Dulce de Leche Buttercream + a cupcake

The past two weeks have been  very, very busy.  Between Miguel's birthday, beginning of school, the Jewish New Year and catering a party for a bunch of "ladies", I am happy to finally be on the other side!

At the last minute, the hostess of the party(that I was catering) called to say they needed some sort of "cupcake" so they could honor the birthday girl.  My original plan for desserts were the bite sized ricotta cheesecakes (here), apple galettes (here), and lemon tartlettes (recipes to follow).  Four desserts was a little over the top.  I opted to swap out the galettes and replace them with these little chocolate cupcakes.  Everyone was glad I did!

I made a batch of my favorite devil's food chocolate cupcake recipe (here).  Topped them with the most delicious dulce de leche frosting and finished them off with crushed, chocolate covered cocoa nibs.  This was one fantastic creation!

Dulce de Leche Buttercream w/devils food cupcakes
yield:  36 cupcakes 2 oz. cupcakes


ingredients:
1 cup unsalted butter, room temperature
2 Tbls. heavy cream
1 tsp. vanilla
4-5 cups powdered sugar, sifted
pinch of salt
3/4 cups prepared Dulce de leche
1/2 cup crushed chocolate covered cocoa nibs

instructions:
• in the bowl of an electric mixer, cream the butter.
• gradually add the sifted powdered sugar
• add the cream and the vanilla and beat on medium speed until smooth.
• add the Dulce de leche and combine on low speed
• depending upon how you like your frosting, you may want to add more sugar
• scoop frosting into a piping bag fitted with desired tip
• top with crushed cocoa nibs

note: I used 2 oz. souffle cups, filled them 2/3's full and baked them at 350* for 18-22 minutes