Cake for the holidays is a must, specially in Dominican households like the one I grew up in. I’m excited to share my Mom’s Dominican Cake recipe!
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If there’s one dessert that’s a family favorite, it’d have to be a Dominican cake. And if you’ve never had said Dominican cake, you might be wondering what makes this cake different, what makes it delicious, why is it a favorite of ours? Well my friends, let me tell you: it’s my mother’s recipe, it’s a deliciously flavorful cake, and it’s covered in sweet Italian meringue! If you’re a dessert lover like I am, you’ll surely love this cake.
Last month, my husband and I spent two weeks on the West coast traveling through Napa Valley, San Francisco, and ending with Las Vegas. Vegas is one of our favorite places to visit, not only because the weather is always fantastic, but it’s packed with some of the best restaurants and bakeries, one of them being Carlo’s Bakery of Cake Boss.
Buddy Valastro is a fourth-generation baker born into the business owned & operated by his parents. Countless hours were spent in the bakery where his father, Buddy Sr., a master baker, taught Buddy everything about baking and running a business. They dreamed that together, they would make Carlo’s Bakery a household name. And I’m definitely sure you’ve heard of him, watched his shows on TV, and even visited one of his bakeries (locations in New York, New Jersey, and Las Vegas!)
Even better is the fact that I had a chance to tour the bakeshop and taste some treats. The bakery at the Venetian Las Vegas has been open for only 8 months now and has created a local and visitor following! Selling over 100 cheesecakes a day and their lobster tails and cannoli being the most popular baked goods, I can attest to that popularity. The cheesecakes are so light and perfectly sweet and their cannoli would make any Italian grandmother proud!
If you have the opportunity to visit Carlo’s Bake Shop at the Venetian in Las Vegas, definitely stroll by for a visit! In the meantime, I’m sharing my Mother’s recipe for her Dominican Dulce de Leche Vanilla Sponge Cake – a gorgeous cake to make for the holidays.
A huge thanks to my Mom for sharing this recipe with me – it’s been the recipe she’s used for every birthday cake I ever had, so I assure you, it’s tried and true.
Before you dive into this recipe, make sure to get out the necessary tools and set yourself up for success:
- Stand mixer – You can find some great options at Kitchen Aid
- Mixing bowls – I personally use OXO Mixing Bowls
- Offset spatulas to decorate
- To make frosting easier, I recommend using a Cake Turntable
How to Make a Dominican Cake
Ingredients
For the Cake
- 2 sticks unsalted butter softened
- 2 cups granulated sugar
- 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
- 4 large eggs room temperature
- 3 cups all-purpose flour
- 3 teaspoons baking powder
- ½ cup whole milk
- ½ cup orange juice
- 1 tablespoon white vinegar
- 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
For the Italian meringue icing
- 4 egg whites room temperature
- 3 tablespoons granulated sugar
- 1 ½ cups granulated sugar
- ⅓ cup water
- to fill: 1 cup dulce de leche
- to decorate: 1 cup of chocolate sprinkles or cacao nibs extra dulce de leche
Instructions
- Preheat your oven to 350F and grease two, 9 inch round pans. Set aside. Using a stand mixer or hand mixer, cream the butter, sugar and vanilla until light and fluffy (about 5-10 minutes).
- Incorporate the eggs one at a time. In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour and baking powder and in a smaller bowl whisk together the milk, orange juice, and white vinegar.
- Add the dry ingredients and the wet ingredients, alternating each until everything is mixed in. Do not over mix!
- Pour batter into greased pans and bake for 45 minutes, until golden brown. Let cakes cool all the way through before filling and decorating.
- To fill: spread the dulce de leche on top of cake and place the second cake on top (if cakes are domed, level with knife before filling).
- To make the Italian meringue icing:Place the egg whites in the mixer bowl and add 3 tablespoons of sugar. Start mixer on slow while you make the sugar syrup.
- In a small sauce pot over medium high heat, boil the 1 1/2 cups sugar and the water, until syrup reaches about 240F degrees.
