Week 24, July 14,2014 ~ Dulce de Leche Cupcakes

This was one fancy cupcake! When I was at Disney World is was in Epcot Mexico and happened upon Mexican Vanilla! I had heard it was really good but it is not that easy to come by in the states so I just had to buy it at Disney. It was pretty cheap for pure vanilla, only $10 bucks for a decent size bottle. 

So I knew I wanted to use it but I didn't know what to make. I decided to go with the theme and make a vanilla cupcake filled with Dulce de Leche. Then I made a mascarpone whipped cream with cayenne hot fudge I had left over from my cayenne cupcakes. I will be honest I couldn't tell a real difference between the Mexican Vanilla and the Madagascar Bourbon Vanilla I normally use. If I was using my noggin I would have made cupcakes with both and done a taste test. I probably would have been able to tell that way. Oh well, that's a project for another day. The Dulce de Leche was "semi homemade" in that I made it from a can of sweetened condensed milk. Dulce de Leche is just caramelized milk and sugar. It was time consuming but super easy and everyone said it was good (I had nothing to compare it to but I like caramelized anything!) I think that is all there is to say about these...

The recipe makes 12 cupcakes!

For the Dulce de Leche 

-1 can sweetened condensed milk

- kosher salt

1. Preheat oven to 425. Empty the contents of a can into an oven-proof dish; sprinkle with some kosher salt and tightly cover it with foil.

2. Place the covered dish in a larger casserole pan and fill it up with water until it reaches three quarters of the up the covered dish to create a water bath. Bake for 60-90 minutes, checking the water every 30 minutes. I ended up cooking mine for 90 minutes but I probably could have taken it out around the 70-75 minute mark. 

It is ready when it takes on a brown and caramel-like appearance. Remove from the oven and whisk to smoothness. Let cool before filling the cupcakes. I ended up having a like extra so you probably could have melted it down and thinned it out with milk or something and drizzled it on top of the cupcakes at the end. 

For the Vanilla Cupcake:

• 1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour 
• 1 1/4 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 2 large eggs
• 3/4 cup sugar
• 1 1/2 tsp pure Mexican vanilla extract--or whatever you have
• 1/2 cup canola oil
• 1/2 cup buttermilk 

Preheat the oven to 350°F and line a cupcake/muffin pan with cupcake liners.

1. In a medium bowl, whisk together 1¼ cups flour, 1¼ tsp baking powder, ½ tsp baking soda and ½ tsp salt. Set flour mix aside.
2. In the bowl of an electric mixer, beat 2 eggs with the whisk attachment on medium speed (15-20 seconds).
3. Add ¾ cup sugar and continue to beat on medium speed (30 seconds).
4. Add vanilla and oil and beat on medium speed (1 minute)
5. Reduce mixer speed to medium/low and slowly add about half of the flour mixture. Add half of the buttermilk, then the rest of the flour mix and the rest of the milk. Beat until just combined and smooth, scraping down the sides of the mixing bowl. The batter should be thin.
6. Pour batter into a lined muffin pan. Fill to about ½ full.
7. Bake for 12 -14 minutes at 350°F. Let them cool in the pan for a couple minutes, then remove.
8. Once cool fill with the Dulce de Leche.

For the chocolate mascarpone whipped cream:

• 8 oz Mascarpone cheese
• 1 cup of heavy whipping cream
• 1/2 cup hot fudge (the recipe for my Cayenne hot fudge is below)
• 1/2 cup of sugar

In the bowl of an electric mixer, whisk the mascarpone cheese, heavy whipping cream and hot fudge. Gradually increase the speed over a few seconds till on medium-high.  Slowly pour in the sugar. Beat on medium-high until soft peaks form--this should not take more than a minute or 2...gradually lower the speed until you turn off the mixer.

This frosting is not good to leave out--it will melt so you should refrigerate these--especially if it's summer!

For the Cayenne Hot Fudge:

The original recipe made 2 cups which was way too much so unless you want extra for ice cream or something the recipe below is just for a cup which is plenty for 12 cupcakes.

• 1/4 cup granulated sugar
• 3/4 cup heavy cream
• 1 tbsp light corn syrup
• 4 tbsp Lindt chili chocolate bar-chopped
• 1 tbsp unsalted butter
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1/8 tsp cayenne pepper

Add all the ingredients to a medium sauce pan, except for the vanilla, and cook over medium heat. Whisk occasionally until mixture comes to a low boil and then whisk continuously until the mixture thickens and looks like fudge. Remove from heat and whisk in the vanilla. Store in a mason jar and use once cool.