December is a month when I bake a lot. I mostly don’t try new recipes, just stick to the tried and tested ones. So the cake is always the Yellow cake from the Family Baking Book (by America’s Test Kitchen) and the butter cream is also from the same book.

I never try new recipes when the cakes are meant for someone else. So I was in a bit of dilemma whether to try this Dulce De Leche frosting recipe for my son’s birthday party.

I wanted a cricket pitch in the middle of the cake and dulce de leche(DDL) was the best suited colour for that.

So I whipped up one batch of DDL icing and it came out nice. After frosting the cricket pitch in the birthday cake, I used the rest for icing the cupcakes.

I didn’t add too much of the icing in the cupcakes, just about a tablespoon each and then smoothed it around with a butter knife. And then some sprinkles for the final touch.

The original recipe calls for 1/2 tsp salt. On the day I made the icing, the salt – sweet balance was perfect. I had some left over icing which I froze and when I used them later, I felt the saltness was dominating. So I have put only 1/4 tsp sugar in the icing recipe below.

The cupcake recipe is same as the birthday cake and you can refer this post for the recipe.

Ingredients:

• Unsalted Butter   :  1 cup , softened and at room temp.
• Icing Sugar            : 2 cups
• Salt                            : 1/4 tsp
• Dulce De Leche    : 1/2 cup**

**There are many ways of preparing DDL. I prefer the pressure cooker method as I use cooker on a regular basis and I am quite comfortable with it.

Method: 

1. Cut the butter into chunks. In a big bowl, beat the butter with a hand mixer until its light and fluffy. About 3-5 minutes.
2. Add the powdered sugar and mix with a spoon. This is to avoid sugar flying all over the kitchen. Add the salt too. Beat again until the sugar is fully incorporated.
3. Mix in dulce de leche and beat again for a minute or two until its combined.
4. Use as desired on cupcakes. I used a butter knife to roughly smooth the top and decorated with sprinkles.  
5. I used less than a tablespoon for each cupcake as I found that amount to be perfect. This recipe gave me enough to coat about 24 cupcakes. If making medium rosettes or swirls, this will be enough for about 12 cupcakes.