I know, I know...there's been a lot of talk about DDL in the blogosphere. And I'm joining in with this cake I've made a couple of times at home, and it has never disappointed me. I say me, because Ro is such a sucker for anything chocolate and anything caramel, butterscotch, praline etc. is of not so much importance to him. I'd baked this 3 layer mocha cake (which tasted more like a chocolate cake) with whipped cream frosting a few weeks back and since I wasn't too happy about it, Ro took it upon himself to finish off the entire thing....in a matter of 2 weeks that is. And I was getting sick of this cake in the refrigerator staring back at me, and had to have something else to feast on while Ro indulged in this mocha disaster.
I also thought I'd have to make ddl the scary way (in the pressure cooker) and so was putting this off for a long long time. Lucky for me, it was available at the local store under the name caramel and a small note saying its ddl. So fear not people, at least those in UK, just check for Nestle Carnation caramel ..its the same damn thing! Strangely though, the Carnation ddl just didnt do the trick for me..I mean I thought I would finish off half the can just on its own (like how all the other bloggers out there had mentioned and like how i normally do with the condensed milk), but this was unappealing and was a bit of a bummer really. I cant point my finger and say, yes, that was the problem, but it just didn't hit the right spot. I had plans to make Jamie Oliver's banoffee pie, but since caramel is the base and since I didn't really like it on its own, I am not going to attempt doing that. Well, unless I get the proper ddl bar from an Argentinian store or something like that (high-frikking-unlikely). The ddl flavour from Haagen-Dazs is so yummy, I thought it would be more or less like that. Silly me, for thinking that.
Anyhoo, I first incorporated my condensed milk pound cake recipe into the ddl cake, and it turned out good. Then I stumbled upon Divya's ddl cake recipe and found out that was a tad easier than my method. Since I had all the time in the world, I thought I'd even make a blog post out of it.
I halved/tweaked Divya's recipe a bit (I knew I was going to hog the entire thing on my own)
Icing sugar- 1/2 cup
Butter- 1/2 cup (113 grams)
Nestle Carnation Dulce de leche- 1/2 cup
Egg- 1 large
Vanilla extract- 1/2 tsp
All purpose flour- 85 gms
Baking powder- 1/2 tsp
Salt- a pinch
Mix together the flour, baking powder and salt. Keep aside.
Beat butter and sugar till light and fluffy.
Add ddl and mix till well combined.
Reduce speed to the lowest and add the flour . Beat until just mixed.
Add the egg and vanilla extract and mix well again. I did this on low speed and then pulsed just to get it all together.
Grease a 9 inch cake pan or line a cupcake tray with 6 cups and pour in the batter.
Bake in an oven pre heated at 180C for 40 to 45 minutes and for cupcakes about 30 to 35 minutes.
Do the skewer test and if it comes out clean, you know what to do :)
I drizzled some left over ddl on top of the cake. Loved it to bits.
Really, you cant go wrong with this cake. And for all those who don't get ready made ddl (mom are you listening???), check out this step-by-step procedure on Divya's blog. And no I would never try this method because of my fear of pressure cookers, which will haunt me forever I guess :O
Sending this to Sweets for a Saturday hosted over at Lisa's
Sending this to Sweets for a Saturday hosted over at Lisa's
