This is a vanilla layer cake with dulce de leche in the filling and in the whipped cream frosting. If you haven't tried the magic that is a cake with these flavors, you're in for a treat! The components can be made in advance.
A classic birthday cake
Growing up in Argentina, most birthday cakes were filled with dulce de leche, and most were plain vanilla cakes. Sometimes, you got chocolate cake, but always with the same filling.
Nobody complained, and you have to taste it to understand how fantastic dulce de leche is for simple layer cakes.
However, it made all cakes pretty much the same.
The thing is that it will always be such a fantastic combination that we keep on making them. If you're new to dulce de leche, you're in for a sweet surprise of the best kind.
It can even be made in stages since both the cake layers and the frosting can be made in advance.
Nowadays, chocotorta, an icebox cake, shares the birthday pole position.
How to make dulce de leche layer cake
Mixing: an electric mixer (or stand mixer with the paddle attachment) is highly recommended for this type of cake.
Preparing the springform pans: for layer cakes, you can grease the pans with soft butter, shortening or baking spray. Then, they need a light dusting of flour. This gives me the best results when I remove them.
Sifting
It's an essential step that should not be skipped. It adds air to the batter and is crucial for some dry ingredients, like baking powder, which can clump during storage.
Cake batter
You can make one 9-inch layer and cut it in half, resulting in a wider and shorter cake.
If you bake two 8-inch layers and stack one on top of the other when assembling, the cake will be taller. This is what we did.
Baking
They can be made ahead and kept covered at room temperature for a day or two. Or frozen for a few weeks.
You can also refrigerate them, but I find it makes the crumb denser. But you can, always covered in plastic wrap to prevent dryness.
Filling
You need to use what we call pastry dulce de leche, much thicker than the regular kind. Look for the word Repostero on the label.
The best one available online (that I also use here!) is Vacalin Dulce de Leche Repostero. Another good one is Veronica dulce de leche repostero.
Frosting
The cream is whipped with dulce de leche to create a fantastically smooth, caramel-flavored frosting with a mousse-like consistency.
Vintage Kitchen Tip
This cake is best filled the day before so the flavors settle and meld.
You can assemble the cake in the cake pan (several hours or the day before), using the bottom of the pan as the base. Place one layer, fill it with dulce de leche and place the second layer on top. Then, close the springform ring around the cake again and wrap the whole pan in plastic. That way, the cake is covered and tight. Keep it refrigerated. Frost it close to serving time.
Kitchen Notes
- Organization: read the recipe first and ensure you have ingredients at the correct temperature, utensils and equipment needed, and enough workspace. This will make the process so much easier.
- Baking time: consider that all ovens and pans are different, even if they look similar. The baking time in my recipes is as accurate as possible, but it might take you more or less time. You can use a thermometer(like the OXO oven thermometer) to check that your oven is at the right temperature. I recommend tracking how your oven works and what tiny details you might need to adjust.
- Make ahead: the cake layers can be frozen for a month or kept at room temperature for up to 2 days, always covered in plastic wrap. Fill it up to a day before, but frost it close to serving as whipped cream is best kept cold.
- Make a 3 or 4-layer cake: To make a stunning layered birthday cake, bake the batter in three pans (for 3-layer cake) or bake two and cut them in half (for 4-layer cake). In between, make thinner layers of dulce de leche than the one shown in the photos.
- Chocolate frosting: it also pairs really well. Use classic chocolate ganache or the sweeter chocolate sour cream frosting.
Related recipes you might like:
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Dulce de Leche Cream Cake (vanilla layers)
Ingredients
For the vanilla cake:
- 2 tablespoon shortening, softened, to grease the pans
- 2 tablespoons flour, to flour the pans
- 2 ⅔ cups all-purpose flour, or cake flour
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 1 cup unsalted butter, at room temperature
- 1 ⅔ cups sugar
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 4 eggs, at room temperature
- 1 cup whole milk, at room temperature
For the filling:
- 1 ½ cups dulce de leche , the thick one labeled 'repostero', such as dulce de leche Vacalin, the one I use
For the cream frosting:
- 2 cups heavy cream, cold
- 1 cup dulce de leche
- ½ cup dulce de leche, extra, for piping, optional
Instructions
For the vanilla cake:
- Preheat oven to 350ºF (180ºC).
- Grease two 8-inch (22cm) round springform cake pans with 2 tablespoon shortening. Dust with 2 tablespoons flour, shaking off excess. Reserve.
- Sift 2 ⅔ cups all-purpose flour, 2 teaspoons baking powder and ½ teaspoon salt. Reserve.
- In a large mixing bowl beat soft 1 cup unsalted butter until creamy, about 1 minute.
- Gradually add 1 ⅔ cups sugar, and beat for 4 minutes, until very light. Scrape down the sides of the bowl with a spatula as needed.
- Add 4 eggs, one at a time, and beat until smooth between additions.
- Add the dry ingredients in 3 additions, alternating with 1 cup whole milk and 2 teaspoons vanilla extract in 2 additions; you start and end with the flour mixture. Mix *just* until well integrated and smooth. Overbeating will make the cake tough.
- Pour into the prepared pan and bake for about 30 minutes, or until a cake tester or toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.
- Let the pans cool on wire racks for 15 minutes. Then, remove the cakes and let them cool completely on the wire racks before filling and frosting.
- You can make a 2-layer or a 4-layer cake. Cut the cake in half, trying to cut it as even as possible. To achieve this, start by using a large thin knife, and cut while rotating the cake. With each turn, the knife should go deeper, until you reach the center. At that point the cake will be completely cut in half.
- Spread 1 ½ cups dulce de leche on top of one half, spreading evenly.
- Top with the other cake layer and press lightly. At this point, you can wrap the cake and refrigerate it for 1 day. I put them back in the cake pan, close the springform ring and wrap the whole pan.
For the whipped cream:
- In a large bowl whip 2 cups heavy cream until medium-firm peaks form.
- Fold in 1 cup dulce de leche until it's evenly colored. Use a spatula or beat at low speed but be careful not to curdle it.
- Frost the top and sides of the cake. An offset spatula is a great tool for this.
Carole | Toot Sweet 4 Two says
I'm so very sorry for your loss. Hope you are able to move forward soon. This cake looks amazingly delicious!
Paula Montenegro says
Thanks Carole, so sweet of you!
plasterers bristol says
god, this sounds delicious. Thank you for sharing this.
Simon
Odelle says
Beautiful cake, full of my favorites, buttermilk, filled with dulce de leche & topped with praline....
This cake is perfect for me, a must bake, suitable for any occasion...
I know that this is THE Special Cake for me & my family, many thanks for a superb recipe, a great share...
Regards, Odelle.
Tai says
Or maybe a berry topping?
wp_vknotes_admin says
Hi Tai! I would use fresh strawberries instead of the praline. They are such an amazing combination with the dulce de leche!
Tai says
What are your thoughts about using crushed petit buerre biscuits or similar in place of nuts? Or better to just skip the crunch?
Teresa says
Gorgeous cake! I hope that you, your family and friends, and your community are recovering from the flood now.
Roxana | Roxana's Home Baking says
I absolutely love chocolate and dulce de leche and this cake sounds amazing Paula!
Cocoa and Lavender says
My all time favorite birthday cake was either a simple yellow cake with chocolate frosting, or an iced jelly roll with lemon curd. I am always in search of a really food yellow cake recipe and this buttermilk cake sounds near perfect! We never had dulce de leche or cajata where I grew up, so the filling was either more frosting or raspberry jam, which wasn't too bad either... I hotel the cleanup is going well. Hugs from the desert, David