Dulce de Leche Cake

Moist, sweet, luscious, melt-in-your-mouth Dulce de Leche Cake. Simple homemade vanilla cake is soaked in sweetened condensed milk and homemade dulce de leche. While the cook time looks long, I promise this recipe is mostly hands off and very easy!

A Sweet, Creamy, Dulce de Leche Poke Cake!

Looking for your new favorite summer (or anytime) dessert? This. Recipe. Is. It! Seriously, I am so thrilled with how this dulce de leche cake came out, and I know I’ll be making it again and again. With a soft, fluffy cake soaked in sweetened condensed milk, and a cold, creamy dulce de leche topping, it’s a simple recipe that’s drenched in irresistible flavor. Literally!

If you have a sweet tooth at all, this cake will be right up your alley. It’s a poke cake, and the star of the show is sweetened condensed milk, used as-is for the liquid part of the recipe and cooked down into a super-thick dulce de leche for the topping. After chilling, this recipe is quite possibly a better cold dessert than ice cream. And I don’t say that lightly.

Why You’ll Love This Recipe

How do I love dulce de leche cake (and how will you love it, too)? Let me count the ways!

• It’s Easy: Every step from making the dulce de leche topping to baking the cake is very simple.
• It’s Impressive: Friends and family will swoon over the complex flavors and cold, creamy texture of this poke cake.
• Poke cake! I for one am a huge fan of soaking cakes in delicious, creamy goodness, and this cake literally uses sweetened condensed milk for that. It’s so indulgent.
• Sheet cake: There are no layers or frosting to fret over here. Just bake the cake in a baking dish, and then spread the condensed milk and dulce de leche right over the top. No muss, no fuss.
• It’s Different: This cake is sort of like a classic Tres Leches Cake, but with a deep golden caramel-y twist that will make your mouth happy. There’s nothing quite like it!

Is Dulce de Leche the Same as Caramel?

While both are utterly scrumptious and have a luxurious, browned-sugar taste, dulce de leche is different from caramel. Caramel is made with just water and sugar, and occasionally a little butter and cream at the end if you are making a certain type of soft caramel candy or caramel sauce.

Dulce de leche, on the other hand, is made by slowly simmering milk and sugar together until they become ultra-thick, golden-brown, and scrumptious! To get ahead of the long process, bakers and cooks often use canned sweetened condensed milk, and simply cook the can on the stove, in a slow cooker, or in a pressure cooker to finish the milk-and-sugar cooking process. That’s what I’m doing with this cake recipe. It’s easy!

What’s in This Cake?

To make this luxuriously sweet dulce de leche cake, you will need some basic baking ingredients and a couple of cans of sweetened condensed milk. Here’s the list in more detail:

• Sweetened Condensed Milk: Your favorite brand of sweetened condensed milk. Be sure not to get evaporated milk by accident!
• Eggs: Large, whole eggs.
• Sugar: Regular granulated sugar is fine, or you could use brown sugar, raw sugar, etc.
• Vegetable Oil: A different neutral cooking oil, such.as avocado or canola may be used instead.
• Sour Cream: Plain yogurt or plain Greek yogurt can be used instead.
• Vanilla: Pure vanilla extract, or substitute vanilla bean paste for an even more intense vanilla flavor.
• Flour: I use both all-purpose flour and cake flour for an extra-luscious texture.
• Baking Powder and Baking Soda: Using both keeps the cake batter light, and then adds a second rise in the oven, so that you don’t end up with a heavy cake.
• Salt

How to Make Dulce de Leche Cake with Boiled Condensed Milk

Okay, let’s roll up our sleeves and get baking! Making a dulce de leche cake starts out with the easy and hands-off process of making the dulce de leche. If you are nervous about boiling the can, don’t be! It’s very safe. Just be sure to keep the can well-covered with water while it is cooking, and don’t shake or jiggle the pan during the process. And always be sure to handle hot objects (like the can after it has cooked) with care.

• Make the Dulce De Leche. Remove the paper label from one of the cans of sweetened condensed milk. To cook it on the stove, place the can in a saucepan and cover it with water. Bring it to a boil and let it boil for three hours, adding water as needed to keep the can well covered. Alternatively, cook it in the crockpot, covered with 2 inches of water, for 9 hours on low. Once the can is done cooking, carefully remove it from the boiling water, and let it cool.

• Get Ready to Bake. Next, preheat your oven to 350°F, and spray a 9×13” baking dish with baking spray. Set this aside while you make the cake batter.
• Mix the Wet Ingredients. Place the eggs and sugar in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment, and beat together on medium speed for 5 minutes, until the mixture is fluffy. Then add in the oil, sour cream, and vanilla, and mix until well combined.

• Add the Dry Ingredients. Add the flour, cake flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt to the wet ingredients. Mix until just incorporated – do not over mix! 

Bake the Cake. Scrape the batter into your prepared baking pan, and smooth out the top with a spatula. Bake it on the center rack for 35 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean, or with a few moist crumbs. 

• Poke the Cake and Add Condensed Milk. Once the cake is baked, take it out of the oven, and let it cool for about 10 minutes. Then use a fork, chopstick, or large toothpick to poke holes in it. Pour the uncooked can of sweetened condensed milk over the cake, smooth it out, and let it sink in.

• Top with Dulce de Leche. Pour the dulce de leche over the cake and spread it out evenly.
• Chill. Chill the dulce de leche cake for about 8 hours before serving.
• Enjoy! Serve the chilled dulce de leche cake, cut into squares.

Baker’s Notes

What more should you know about making this cake? There are actually a few more tips and insights I’d like to share about this recipe. Each tip will help make sure the recipe turns out just right.

• Boiling the Sweetened Condensed Milk: If you want to skip boiling the sweetened condensed milk, you can simply buy a can of dulce de leche to use instead, or use my homemade dulce de leche over the top. (If you do that, I recommend cooking it a little longer till it’s extra thick.)
• Mixing and Overmixing: Once the dry ingredients are added to the recipe, make sure you only mix until just combined. Overmixing can cause the gluten to overdevelop, resulting in a crumbly cake.
• Adding the Condensed Milk and Dulce de Leche: Don’t let the cake cool completely before poking the holes and adding the sweetened condensed milk and dulce de leche. Adding these ingredients while the cake is still warm helps them soak in better, resulting in a rich, moist cake.
• Cinnamon Option: Adding 2 teaspoons of cinnamon to the cake is also really delicious! It gives the cake a beautiful warmth.
• Extra Toppings: I didn’t feel the need to top the cake with anything more than the thick dulce de leche, but if you want, you could spread some whipped cream or Cool Whip on top like you would with a tres leches cake.

Storing and Freezing Dulce de Leche Cake

While this cake can be safely frozen and thawed, I really don’t recommend it because the quality can be affected by freezing and thawing.

Sweetened condensed milk tends to separate when frozen, and so does dulce de leche. Normally, you can just stir the condensed milk or dulce de leche well to smooth it out again, but you can’t really smooth it in or on top of a cake! Still, if you want to freeze the leftovers, you can place them in an airtight container and freeze for one month or so. Thaw in the fridge before reheating. 

More Decadent Cake Recipes

• Chocolate Espresso Cake
• Red Velvet Dream Cake
• Rumchata Pound Cake
• Triple Coconut Cheesecake
• Easy Cinnamon Roll Cake
• Peanut Butter Cake
• Chocolate Peanut Butter Dream Cake

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