Dulce de Leche Vanilla Bean Pound Cake

This cake recipe was one of two recipes I used to make my eldest son’s second birthday cake – the second was the Double Chocolate Chip Pound Cake. The two flavors together made up the base of the cake along with a salted toffee Swiss meringue buttercream. The dulce de leche brought a depth of flavor and richness not found in a more typical vanilla cake and paired well with both the chocolate and the salted toffee flavors of the other cake components.

This was one of my earliest efforts at a sculpted cake – he had requested a “bump” truck and I wanted to make him something that looked like one of his toys but that he could eat. While I would say that my decorating and sculpting efforts have improved over the years, I have very fond memories of this cake and how thrilled he was with his “bump” truck!

Dulce de Leche Vanilla Bean Pound Cake

Adapted from Condensed Milk Pound Cake recipe in

The Sweet Spot.

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Course: Dessert

Cuisine: American

Keyword: cake, caramel, dulce de leche, pound cake, sweetened condensed milk, vanilla

Servings: 12 slices

Ingredients

• 2 cup unsalted butter room temperature
• 2 ⅔ cup all purpose flour
• 1 ½ teaspoon baking powder
• 1 cup sugar
• 1 vanilla bean chopped (or an additional 2 tsp vanilla)
• 2 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 teaspoon salt
• ½ cup sweetened condensed milk
• 1 cup dulce de leche
• 6 eggs large, room temperature

Instructions

• Preheat oven to 325 degrees F. Generously grease and flour 2 – 9″x5″ loaf pans and set aside.
• Sift together the flour and baking powder, set aside.
• If you are using the vanilla bean, place it and the sugar in the bowl of a food processor fitted with the metal blade and pulse until the vanilla bean is finely ground. Sift the sugar and vanilla bean through a fine-mesh sieve into the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, add the butter and cream until light and fluffy (about 2 minutes).
• If you are not using the vanilla bean, simply place the sugar and butter in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment and cream until light and fluffy (about 2 minutes).
• Add the condensed milk and dulce de leche and beat until well combined scraping down the bowl as necessary.
• Add the sifted dry ingredients and mix on low speed until no traces of flour remain.
• Add the eggs and mix just until combined.
• Add the vanilla extract and finish mixing by hand to incorporate the vanilla and finish incorporating the eggs.
• Split the batter evenly between the prepared pans and place in the oven. Bake until the top is dark golden brown and a tester comes out with a few moist crumbs (this may take 45 minutes to an hour) Cool completely in the pans before un-molding.