Dulce De Leche

I'm in the process of making a delicious Dulce De Leche cake and I decided too do it peice by peice instead of doing it all one day.

Today I made the Dulce De Leche!...I did the recipe that I found which was Whole Milk, Vanilla Bean, Sugar (Baking Soda and Water a little later). I let it go for almost 3 hours and it didn't get thick! I read online that if you cook for 2-3 hours and it doesn't thicken that it would thicken up a bit once it cools. So I strained it and put it in a container to cool then put it in the fridge. I went to work and came home and checked it like 3 hours ago and it's still not thick! It's thicker than milk and is a beautiful carmel color and tastes DELICIOUS but it's not thick enough to put on the cake tomorrow.

Is there anyway to thicken it up from this point on? I figure if not I was thinking maybe instead of a cake I'd do cupcakes and inject it with the Dulce De Leche and it will make them really moist and yummie.

IDEAS PLEASE!!!

I made a post on yahoo answers and only got 2 responses...both of which said I needed to add an egg. That just seems ODD too me and it might ruin the taste, color and even texture!

Egg could work - it would thicken it up, similar to a custard.   Would make it a touch richer too.  If you don't want to mess with the taste too much, you could thicken it with cornstarch. 

Egg could work - it would thicken it up, similar to a custard.   Would make it a touch richer too.  If you don't want to mess with the taste too much, you could thicken it with cornstarch. 

Would it be the whole egg or just the egg yolk? Wouldn't it make it lumpy...I'm kind of worried that the egg will scramble I've never tempered before so I don't know if I'd be all that great at it.

Cornstarch is a good idea...do you mix it with water then add it?  sorry so many questions

http://talk.uk-yankee.com/index.php?topic=35934.msg476822#msg476822

I think whole egg.  You would add it when it's cooled and then cook it, whisking it.  

Alternately, mix the cornstarch with water until it's a sort of milky liquid, then add to cooled leche and recook until it's thick.  

Sounds yummy anyway!  

I think I may do the cornstarch!!!

thank you soooooooooo much!!

I shall let you know how it goes!

Actually, I don't have cornstarch!...argh.

I'm kind of worried about putting an egg in it cus I don't want it to scramble. I'm gonna do it though because there's no other choice lol if it doesn't work then...I dunno.

If you want to temper it, beat the egg and then just whisk a couple of teaspoons of the hot mixture into the beaten egg. Then you can add that back to the mixture.

If that doesn't work, personally I'd get a can of sweetened condensed milk (full fat) and follow JuneHawk's instructions in the link I provided above.  That lady definitely knows what she's talking about when it comes to the stuff & cakes!

It shouldn't scramble unless you're putting it into hot liquid. 

I agree with Mrs. Robinson - Junehawk is the business when it comes to cakes.

But failing that, I read a bit about Dulche de leche just now, and it sounds like you may have undercooked it a touch (and you can't overcook it).  I'd stick it back on the heat until it thickens more.  http://pomelopleasures.blogspot.com/2006/02/dulce-de-leche.html

Thanks guys!

Yeah I was gonna do the whole canned but wanted to try it from scratch. I think next time I may do the whole can idea lol.

I think I may have undercooked it and I'm gonna stick it back on the heat and see what happens. I was thinking that before...thanks guys! much appreciated

June rockkkkkkkkkkkkssss like no other.