Crème Fraîche Cupcakes- Part Onze

Dulce de Leche- it's super tasty and time consuming to make. So why bother with it yourself when you can find it packed into a little cupcake here at the cafe? My friends Alex and Steffi (the lovely maker and designer of all things furniture here) have finally been vindicated in that they have been requesting me to make this culinary ambrosia for months. Seriously, months. Alex is from Argentina, it's birthplace, and apparently a good dulce is hard to find here. Well wait no more, guys!

If you've never had it before, an all-natural Dulce de Leche should be made with just whole milk and cane sugar, but I add vanilla bean for added depth and flavor, of course! This simple mixture is very slowly simmered until it caramelizes and becomes very rich and creamy. The process can take a few hours and the final volume is only 20% of its original mass. All the goodness of dairy, sugar, and vanilla packed into a tight little caramel. How can you go wrong?

And that banana filling is super, super tasty. Aren't those the exact words I used in the last post? I can't possibly pass up on using it again. This time with a different cake and a different topping of course! Two more comin' at ya!

Macadamia Dulce de Leche-Dark chocolate-crème fraîche cake+vanilla bean-dulce de leche filling+dark chocolate ganache glaze+toasted macadamia.

Espresso Banana-Butter-crème fraîche cake+brown sugar & banana filling+dark chocolate ganache glaze+espresso bean.