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This Strawberry Dulce De Leche Cake is heavenly! It’s made with layers of moist vanilla cake filled with dulce de leche and fresh strawberries then finished with vanilla buttercream! A great summer cake!
Strawberry Dulce De Leche Cake
I love the somewhat unique combination of flavors in this cake. You can never go wrong with dulce de leche and when you combine it with the fresh strawberries and vanilla buttercream, it’s refreshing and delicious!
This cake is actually getting a refresh today. I originally posted this recipe several years ago and thought it could use some new photos and tips. But the original inspiration for this cake actually came from one of my favorite restaurants in Miami, Ceviche 105. This cake was on the dessert menu and I fell in love. So naturally I decided to make my own version so I could continue to enjoy it at home.
It’s a relatively simple cake to make, but the soft dulce de leche and strawberries do make it a bit tricky. I definitely recommend checking out my tips prior to putting the cake together.
How to Make Strawberry Dulce De Leche Cake
- Make Cake Layers: These cake layers are from my Moist Vanilla Layer Cake and it’s always a hit. Such a great cake. You’re just making those cake layers and letting them cool.
- Make the Buttercream: Once the cake layers are cooled, make the vanilla buttercream. You’ll want it to be stiff, at least at first, so that you have a good base for the dams you’ll need for the filling layers.
- Build the Cake: To put the cake together, you’ll want to layer sliced strawberries, dulce de leche and vanilla buttercream between each cake layer.
- Frost and Decorate: When the cake is built and has chilled for a bit, frost it and decorate it. I recommend adding the strawberry halves to the top shortly before serving so they look fresh.
Tips for Making This Cake
- Thick Buttercream: Be sure that your buttercream stays nice and thick, at least at first. I know people often scoff at the amount of powdered sugar I use, but it will give you a stiff buttercream that is needed in this cake. The dulce de leche can have a tendency to try to escape, so you want a solid dam between your cake layers to hold everything in. Once you’ce created the dams, you can add a little cream to thin it out a bit.
- Level Your Cakes: I’m always a fan of leveling my cakes, even if they seem fairly level. Particularly with a filling like the one in this cake, you want to avoid the chances that things will move around. Removing the slight dome helps to keep things level and in place.
- Dry Your Strawberries: When preparing the strawberries, make sure that they are completely dry. They add moisture to the filling layers that can make them slip around and contribute to the dulce de leche leaking out.
- Add Piping: Add the piping on top of the cake prior to adding the dulce de leche so that the piping keeps everything in place.
Strawberry Dulce De Leche Cake
- Prep Time: 1 hour 10 minutes
- Cook Time: 22 minutes
- Total Time: 1 hour 32 minutes
- Yield: 12-14 Slices
- Category: Dessert
- Method: Oven
- Cuisine: Latin American
Description
This Strawberry Dulce De Leche Cake is heavenly! It’s made with layers of moist vanilla cake filled with dulce de leche and fresh strawberries and finished with vanilla buttercream!
Ingredients
Cake Layers
- 2 1/2 cups (325g) all purpose flour
- 2 1/2 tsp baking powder
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 3/4 cup (168g) unsalted butter, room temperature
- 1 1/2 cups (310g) sugar
- 3 tbsp vegetable oil
- 1 tbsp vanilla extract
- 4 large eggs
- 1 1/4 cups (300ml) milk
Vanilla Buttercream
- 2 cups (448g) unsalted butter, room temperature
- 8 cups (920g) powdered sugar
- 2 tsp vanilla extract
- 4–5 tbsp cream
- Pinch of salt
Filling
- Two 13.4 oz cans of dulce de leche
- 1 lb strawberries, washed and dried
Instructions
Cake Layers:
- Prepare three 8 inch cake pans with parchment paper circles in the bottom and grease the sides. Preheat oven to 350°F (176°C).
- Combine the flour, baking powder and salt in a medium sized bowl and set aside.
- Add the butter, sugar, oil and vanilla extract to a large mixer bowl and beat together until light in color and fluffy, about 3-4 minutes. Do not skimp on the creaming time.
- Add the eggs one at a time, mixing until mostly combined after each. Scrape down the sides of the bowl as needed to be sure all ingredients are well incorporated.
- Add half of the dry ingredients to the batter and mix until mostly combined.
- Slowly add the milk and mix until well combined. The batter will look curdled, but that’s ok.
- Add the remaining dry ingredients and mix until well combined and smooth. Scrape down the sides of the bowl as needed to be sure all ingredients are well incorporated. Do not over mix the batter.
- Divide the batter evenly between the cakes pans and bake for 22-25 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out with a few crumbs.
- Remove the cakes from the oven and allow to cool for about 2-3 minutes, then remove to cooling racks to cool completely.
Vanilla Buttercream:
- To make the buttercream frosting, beat the butter until smooth.
- Slowly add half of the powdered sugar and mix until smooth.
- Add the vanilla extract, half of the cream and salt and mix until smooth.
- Slowly add the remaining powdered sugar and mix until smooth. Add additional cream, as needed, to get the right consistency of frosting.
To Assemble The Cake:
- To put the cake together, use a large serrated knife to remove the domes from the top of the cakes so that they’re flat. These cakes don’t have a large dome, but I like to make sure they’re completely flat.
- Pipe a dam of frosting around the edge of the cake. It will keep the filling from leaking out of the sides of the cake, so don’t skip this step and be sure the frosting is thick.
- Add5-6 tablespoons of dulce de leche and spread evenly.
