Browsing Tag

Dulce de Leche

Hump Day Dulce de Leche cake

By November 20, 2013 Recipes

November is the calm before the holiday event circus. Except that we here in Toronto already saw the fat man in the ring and he wasn’t wearing a Santa hat.

Never mind.

We have business to get on with and what better pause from madness than a sweet for your sweeties?

Here’s a recipe for Hump Day. Around here, we like to break up the week with guests for a casual dinner. Invited friends or family understand it could be soup and salad, but Hump Day always includes a little sweet.

You can thank me after you’ve licked your plate.

Dulce de Leche Cake
(good for chocolate and caramel lovers and…wait? Isn’t that everyone?)

What you need:

  • 10- inch baking pan
  • 1 cup hot coffee, freshly brewed, the stronger the better
  • ½ cup cocoa powder
  • ¾ cup packed light brown sugar
  • ⅓ cup plain yogurt
  • 2 tsp pure vanilla extract
  • 1 stick (½ cup) unsalted butter at room temperature
  • 1¼ cups granulated sugar
  • 2 large eggs
  • 1¼ cups all-purpose flour
  • ¾ tsp baking soda
  • 1 tsp salt

For icing:

  • ½ cup dulce de leche*
  • 1 tsp kosher salt
  • Skor Bars

What you do:

  1. Preheat oven to 350 F.
  2. Grease cake pan and line bottom with parchment paper.
  3. Pour hot coffee in a bowl and stir in cocoa powder until it dissolves. Add brown sugar, yogurt, and vanilla. Stir thoroughly until blended.
  4. Beat butter and granulated sugar on medium speed of electric mixer until fluffy and pale yellow (approx 3 min). Scrape down the sides of the bowl and add eggs. Mix for another 2 minutes.
  5. In a medium bowl, sift together flour, baking soda, and salt. With the mixer on low, add ⅓ of the flour mixture and ½ of the coffee mixture. Scrape down the bowl and repeat. Remove the bowl from the mixer and fold in the remaining flour with a spatula until all of the ingredients are blended.
  6. Pour batter into the prepared cake pan.
  7. Bake for 25 minutes then rotate pan and bake for another 20 min.
  8. Ovens vary so make sure to check your cake: a toothpick inserted in the centre of the cake should come out clean. 
  9. Remove the pan from the oven and let the cake cool in the pan for 20 minutes.
  10. Turn cake out on to a clean plate, remove parchment and turn back on to a wire rack to cool completely.
  11. In a food processor, pulse the Skor bar pieces 3 or 4 times.
  12. Put cooled cake on serving dish. Pour dulce de leche into a small pot and let it melt over low heat until it is just liquids. Spoon over the cooled cake, then sprinkle salt on top.
  13. Garnish the top with Skor Bar Crumble and serve.

For those who want to kick it up a notch, replace the Skor Bars with Hazelnut Brittle. Nut brittles are great garnishes for ice cream and other treats. My favourite is hazelnut, but I have used almonds with good results. If you are not an experienced baker, take your time making this or any other kind of candy over a hot flame. Watch it carefully. No multi-tasking allowed.

What you need:

  • ½ cup granulated sugar
  • 2 tablespoons water
  • 2 tablespoons light corn syrup
  • 1 tablespoon unsalted butter
  • 1 ¼ cup skinned roasted hazelnuts
  • ¼ teaspoon salt
  • ¼ teaspoon baking soda
  • 1¼ teaspoon pure vanilla extract

What you do:

  1. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper then grease the parchment paper lightly.
  2. Chop nuts in a food processor.
  3. Combine sugar, water, corn syrup, and butter in a medium pot and bring to a boil, stirring until sugar is melted. Cook over moderate heat without stirring until syrup reaches 270 F on a candy thermometer, about 10 minutes.
  4. Stir in chopped nuts, salt, baking soda, and vanilla and cook until mixture is golden, about 3 minutes longer.
  5. Immediately pour the mixture on the prepared parchment and spread it into a thin layer using a spatula. Let the brittle cool completely then break into pieces. Store in an airtight container.
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