Dulce de Leche Loaf Cake

If you know me, you know I am much more of a cake girl than an ice cream girl.

I think it’s because I’m always cold and therefore, am not the biggest fan of cold desserts. Everything about cake is glorious and I don’t discriminate between types. Yep, I’m definitely a cake girl. Always have been, always will be.

Like I said, I don’t discriminate between types but for some reason I do particularly enjoy cakes baked in a loaf pan. They just seem a bit rustic and old fashioned to me. When I was little, my favorite thing in the whole world was pound cake and I remember getting a slice once a week at the farmer’s market with my mom. Just a bite of that buttery, rich cake sent me to heaven. Some things never change.

This cake has all the goodness of a rich, buttery pound cake but with an added bonus! Dulce de leche swirled into the batter. Seriously. If you’ve never tried this at home, friends, the time has come.

This is another recipe I developed for my friends over at Starbucks. I’d pair it with their new Caramel K-Cup flavor to heighten that dulce de leche goodness even more. While I don’t snack on cake every afternoon {I wish}, I love having a cup of coffee and a small piece of cake every once in a while as an afternoon treat…especially in the fall. The temperatures get cooler, sweaters get cuter and cake paired with a steaming cup of coffee just works. Need I say more?

You can find dulce de leche in the Hispanic section of most major grocery stores. Or, you could go all DIY and make your own from scratch. I’ve never done that before but I hear it can be done in a slow cooker. Next time I make this I might attempt that. The canned version is really, really, really good though. And no one has to know the difference.

Dulce de Leche Loaf Cake

serves 6-8

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Ingredients:

2 cups flour

1 cup brown sugar

3 eggs

1 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

2 sticks unsalted butter, room temperature

2 tsp vanilla extract

2 tbsp milk

dulce de leche {found in the Hispanic section of most large supermarkets…or you can make your own}

Directions:

Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Spray a 9″ loaf pan with nonstick cooking spray and set aside.

Cream together the brown sugar and butter until light and fluffy. Add the eggs, one by one, beating after each addition. Add the vanilla.

In another bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder and salt. Add to the wet ingredients along, with the milk, and mix well.

Spread half the batter in your prepared loaf pan. Drop three heaping spoonfuls of dulce de leche right on top of the batter. Be generous here! Then, smooth the rest of the batter on top, sealing the edges around the pan. Take a butter knife and run it through the batter to swirl the caramel filling, then place in the oven.

Bake for 60 minutes, or until golden and edges pull away from the pan. Let cool for 10 minutes in the pan then invert out onto a flat surface to finish cooling.

Time:

1 hour 15 minutes