- Add a layer of sliced strawberries. Pat them dry before layering so that they don’t add extra moisture to the cake.
- Add a thin, even layer of vanilla buttercream. It should fill in the gaps around the strawberries and give the next layer of cake something to stick to.
- Add the second layer of cake on top of the filling.
- Repeat steps 3, 4 and 5.
- Add the final layer of cake to the top.
- Add a crumb coat to the cake, then refrigerate for about an hour to firm up the frosting and filling.
- Frost the outside of the cake with the remaining buttercream. Refer to my tutorial for frosting a smooth cake, if needed.
- Pipe shells around the top edge of the cake, then spread another 5-6 tablespoons of dulce de leche into an even layer on top of the cake, inside the shells. Place some strawberry halves around the piping.
- Refrigerate the cake until ready to serve.
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1 Slice
- Calories: 961
- Sugar: 116.4 g
- Sodium: 139.5 mg
- Fat: 42.4 g
- Carbohydrates: 139.2 g
- Protein: 9.4 g
- Cholesterol: 119 mg
Categories
More Great Strawberry Recipes
Strawberry Dulce De Leche Ice Cream Pie
Homemade Strawberry Cake
Strawberry Upside Down Cake
Strawberry Pretzel Salad
Fresh Strawberry Cupcakes
Hi what kind of cream
I’m not really sure what you are asking. I don’t see any cream in this cake.
So in the vanilla buttercream cream you say 4 to 5 tbsp cream
Ahh, I use heavy cream.
Thank you
Hi I would like to know what kind of cream
I’m sorry, I don’t understand what you’re asking.
I just see in the vanilla buttercream you say 4 to 5 tbsp cream
I love this recipe! I made homemade dulce de leche by boiling a can of sweetened condensed milk, it was incredible. My grandpa thouroghly enjoyed this cake for his birthday!
Did you use salted or unsalted butter? The recipe doesn’t call for salt.
I used salted
Also do you melt the dulce de leche a bit to spread it? Especially with the smooth layer you have on top?
Because I always have a hard time getting it to spread.
Thank you!
If it’s not spreading well for you, you could heat it up a little bit. You won’t want to hard the whipped cream on top though until it has cooled down.
Hi!
Can’t wait to make this tomorrow for an Argentinian friend who loves dulce de leche, but I was wondering if it would be okay to substitute the buttercream with a heavy whipping cream frosting? I know it’s not as stable so I wasn’t sure if it would hold in the dulce de leche and strawberries?
Thank you!
A stabilized whipped cream should work just fine. Here’s a link to my recipe if you like. You may want to double or triple it for the cake. https://www.lifeloveandsugar.com/how-to-make-homemade-whipped-cream/
Thank you so much!!! I will try it out!
What store bought dulce de leche brand would you recommend? Thank you.
I believe mine was Nestle.
Looks delicious! Any thoughts on how Swiss Meringue Buttercream would work with this cake?
It should be delicious!
I’m new to your blog and look forward to it everyday. I’m an adventurous baker so I’m always looking for something new to try. I was directed to you by “Brown-eyed Baker” (another awesome blogger). Anyway, I was looking to see what you had in your recipe collection that had dulce de leche for a special request from my beautiful assistant at work who is from El Salvador. Her birthday is this month and I wanted to make her something super special. I think this recipe is it…looks beautiful and delish. I was also very excited to see that you and your “hubs” attend church together and was super excited to see that it was Northpoint. I record Andy Stanley’s messages on “Your Move” every Sunday morning. You are truly blessed to be able to be a part of his congregation. My hat off to you for sharing your church experience with others!
I just made this cake and even though the consistency is great and taste delicious, I only had enough for two 7 inch pans! What did I do wrong? I followed the recipe closely but now I’m making another batch to have enough for 3 layers. Great recipe combination I just love strawberries and dulce de leche (I sometimes top strawberries with a dollop of dulce de leche straight our of the jar) lol
That seems really strange! I’m sorry you weren’t able to get enough batter from it. It’s so hard to say what might have been wrong. I’m glad you’re able to make another layer though. It’s definitely a great flavor combo!
I think I figured it out, my ingredients weren’t at room temp so maybe that prevented it from getting to the right volume and quantity of batter. (?) I will definitely try again and this time really leave everything out on the counter a while before I start baking. Thanks for the response!
I also didn’t get enough batter out of this recipe. I barely had enough to cover the bottom of 3 – 8 inch pans. My buttermilk, egg whites and butter were all at room temperature. I converted the measurements for the dry ingredients to grams and weighed them out. Maybe I made an error somewhere?
Such a lovely flavour combination!
wow this looks SO good.. love anything with dulce de leche. definitely craving a slice right now. love it!
What a gorgeous cake! Love the strawberry and dulce de leche combo!
That is one incredible and stunning cake, Lindsay. A perfectly layered cake never gets old :).
I love your story about Sunday mornings. Attending church together is my favorite thing about weekends. I always make sure to volunteer during one of our other services – church just wouldn’t be the same if my hubby and I couldn’t attend together. So glad you’re enjoying being back to your routine 🙂
Thanks Kathi! Yea, I think I’ll miss the volunteering on Sunday, but it’s probably better for now. 🙂
Oh wow! This cake is the cake of my dreams. It is such a glorious combination of flavors!
This is absolutely perfect and beautiful, and is pretty much everything I love in a cake! Dulce de leche is my favorite, and paired with strawberries, I can only imagine how tasty! Pinned 🙂
Thanks Rachel! And thanks for the pin!