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
