Dulce De Leche Cupcakes

New Year's resolution: Bake more cupcakes. Start: Today! Those cute little cakes are true charmers... and with dulce de leche... Now, who wouldn't love that?! I hardly know anyone who doesn't like caramel. Let me tell you, even dogs like these cupcakes. But see below.

These were intended for Andrea's birthday party today. As I was on the way to her, I accidentally ran into Ina, another friend of mine from the office. I was so happy to see her that I spontaneously gave her two cupcakes for her and her husband who is sick at the moment. Cake, in my opinion, is the best medicine! Later this afternoon, I got a thank-you-sms with two pictures. One showing Ina and her husband taking a bite of the cupcakes (I swear they looked even sweeter than the cupcakes) and the other one showing the two emtpy paper cases on their dinner table. Isn't that cute?! Things like that really cheer me up! Also, I had a wonderful afternoon at Andrea's. So many funny moments... Including a tarot session with the girls and a cupcake-rescue operation. The cupcakes were placed on the living room-table and Edith's dog darted for them as soon as it was released from the leash. "Amie" seemed to love the icing... well, one cupcake was "contaminated" after that, but - thank God - we managed to save the rest :-)

Recipe
(from: Süsse Sünden by Tarek Malouf from the Hummingbird Bakery)

For the dough:

80g soft butter
280g sugar
1/2 sachet of vanilla sugar
240g flour
1 tablespoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 eggs
240ml milk
150g dulce de leche

Preheat the oven to 190°C. Line a 12-mould muffin pan with paper cases.

In a bowl, mix butter, sugar, vanilla sugar, flour, baking powder and salt with an electric hand mixer on low speed until you have a fine crumbly batter.

Mix milk and eggs and add to the cake batter in three additions while constantly mixing. Scrape down the bowl with a rubber spatula from time to time. Mix until all is well combined. Add the dulce de leche  and mix until you have a smooth batter.

Fill your batter into the prepared cases. Don't overfill them or they will spill while baking! Two thirds is fine. Bake in the middle of the oven for about 20 minutes. Check with a wooden skewer whether they are done. Let cool completely after baking.

For the frosting:

500g icing sugar
160g very soft butter
50ml milk
100g dulce de leche, plus some more for decorating if you like

In a bowl, mix butter and icing sugar with an electric mixer on low speed until you have a powdery batter. Slowly add the milk while constantly mixing. On high speed, mix until you have a fluffy batter. Then, add the dulce de leche and mix well.

Spread the frosting on your cupcakes with a palette knife. Remember, I told you about Myriam und die Meisterbäcker?! In one of the series, she and Michelle explain how it's done!

If you like, you can use some more dulce de leche to decorate your cupcakes with a piping bag.