Dulce de Leche Cake will be the “golden key” to your heart! Moist layers of caramel soaked sponge cake are separated by caramel cream and finished with a sprinkling of hazelnuts. YUM.

Dulce de Leche Cake and Ferrero Rocher Cake have hands down been my two most popular cake recipes according to you guys. Perhaps it’s because Ukrainian-style cakes are known to be some of the most decadent! Read on to learn how to make this classic European cake.
What is Dulce de Leche Cake?
This cake is all around loaded with dulce de leche. Don’t know what dulce de leche is? It’s basically sweetened condensed milk that has been cooked into a delicious caramel.
Dulce de Leche Cake is made with layers of sponge cake that are soaked in dulce de leche and sour cream. Did I mention that you will separate those cake layers with dulce de leche infused cake cream? Oh yes, this cake is packed with caramel-y goodness!
Wondering why Dulce de Leche Cake is also called “Golden Key Cake”? This cake was inspired by a very popular Russian candy called “Golden Key”. These bite-sized morsels are creamy and toffee flavored and impossible not to binge eat. Someone was so obsessed with these morsels that they had the bright idea to make a cake in their image!
Tips for Making Dulce de Leche Cake
Below, I will share all my “golden nuggets” on how to make the perfect Dulce de Leche Cake. You will have your friends and family begging you for the recipe in no time.
Activate the Baking Soda
To make a knock-out sponge cake you are going to want to make sure that you use activated baking soda. Activated baking soda ensures that your cake rises and fluffs. You can purchase pre-activated baking soda, but if you don’t have it on hand, add a touch of lemon juice or vinegar to it to activate it yourself. You will know that the baking soda has activated once it begins to make a fizzling sound!
Keep Whipping Cream Very Cold
When it comes to baking, it is typically advised to work with room temperature ingredients. However, to make the perfect caramel cream for this cake you are going to want to work with very cold heavy whipping cream. Why? The fat globules in heavy whipping cream will emulsify faster and stay fluffy longer when they are whipped cold.
Tip: Stick your heavy whipping cream in the freezer for 15-20 minutes before you get to whipping.
Don’t Overbeat Heavy Whipping Cream
When you are making the cake cream, make sure you don’t overbeat the heavy whipping cream. You will want to stop when the texture becomes soft and billowy. You will know that you have overbeaten the cream if it starts to curdle and separate.
Tip: Fix curdled cream by adding more heavy whipping cream and beating it until it has returned to a soft and billowy texture.
Make Dulce de Leche at Home
You can always find canned dulce de leche in the grocery store. Typically, it hangs out in the Hispanic section. You can also make this delicious sauce super easily in the comfort of your own home using an Instant Pot. All it takes is a couple of cans of sweetened condensed milk and that’s it! In Ukrainian and Russian baking, dulce de leche is a star ingredient. I always have some on hand for making desserts or dressing up a cup of coffee.

Use Roasted Hazelnuts
Roasted hazelnuts really elevate the flavor of this cake. Purchase them roasted or do it yourself. Simply lay out raw hazelnuts on a lined baking sheet and roast them in the oven for 15 minutes at 350F. Remove any excess skins that fall off the nuts.
Soaking Syrup
Combine whipping cream with sweetened condensed milk to make the syrup for soaking your sponge cake. Generously spread the syrup on each layer of cake to make them super moist. You can use a squeeze bottle to apply the syrup more evenly if necessary.
Using Cool Whip Instead of Whipping Cream
Can I substitute whipping cream with Cool Whip – is one of the most frequently asked questions I receive from readers. I advise to avoid using the Cool Whip, as it provides a slightly artificial tasting. Instead, if you’re trying to cut time, use the premade whipped cream, just make sure to go with a high-quality one.

How Long Can You Keep Dulce de Leche Cake Fresh?
You can keep Dulce de Leche cake fresh in an airtight container in the fridge for up to a week.
Note: I wouldn’t recommend freezing this cake due to its delicate nature.
Other Similar Cake Recipes to Try:
Recipe
Ingredients
- 4 Eggs
- 1 cup Sugar
- 1 cn Dulce De Leche
- 300 g Sour Cream
- 1 tsp Baking Soda
- 1 tsp Lemon Juice
- 2 tsp Baking Powder
- 2 cup Flour
Dulce Del Leche Cake Cream
- 1 cn Dulce De Leche
- 1 cup Butter room temperature
- 16 oz Heavy Whipping Cream very cold
- 2 cup Hazelnuts
For Soaking Cake
- 1 cup Heavy Whipping Cream
- 1 cup Condensed Milk
Instructions
Sponge Cake
- Beat 4 eggs (no need to separate them) with sugar until it’s three times in volume.
- Whisk sour cream together with dulce de leche, until you reach the same consistency.
- Fold sour cream mixture into whipped eggs.
- In a separate dish, combine baking soda with lemon juice, add to the batter.
- Combine flour together with baking powder. Using a spatula, fold in flour by thirds; be very gentle with the dough, so you don’t over mix and lose the fluffiness. Spray a 7 or 9 inch cake pan with cooking spray.
