Tres Leches Cupcakes with Dulce de Leche Buttercream

Preheat oven to 350 F.

In the bowl of a stand mixer, beat the egg yolks with 1/4 cup of sugar until pale yellow. Add in the milk and vanilla. With the mixer on low, slowly start adding the flour, baking powder and salt and continue beating until the mixture is just combined. Set aside.

In a separate bowl, beat the egg whites with 1/4 cup of sugar until the egg whites are stiff but not dry. Fold the egg whites mixture into the flour batter.

Fill 12 cupcake liners with the batter and bake for 16-18 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean. Then remove them from the oven and allow to cool before frosting.

For the frosting: In a bowl combine the milk, evaporated milk and sweetened condensed milk. When the cupcakes have completely cooled, coat each cupcake with some of the milk mixture. The cupcake will slowly start absorbing the milk mixture. Repeat the process 3 times per cupcake, you want them to be really moist! Store in the fridge for 30 minutes before frosting.

For the buttercream frosting: Put the butter into the bowl of your stand mixer. Using the mixer, beat the butter until creamy. Then add the dulce de leche and beat to combine. Slowly start adding 1 cup at a time of the powdered sugar and beat until soft peaks form and the buttercream comes together(about 3 minutes) This is not a very stiff buttercream so you want to top each cupcake with a little bit of the buttercream starting in the middle of the cupcake. (Once it sets the buttercream will spread out a bit to cover the cupcake). Top with some colorful sugar if desired. Make sure to store your cupcakes in the fridge—they get even better with time!