Dulce de leche begins as condensed milk and becomes caramel through nothing but slow heat and patience. That one ingredient is the reason the Dulce Caramel Cake tastes the way it does: milky rather than burnt, a soft golden sweetness that sits underneath the chocolate instead of shouting over it. It is a four-layer cake, and one of the ten flavours in our specialty layer cake range in Christchurch.
What dulce de leche actually is
The name is Spanish for sweet of milk, and the method is exactly that. Milk and sugar are cooked down until the sugars caramelise and the colour deepens to something close to dark honey. Nothing is added to force the colour. What you get is a caramel with a dairy roundness to it, closer to fudge than to the sharp, slightly bitter caramel made from sugar alone. It is a staple across Latin America, and it is one of the flavours Dhi brought with him from Rio de Janeiro.
If you want to understand the ingredient before you commit to a whole cake, it turns up in several other places on the menu. The Carolina choux uses it as a mousse, under a dark chocolate ganache montée, which is simply whipped ganache, light in the way a mousse is light. The Banoffee Cookie Tart fills a chocolate chip cookie shell with it. And the Pudim Caramel Flan takes the caramel idea in a different direction, pudim being Portuguese for pudding, a slow-baked custard glazed in its own dark syrup.
How the cake is built
The base is a moist chocolate cake, which gives the deep cocoa foundation. Between the layers goes the dulce de leche, velvety and golden. The whole thing is finished in a dark chocolate ganache, which is the part that keeps it from tipping into sweetness: the ganache brings the bitterness back and gives the cake a silky, slightly firm outer texture against the soft crumb inside.
Finishes here are ganache and chocolate elements. There is no fondant, no added colouring and no bespoke decoration, which is why the cake looks the way it looks in the photographs rather than in a sketch. You choose from the designs that exist. It is also why a wedding order costs the same as a birthday order.
Sizes and counting heads
- 15cm, from $95, serves 12 to 15
- 20cm, serves 20 to 25
- 25cm, serves 30 to 35
Those serving counts are larger than most people assume, so count heads before you choose. A 15cm cake is not a cake for four people. If your number sits between two sizes, the smaller one with a few mini desserts alongside often works better than the larger cake and a fridge full of leftovers.
Taste it before you commit, and bring the other person
You can buy the same cake by the slice in the cabinet. A Dulce slice sits there among the other cake slices. The useful version of this is to come in with whoever you are planning the celebration with, buy two different slices and split them across the table. Set the Dulce against the Thunder Chocolate Cake if you want to know how a Brazilian brigadeiro reads next to dulce de leche, or against the Prestige Coconut Cake and the Tres Leches Cake if you want to see the full spread of milk-caramel flavours. Two people, four halves, one decision made properly. Our guide to cake slices covers what is usually in the cabinet.
Ordering and collection
Every cake is made to order, so allow two days. You select your pickup date and time during checkout, and the date picker only offers dates the kitchen can meet for what is in your cart. Collection is from our patisserie inside The Welder, 20 to 26 Welles Street in the central city. We do not deliver.
Our hours are 10am to 6pm Tuesday to Friday and 10am to 3pm Saturday. Collecting the day before is normal and often easier: the cake is handed over already boxed, and it keeps in a fridge in our packaging overnight with no change to taste or texture. Carry the box from the base, keep the car cool, and bring the cake out one to two hours before serving. Dip the knife in hot water and dry it between slices. The frequently asked questions page covers changes and refunds, and our walkthrough of how to order a cake and the guide to choosing, storing and serving go further again.
