Cupcake Hero - Cocoa powder

Cocoa is second only to chocolate in my list of favorite ingredients so I was happy when cocoa was announced as this months Cupcake Hero theme.

What I love most about cocoa is that it's always around, unlike chocolate my stash of cocoa rarely gets raided (meanwhile the box I keep all my chocolate in is conspicuosly empty *glares at husband*). This means that I have the means to bake a chockie cake anytime the need (re:craving) arises.

I decided to keep to a simple recipe, that is my currant favorite cupcake, a recipe by Chockylit, Devils Food Cupcakes that I made before.

Since leaving them plain seemed like cheating and I was in the mood for flirting with excitement, I took the opportunity to make something that seems to be on every blog but mine; Doulce De Leche. Hey I can spell it but I don't know how to say it, lets just call it caramel, okay. ;)

This is made by cooking condensed milk. My mother warned me against cooking it in the cans, as she remembers her grandmother cooking it and the cans exploding! I went with a recipe from David Lebovitz that recomends pouring it into a dish and cooking it in a water bath in the oven.

It turned out great.

I cut little holes in the tops of the Devils Cupcakes and filled it with Dulce de Leche poped the top back on of frosted it with a huge swirl of whipped cream.

I can say that they were delicious, there and none left, and this is the only photo I got of them.

Below is the recipe for the Dolce de Leche, the cupcake recipe can be found in my previous post, and the whipped cream is 1 cup of cream whipped with 1/4cup icing sugar.

Dulce de Leche
The Perfect Scoop (Ten Speed Press)
Preheat the oven to 425° F (220° C).
Pour one can (400 gr/14 ounces) of sweetened condensed milk (not evaporated milk) into a glass pie plate or shallow baking dish. Stir in a few flecks of sea salt.
Set the pie plate within a larger pan, such as a roasting pan, and add hot water until it reaches halfway up the side of the pie plate. Cover the pie plate snugly with aluminum foil and bake for 1 to 1¼ hours. (Check a few times during baking and add more water to the roasting pan as necessary).
Once the Dulce de Leche is nicely browned and caramelized, remove from the oven and let cool. Once cool, whisk until smooth.
Store in the refrigerator until ready to serve. Warm gently in a warm water bath or microwave oven before using.
Spoon warm Dulce de Leche over Vanilla Ice Cream or smear it on toasted slices of baguette for your morning breakfast, as I've been doing.