- Place half of the batter into a baking pan. If you have another pan in the same in size, repeat with the remaining batter. If you don’t have a pan, after baking the first layer, use the same pan.
- Bake at 350F for 30 minutes. Use a toothpick to check if the cake is baked. Once the cake cools, cut the cake into two slices.
- Soak the inside of two slices with the whipping cream and the other two slices with condensed milk; set it aside. In the meantime, dice toasted hazelnuts and set aside.
Dulce De Leche Cream
- Whip the butter (room temperature) with 1 can of dulce de leche.
- In a separate bowl, whisk very cold heavy whipping cream until soft peaks. Don’t beat the cream for too long or it will separate.
- Fold in dulce de leche mixture into whipped cream.
Layering Cake
- Place the layer, soaked with whipping cream, on the bottom, followed by cream and chopped hazelnuts. Place the layer soaked with condensed milk, followed by the cream, then hazelnuts. Repeat in this order until you run out of cake layers.
- Using the remaining cream, decorate the outside of the cake.
- I applied some diced hazelnuts on the sides and the whole pieces on top.
Thank you so much, best bday cake!!!
Oh Valya, awesome! Happy Birthday to you!
Honestly, I feel like something is wrong with the cake cream because everything was great when I beat all the ingredients but when I combined butter and whipped cream it instantly separated. Recipe pix also shows like it slightly separated. I bake all the time so it's not like I dont know what I'm doing.
Sponge cake also didn't taste right.
This cake always has the most raving reviews, sorry you didn't like it. The cream would only separate if you overbeat it.
Thank you for the recipe!! It’s very yami!!!
Katrina, I am so glad you loved the cake! 🙂
This cake is delicious 😋 making again for thanksgiving dinner 👌🏻
Irina, thanks for sharing. I am so happy you like it. 🙂
Just made this cake for my daughters birthday! It was absolutely amazing and simple ! Thank you for this recipe!
Thank you for sharing! I am happy that you loved the cake.
Love your Golden Key cake!!!😍😍😍
Oh!! Thank you dear!!! So happy you love it!
Hello, I am making this cake for the first time, but the instructions weren't clear. So I need 2 cans of dulce de leche and leave 1 can as condensed milk? Because I ended up only having one of both, and using the condensed milk for the cream in the end, is it still okay that way? Thank you.
The recipe does ask for 2 cans of dulce the leche and condensed milk for soaking the cake layers. I am hoping you still liked how the cream turned out. With dulce the leche the flavors would be better.
If I use cool whip do I need to beat it if yes for how long
I would just fold it into the other ingredients. Prepare everything and fold it in with spatula.
Made this cake for New Years and it’s one of the best cakes I’ve tried. Even though I’m not very experienced in baking this cake was very easy to make. The only thing I did differently was substitute heavy cream for evaporated milk for the cake soak.
How far in advance can I ice the cake without it gwtting soggy?
You can make it a few days in advance. Keep it covered while its refrigerated.
Thank you for the recipe. This cake turned out REALLY REALLY good. I didn't have any issues with the cake dough, nor with the cream. The only thing different was I had to use walnuts instead of hazelnuts (hard to find) and I used heavy cream & evaporated milk for syrup. I was afraid this cake will be overly sweet with so much condensed milk in the recipe- that's why I opted for the review recommendations of using evaporated milk but next time will definitely stick 100% to recipe. In the picture this cake is on the right in a rectangular shape form.
how do you make a cake in a rectangular form??
Just use rectangular shaped pan. Most stores sell them, anywhere from walmart to ross or tj maxx.
Do you think the whole batter is in one pan or two pans? Or do you think its double recipe for 2 pans? And aluminum type of pan or the glass dish ones? I wouldn't mind making it for Thanksgiving but I wish I had more information and had time to find the dishes. I do like the serving platter she served it on. So pretty!
This recipe makes enough for two of 9-11 inch pans, enough for this cake size.
The recipe says to use two 7-9 inch pans ... so is it 7-9 or 9-11 ?
You can use a 9-inch pan or 7-inch pan. You will need two of them or just bake half at a time.
and where could I buy that cake pan?
Wow, thank you for such a sweet feedback. I always love getting comments with pics 😉
Hi Natalya! I have made this cake about 4-5 times and my cream never comes out right, it's really watery. Not sure if I'm underbeating it or overbearing. I stop as soon as hard peaks form yet when I add the dulche de leche it just waters down and by the time I am done with the cake it's completely funny. I seen in the previous comments you stated to use cool whip?
How long do you cook condensed milk or do you buy cooked? This sounds very weird. I almost never use cool whip because I like heavy whipped cream.
Can I use Canadian flour for this cake?
Yes, I always do.
love this cake! making it second time already!
Wow, that's awesome. I plan to make it this weekend! Excited!
Hi there 🙂 I made this cake, but the batter is very thick, not like in your picture. Do you have any idea why this could be? When I mixed sour cream with the cooked condensed milk, the mixture stayed quite thick, not like in your picture.
Hmmm I wonder why, maybe sourcream is different type. Let me know how to turned out.
Just to clarify- I measured 300 grams of store bought sour cream using a scale. And one 14 oz can of the dulce de leche.
