy has a very sweet tooth! :)
Looks great Celia – but know what you mean about cake decorating, I’m rubbish at it too – mind if mine looked like yours I would be pretty pleased:)
Rachel, you’re being very kind thank you, but it was one of those cakes you want to cut quickly – it looks much better in slices! Hahaha
The cake looks beautifully decorated. Looks very tastey.
Ah, you’re nice, thanks M! It was tasty though! :)
Look on the bright side Celia, at least your cake delivers some great caramel flavours. Give me substance over glam anyday!!
Sandra, there wasn’t really a dull side. We laughed and laughed over how the cake looked, but it was devoured, so I was happy. Pete said it didn’t just look like a volcano, it looked like “a school science experiment volcano”. He’ll keep. :)
your cake flavours sound stunning celia..by the way i once did a cake decorating course..i loved making the royal icing lace and shaping flowers and painting rabbits on an easter cake..but..i don’t really like fussily decorated cakes so it really was a waste of time..x
Jane, that must have been fun at the time, but definitely not something I’d use either!
That looks like a delicious and indulgent volcano Celia! Surely the taste and happiness you create is worth more than fancy decorating. Enjoy your Sunday x
Jane, thanks, yes it was delicious and I didn’t really care how it looked, but I did find it all very funny! :)
Filling the hole in the bundt cake reminds me of ‘My Big Fat Greek Wedding’ when they filled the hole with a bunch of flowers. I’d prefer the praline. I think your cakes look fantastic and you’re being too hard on yourself. And more important than the presentation is always the taste and that’s where you win xx
Darling, I nearly started this post with.. “Charlie can recreate the Titanic, Tania is amazing, and Lorraine can sculpt gnomes on cupcakes..” :) We all had a good giggle over the volcano! :)
Frankly, Celia, I think the cake looks delicious, spoon-licking good… I suck at cake decorating too, but who cares! : )
One of these days I’m going to try fondant Liz. Maybe.. :)
The title of this made me smile – if I was in front of that beautiful cake I know I would be asking Please Miss, can I have some more of that rubbish! Just the name alone, ‘Dulce de Leche’ sounds like ‘delectable’. … … Not fattening if shared is it!
Hahaha…thanks Jan! I’d cut you the largest slice and you wouldn’t have to share with anyone! :)
Both these cakes sure look gorgeous to me!!! And this sounds delicious!
Thanks Lori! They were fun to make!
If you haven’t entered it into a competition and it is for family- then you have decorated it perfectly! I only worry about how it looks when I have a panel of judges looking at it! I think they both look delicious!
Heidi, I would NEVER do that to myself! I turn down requests for special occasion cakes for that very reason – I know my limitations! :)
My stomach can’t see!
My boys eat too fast to see.. :)
They look delicious!! And often the best things aren’t “pretty!” I’m pinning it because I really want to remember this next time I’m asked to bring a cake!
Thank you! I’d suggest not using a sculpted bundt pan..hahaha
LOL – but to tell ya the truth, it looked stunning in the bundt pan b4 the frosting. I’m tempted to make it that way and serve it kind of like a pound cake – slices drizzled, maybe with a bit of warmed up dulce de leche and some whipped cream. I come from the twin cities, though, where the bundt cake was supposedly invented. For you to get it OUT of that bundt cake mold so perfectly shows quite a bit of skill.
On the other hand, the frosting looks pretty darned delicious, too!
I sense a new enthusiasm at your house. More cakes on the way. They indeed look perfect to me too. What else do you want to see on a caramel cake but caramel!
Yes more cakes on the way, but not a new enthusiasm. It’s driven completely by the egg glut! :)
Like all your cakes, one worth noting and using , they are all so good!
Jeanette, how kind of you, thank you!
Lovely looking cake! And browned butter is a total weakness for me. I mean who knew butter could get even better? :P
I *know*. I’m thinking of topping everything I make from now on with that frosting! :)
Pretty is as pretty does, Celia- and this looks pretty damn good indeed! Yummo xox
Thanks darling, it was very yum!
I suck at cake decorating too Celia ;) The child only gets cupcakes for her birthday because that is all I can manage to decorate, and even then they are usually topped with something I bought elsewhere. I just tell everyone to close their eyes because the taste always wins through. Love the volcano :)
Tania, as I mentioned above, my fabulously dry-witted husband quipped…”not just a volcano, but a school science experiment volcano!” :)
This looks wonderful. Thanks for the In Our Kitchen love, we’re getting back to the swing of things.
