Caramel Apple Cake

We make our salted caramel buttercream with dulce de leche, a staple sweet spread, like a milk jam, used in South America in baking and as a condiment on things like bread and ice cream. It literally means “sweet of milk” and is made by slowly heating milk, sugar, and vanilla. The mixture thickens and the sugars caramelize, turning it the color of butterscotch. Our favorite brand is La Salamandra from Argentina. They make it only with milk from their grass-fed herds, sugar, and vanilla—no a