I didn't use a scale you can just use measure ta on the cup.
Hi Natalya! I made this cake for Moms birthday. I let it stay overnight.When my family tried it the next day,they fell in love with it. My sister said: "this is the best cake ever". This recipe is a keepper, turned out right the first time.Thank you for posting such great instructions!
I am so happy to hear that you guys loved this cake. I agree with you, it's also one of my favorites. Always a hit 😉
This is my favorite cake!!! Turned out perfect on the first try!!! Can't wait to make it again.
So beautiful! I am happy you liked the cake. Thanks for sharing the photo!
HI, just like the other posts state the cream separated when I added the butter with the Dulce de leche..:( The whipping cream was not over bitten.. I am not sure what happend. next time instead of butter I will use cream cheese.
It shouldn't separate if you fold in the whipping cream into butter mixture. Unless you beat the cream for a long time.
Reading over several comments that cream turns runny and/or won't stick, I had a feeling that it could be the way the cream gets mixed. I noticed that your recipie says "Fold in dulce de leche mixture INTO whippped cream." Shouldn't it be other way? "Fold in THE whipping cream INTO butter mixture."
As you can see in the photo I am folding in dolce de leche mixture into whipped cream. I think over mixing could cause the issue.
how many days in advance could you make this?
As long as you keep it covered, you are good several days in advance.
I made this cake for a birthday. Everyone really enjoyed the cake! Thank you! I also mixed 1 cup half and half together with 1/2 cup of condenced milk and had a little left over. I thought it was perfect and not too sweet. I wanted to try to make the cream a little different next time to maybe have a smoother texture. Maybe replacing the whipping cream or butter with cream cheese?
Here's a picture 🙂
Wow! Are you kidding me. Your cake looks so perfect. I haven't tried messing around with this cream because I like the way it comes out. Thanks for sharing. Your detailed feedback and the photo! Love it
Baked couple times, and had a very hard time with cream. Didn't liked the texture of cream either. So I made exact same cream recipe, but substituted whipping cream with cream cheese, and that was a BOMB. Had so much compliments. Way better then with whipped cream.
oh wow, sounds very interesting. I could see that it would be a good combination. Thanks for sharing you tip.
Was wondering if cool whip would work instead of homemade whipped cream ? I made this cake few days ago, my cake layers turned out lighter color than yours :/ when whipping the heavy whipping cream I froze my bowl and whisk but when combined with dulce de late and butter mixture it seemed like it was seperating a bit and wasn't thick enough, fluffy but not thick. Maybe using cool wip would fix this problem?
I wouldn't suggest freezing your bowl because you want butter and dulce de leche be very soft. But cool whip will definitely work. The color of the cake depends on how dark your dulce de leche is.
Best cake. Thanks for the recipe!
Wow, you have some skills. Your cake looks so beautiful. Thanks for sharing a photo
Hi, i made this cake today! I forgot the baking powder but it turned out very good anyway! My nutritionist will not like me eating this, but its sooooo good! Thanks for the recipe.
Hey Marina, I am so happy it still turned out amazing for you!
this looks simple enough 🙂 just to be clear, they sell dulce de leche in stores, right?
So that's cooked condensed milk. I have found it in Walmart or Russian stores.
I made this cake 3 times within 6 months and I love it.. This time I made it for my sisters baby shower I just used a diff cream on top.. It was very good. Thank you for the recipe.
Hi! What cream did you use in this picture? Please share if you can 🙂
Wow, this is so beautiful! simple but elegant, I am in love! Actually I am taking this cake to my friends house, I know people will love it. 🙂 Thanks for sharing pics with me, I enjoyed them very much!!!!
Thank you for this recipe. I made this cake a few weeks ago for a gathering at s friends house. It was so good that there wasn't a piece left.
I did toast the hazelnuts because I love the way they taste when toasted.
I think Trader Joes sells toasted hazelnuts, that's where I try to buy them. I agree with you that it does have more flavor. Thank you for writing this feedback, it made me smile 🙂
Looks good. Next cake i want to try. But i will probably be cooking my condensed milk myself. (cheaper and in my opinion tastes better.) Do you always buy dulce de leche or have you cooked your own? Also wondering why you soak one layer with one and the other layer with another? Would it make a difference if i combine the condenced milk, whipping cream and perhaps even evaporated milk all together and then soak the layers (like tres leche)
thanks 🙂
Usually I cook it myself, I agree with you, it does taste better. For soaking of the layers, I don't even know why I did that but it worked well. But I have also combined the two together and soaked them cake. It was good either way. Btw, this cake is the bomb!!!
Awesome! Thanks
Can't wait to try it. How long do you usually cooked your condenseced milk for?
Usually around 3 hours, completely covered in water.
Can I make this today and serve it tmr evening? Is that fine?
Yes, it will be perfect. Keep the cake refrigirated until you are ready to serve it.
Hi. Is it possible to include the nuts in the batter? I'm thinking of using the cake covered in fondant. Would it be the same procedure? Thanks.
I think it could work, just lightly mix it into the cake batter in the end. Be sure not to over mix it.