It’s always so nice to peek into your kitchen – especially while it’s still shiny and new! :D
Love that perfect shape, Celia! Great cake!
Julie
Gourmet Getaways
Jules, you’re being very generous, thank you!
Celia, you are being far too hard on yourself, your cakes looks lovely and know they must taste fabulous!
Have a wonderful week ahead.
:-) Mandy xo
Mandy, they did taste fab, thank you! I’m waiting for you to come over and give me lessons.. :)
I’d be thrilled with the cake with the volcano filled with hazelnut praline! I love your cakes.
Hahaha…thanks hon. Hazelnut praline saves everything!
Your cakes look pretty good to me, everything is relative ….
Thanks Glenda, it was fun to make if nothing else!
I sure wouldn’t care what it looks like! I’m still salivating!
See, I’d sell it on the words if I was writing a menu. And I’d make sure to cut it up before anyone saw it.. :)
Anything with Dulce de Leche is going to be a winner so far as I’m concerned, regardless of appearance. Better delicious haphazard than cardboard tasting perfection.
Anne, thank you – that’s what Pete said too. He reckons lots of fancy cakes have to be hard and dry in order to keep their shape!
It still looks delicious! Isn’t it wonderful how kids don’t always care how things look. It sounds heavenly, luckily I just had a piece of red velvet cake for my husband’s birthday or you would have me craving cake!
Thanks Gretchen! Yes, kids or possibly all men, don’t care. :)
I am once again jumping on here to vouch for the divine deliciousness of this latest release from the Fig Jam Kitchen. The small cake was not dodgy in either decoration or taste!!
I’m glad you liked it love x
Cake decorating requires 3 things – the steady hand of a plasterer, the skill of an artist and the patience of a saint – I have none of these attributes! I may have an artistic eye but when it comes to cake decorating, a toddler would probably make a better go of it that me. That being said, I love how both the cakes turned out – they look absolutely delicious and that caramel frosting sounds amazing!!
Selma, I announced last night that I needed a turntable for cake decorating, and Pete just looked at me and laughed. I’m not sure he thinks it would help! :D
I think that looks great – and most importantly yummy! Much better a wonky cake that tastes amazing, rather than a beautifully iced cake which falls flat?
Oh I specialise in wonky! But they do taste yummy and as you say, that’s the most important thing. Thank you! :)
I’m sorry, Celia, I don’t see a problem. I thought the cake looked like a lovely homemade cake. For me it’s the taste that is important. Sounds/looks amazing!
Thanks Ardys! It did taste great, and we all were very amused by the science experiment (as Pete referred to it). :)
this looks brilliant and such a lot of work. good on ya!
Thanks Sherry! x
This looks amazing. I love dulce de leche. Do you find that the homemade dulce de leche is much better than what you can buy at a store?
I haven’t actually tried bought DDL, but the homemade version is really nice. I tried the microwave version with condensed milk, but I didn’t like it nearly as much as the stove cooked one with real milk!
This looks delicious and I’m definitely going to try making dulce de leche! On a side note I have been reading your blog almost from the beginning and often when I need a pick-me-up I log on and have a look at a read about the wonderful things you have been making. You inspired me to begin sourdough baking, your bagels are regular in my kitchen and your Ciabatta con Semola Rimacinata di Grano Duro is baked almost every week and requested at every family occasion!
Natalie, I’ve been in a bit of a blogging funk the last few days, and your comment snapped me right out of it. Thank you so much for taking the time to leave such a supportive comment, I really appreciate it! x
Sounds ridiculously, insanely delicious! So many great things in one big treat. Yummmmmmmm…!
Kathryn, thank you! It was crazy delish, a little bit of caramel overkill! :)
I don’t know Celia, I’m looking at those cakes and thinking…they look a lot better than mine! I imagine the taste was all that mattered and it sounds like there were no complaints on that. I’m thinking you could have put some a little cup of vinegar and baking soda in the top of the volcano to make it more exciting. Maybe next time, surprise the boys.
Might have to make dulce de leche as Christmas gifts – you can’t buy it here. I admire people who have the patience to make exquisite cakes iced beautifully. I’m not one of them!