Dulce de Leche Bottom Cupcakes

I know I promised this recipe a few days ago but life happens!
This is such a fun recipe and I would love to share it with you, so lets get started!

This was actually my daughter's cupcake chose for her 16th party, so it had to be good! A few months back Ann from The Fountain Avenue Kitchen posted an easy slow cooker recipe for Dulce de Leche. My family and I have never tried Dulce de Leche, but after reading her post I envisioned these cupcakes. Black Bottom Cupcakes are a family favorite in this kitchen and I thought how lovely the Dulce de Leche filling would be in the middle of this delicious chocolate cupcake :)

I am so glad we tried it because these cupcakes turned out soOoooOoo good!

*Next time I make these cupcakes I am going to add another egg to the Dulce de Leche filling because it was a little heavy and fell to the bottom, hence the name Dulce de Leche Bottom Cupcakes! This cupcake was very delicious, but I was hoping the filling would of been in the middle! My daughter loved the cupcakes and said she would not change it, but I still want to experiment!



Filling
For the Dulce de Leche recipe, click here
1 large egg at room temperature, slightly beaten
16 oz dulce de leche
* I chose to slow cook the Dulce de Leche for 10 hours because I wanted a more pudding texture for the cupcakes.

Cake Mix
adapted from Chocolate Galore Cookbook
makes 24 cupcakes

2 ¼ cups- cold water
¾ cup- melted butter
1 TBS- vanilla extract
2 TBS- balsamic vinegar
3 ½ cups – all purpose flour
¾ cup- cocoa powder
2 tsp- baking soda
2 ¼ cups- sugar
1 tsp salt
¾ cup- semisweet chocolate

 Preheat - the oven to 350 and line a muffin pan with paper cupcake liners.

Make the filling- in a medium bowl mix the egg and the dulce de leche until smooth.

Prop up a pastry bag in a tall glass with the bag’s wide opening at the top. Fold the top of the pastry bag down over the glass. Scrape the filling mixture into the pastry bag. Set the filled pastry bag aside.

Mix the liquids- In a small mixing bowl combine water, melted butter, vanilla extract, and balsamic vinegar.

 Make the batter- In the a large bowl, use a whisk to stir together the flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, sugar, and salt until evenly blended.

Slowly pour the liquid mix into the flour mixture. Stir until the batter is smooth.

Pour in the batter- Fill each lined muffin cup three-quarters full. 

 Add the filling- Pick up the pastry bag and plugging the tip with one hand, twist the top of the bag to close it. Using one hand to guide the top and the other to squeeze the top of the bag, insert the tip into the center of one of the cupcakes. Gently squeeze a small amount of the dulce de leche filling into the batter. You will see the chocolate batter rise as the filling fills the middle.

 Bake the cupcakes- sprinkle the top of each cupcake with the chocolate chips.

Put the muffin pans in the oven and bake until a thin skewer inserted in to the center of a cupcake comes out clean. Bake about 25 min.

Let the cupcakes cool in the pans for 20 minutes, then lift out the cupcakes and put them directly a cooling rack for about 30 minutes or until completely cool.

Enjoy!