- Turn your mixer to medium speed and slowly drizzle in the syrup. Once all the syrup is added, turn the mixer to high and whisk for 5-10 minutes.
- Place cake on turntable and cover with icing on the sides and top. Smooth and coat the sides with sprinkles or cacao nibs. Drizzle with dulce de leche on top and serve. Keeps for 4 days unrefrigerated.
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I don’t mean to sound rude or anything, but that recipe you gave for Dominican cake is very wrong. I am an experienced Dominican cake baker for 14 years and my mother had a business for 30+ years. its two sticks of butter, or you can interchange it for 1 stick of butter and one stick of margarine. second of all its 2 cups of all purpose flour and 1 cup of sugar , a tablespoon of baking powder not 3. 6 egg yolks not 4, and do not add the whole egg, only use the egg yolks. do not use whole milk because it is going to come out very tough and dry. substitute the whole milk for evaporated milk, or you can use pineapple juice. Only use half a cup of pineapple juice or evaporated milk, Do not add both milk and juice. it is not going to come out right. Do not use vinegar. there is no Dominican cake in the world that has vinegar. replace the vinegar with rum and vanilla extract.
Hola Yaritsa! This is MY mother’s recipe. The one she’s made for 25 years of her life. Not all recipes look the same. Thanks for your notes, but I will not be changing this recipe as it is my mother’s recipe and the one she shared with me. This recipe has not only been made by mami thousands of times, but by many of my readers and everyone loves it!
Do I also add orange juice ? Trying this out
Hello I would like to make this as a tree layer cake ! Would you mind email me the recipe for it ! ? Thank you
I would like to make this the day before a birthday party. Should I put it in the refrigerator overnight? Or just leave out on the counter?
My cakes always come out dense when I make them from scratch this came out fluffy and taste so good I haven’t made the frosting yet but I’m super excited about the cake lol
Cake came out good but too dense. Not sure what happened. Icing was a little too sweet but good as well. Will probably use less sugar next time.
For my fellow Dominican vegans (there are few of us… Ik 😭) – I was able to veganize this and it turned out great!
I added 3/4 cup of aquafaba for the egg in the cake. Used oat milk instead of whole milk.
Also subbed white vinegar for lime juice.
For the filling I bought guava paste and blended it (14oz) with 2 tbsp of orange juice.
For the suspiro, I found another recipe online using aquafaba and powdered sugar. It wasn’t perfect (I’m going to experiment with this a little more) but it still worked 😌.
It came out so good!!
wow this is amazing, I will need to try it ASAP! Thank you SO much for taking the time to write a comment and sharing!
Hi Marnely! This recipe doesn’t need any salt at all? Please advise. Thank you!
You can add a pinch of salt but my mother never did! This is her recipe.
@Laura Vasquez, could you share the vegan suspiro recipe. My husband is vegan and I’d love to make it for him. Thank you!
I was able to make the suspiro by adding 1/4 of aquafaba for each egg and 1/4 tsp of cream of tartar. It came out great ! 🙂
Wow I’m trying to make this vegan too! You’re amazing! Did anything else work for you?
Made it for my husbands birthday. Easier than my mother’s recipe where one must separate yolks from egg whites and incorporate the whipped egg whites with the dry ingredients toward the end. This cake came out delicious. Just like the one my Dominican friend makes. Loved it.
I made the cake in two days (I have a bad back and it wouldn’t hold out the first day) so I don’t know what impact it will have on the cake’s texture. I just had to send my husband out to buy dolce de leche because I thought that was something I had to make. I’ll let you know how it comes out and will take a picture if it looks nice. This cake is for a friend whose mother is visiting from the Dominican. I’ll surprise them tonight.
PS. I made brownies in case the cake doesn’t come out of the pans lol
Sounds interesting.
Bake the cake according to the recipe. It was perfect and so so delicious. Thank you for posting that dominican cake recipe. Love it. Thanks to your grandmother. God bless