Caramel Latte Cake

Y'all, this one is super easy. It's a modified cake mix but by the time you add the extra stuff you totally cannot tell it's a mix! It has a lovely dense, moist texture and it tastes AMAZING. Basically when you add the dulce de leche filling it tastes like a caramel frappuccino from Starbucks, plus buttercream. 

CARAMEL LATTE CAKE

3 cups yellow cake mix

1 cup warm water

1 tablespoon instant espresso coffee granules

1/3 cup butter, melted

3 eggs

Filling:

1 can (13.4 oz) dulce de leche 

½ cup hot water

3 tablespoons instant espresso coffee granules 

1 tablespoon dark rum or 1 teaspoon rum extract plus 2 teaspoons water

Buttercream: (This is a double batch which should give you more than enough, but it never hurts to have extra!)

4 sticks REAL butter (none of that margarine or shortening stuff)

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

8 cups powdered sugar

4-6 Tbsp milk, add more or less until spreadable consistency

Directions:

1. Heat oven to 350°F. Prepare three 8 inch pans with shortening and flour, or one 9x13 pan. 

2. In large bowl, place cake mix. In 1-cup glass measuring cup, stir 1 cup warm water and 1 tablespoon espresso granules until granules are dissolved. Add espresso mixture, butter and eggs to cake mix. Beat with electric mixer on low speed 30 seconds; scrape bowl. Beat on medium speed 2 minutes longer. Pour batter equally into pans, or all into one 9x13. 

3. For the three 8 inch pans, bake for approximately 20 minutes or until toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean (they don't take long to bake because they are thin layers). For the 9x13 you may need slightly more baking time. Cool in pan on cooling rack about 15 minutes, then turn out of pans. 

4. Meanwhile, spoon dulce de leche into medium microwavable bowl. In small bowl, mix 1/2 cup hot water, 3 tablespoons espresso granules and the rum; stir into dulce de leche until smooth. Microwave uncovered on High 2 to 3 minutes, stirring after about 1 minute with whisk, until pourable. Set aside while cake cools. 

5. To make the buttercream: beat butter in mixer with vanilla and milk. Slowly add powdered sugar until fully incorporated, and then beat on low medium speed until smooth and fluffy. 

6. From here, if you did a 9x13, you can poke holes into the cake with a wooden spoon and pour the dulce de leche filling on top. 

If you did a layered cake, you will want to fill each layer with buttercream to keep the filling from seeping into the cake and then add the chilled dulce de leche filling on top of the buttercream, but not too much because it will ooze out of the sides! Then ice the cake with buttercream and drizzle dulce de leche filling on top.

Tips: 
* The filling is really liquid-y (technical term) since it actually is meant as a "poke cake" where you pour the filling all over the cake. I like it as a layer cake, so I just make sure the filling is as cold as possible when filling the cake, and then once you have it filled you'll want to do a thin coat of icing over the whole cake to seal it all in and let it chill in the fridge for a bit. Then add the other coats of icing until desired thickness. As long as you don't let it get too warm after that it should all stay together, but you probably want to store it in the fridge and pull it out about 30-45 minutes before serving (because cold cake = yuck).

* It also helps to do a "dam" of buttercream around the perimeter of each layer and just do the filling in the middle, so that when the pressure from the layer on top squishes the filling down, it has room to expand a little and the buttercream dam will hold it in better. This is true of any more loose cake filling, like preserves, lemon curd, ganache, etc. 

Enjoy!