Dulce De Leche Cake

Happy Children's day & here is the treat for Children's day!

We had a special guest over for lunch on Sunday & I cooked so many things. I made 3 types of starters, Prawn Ghee roast, Prawn Pepper fry, & Chicken 65 to go with drinks. For the Main course it was Appam, Chicken Stew , Beef Fry, Chicken Biriyani & Pineapple Raita. For the dessert it was our home fav " Banoffee pie.Our guest was so happy to see & try so many different variety of food. He kept saying very good for every dish that he tasted & also said it was of 5 star standard:) Now tell me what else do I need? I was all flying in the air:).Sundays are my maid's off days & I had to manage all by myself. I had told her to cut all the vegetables that I need in the morning itself, so it was easier for me to cook. All went on well & I was able to cook all of the above, except Beef fry under 2 hours. I had made Beef fry the previous night, as it taste better as it gets older.

Since I had some left over Dulce De leche, I thought of baking a cake with it. Xmas season being around the corner, we all want to bake different kinds of goodies. This is a very nice cake to make as part of your X'mas baking. I just baked this cake this afternoon & its so moist & yummy. The flavor, texture is amazing & I loved this cake. My lill Zion also loved it & had a big slice, which is very unusual of him. The recipe is very simple just like the way I make butter cake, with just an addition of Dulce de Leche. If you have been following my blog, then you know that I have a post on how to make Dulce de leche. Just to add color & make the picture look bright, I just chopped some grapes, cranberries & garnished the cake. I also sprinkled some icing sugar to give it a Xmas feeling. This is how I made the cake. 

Serves: 15 slices

Preparation time: 15 mins

Baking time: 40- 45 mins

Ingredients:

• 1 cup +2 tbspn of Plain Flour
• 180 gms Salted Butter
• 1.5 Tspn of baking powder
• 1/4 Tin or 7 tspn of Dulce de leche sauce
• 2 Large eggs
• 1/2 cup of sugar
• 1/4 tspn of salt
• 1 Tspn Vanilla essence

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 175°C and place rack in centre of oven. Butter and line an 8-inch Chiffon cake pan/round cake tin/6 inch square tin. 
2. In a large bowl, sift together the flour, baking powder and salt.
3. In the mixing bowl beat the butter, Dulce de leche and sugar until smooth. Continue beating on high speed until light and fluffy for 3 mins. Add the eggs, one at a time, mixing well after each addition. Add the vanilla  and beat until incorporated.This should take about 2 mins.
4. Add the flour mixture and mix just until incorporated. Or for 1/2 minute on high speed with the electric beater. Pour the batter into the prepared pan and smooth the top.
5. Bake for about 40 - 45 mins.
6. Remove the cake from the oven and place on a wire rack to cool for about 20 minutes. Remove the cake from the pan and cool completely.

Dulce de Leche

Dulce de Leche name sounds so difficult to pronounce right? But this is definitely not difficult to make. This is nothing but slowly heating sweetened milk. This sauce is a heat & soul of many famous desserts. One of the desserts that is easy & I often make is "Banoffee Pie" Everyone must try this pie &its definitely a crowd pleaser. I have also used this sauce to make ice cream & its turned out superb. Well you can make this sauce very thick or semi thick consistency . Depending on what you want to make you can alter your cooking time. I have pictures of both thick sauce & soft sauce. 

The first time I made I just took 3 whistles & my sauce was a little running & it would drip off from the sides of the pie. This time I cooked for longer, until 8 whistles & it was perfect the way I wanted. It might be a little difficult to spread it on top of the pie, but I used my hands & it was like soft fondant. I flattened the sauce with my fingers & layers it on top of the pie.  If you don't have a pressure cooker, then you can slow cook it in a heavy bottom sauce pan for an hour.  You can use this in your butter cream frosting as well. 

This is how I made the sauce...

You can make 2, 6 inch pies with 1 tin of Milk Maid

1. In pressure cooker place the condensed milk in a bowl with water covered till the neck of the tin. Cook this on low flame for about 20 - 25 mins until 8 to 10 whistles.
2. Once the cooker is cooled, remove it carefully & place it under the running water to cool.
3. Once its cooled remove the tin cover & keep it in the fridge for it to cool for some more time
4. I generally make it the previous day & leave it at room temperature to cool down. Once the tin is opened, I refrigerate.

For desserts recipes with Dulce de leche  Click here & here

This image is a little thinner sauce & for this you need to take 3 to 4 whistles enough in the pressure cooker.

Note:
When I do this I always stay away from the kitchen, coz we have heard of cooker burst stories, so being a little cautious. I have made this 4 times & have never had any problem in the past.