My Daim Cupcakes are a little slice of chocolate caramel bliss, studded with toothsome toffee pieces and smothered with rich Dulce de Leche buttercream. Great for birthdays, afternoon tea or just stashing in cake tin for when you need an indulgent chocolate hit during a teabreak.
· Updated 2026 ·
The true test of a new relationship, I have discovered, is a trip to Ikea. Mountainous aisles of plastic storage boxes, claustrophobic furniture set-ups and the eye-twitch inducing hum of flourescent lighting. Like a rat in a maze, with a yellow bag of impulse purchases, you trace your way to Shranghri-lah – the Swedish food shop by the check-outs.
Sadly, I’ve discovered that not only do IKEA no longer sell Daim, the Daim pieces coated in chocolate are no longer sold at all. You can subsitute Daim pieces with spherical chocolate covered Toffee Poppets which are still available. If it’s the uneven visual effect you like, chocolate covered raisins will get the job done. Or break whole Daim bars into pieces with a knife.
These Daim Cupcakes soft, chocolatey and studded with chocolated coated toffee pieces. The dulce de leche butter cream on top is indulgent, smooth and just the right hit of caramel sweetness. Each bite is a tiny reward for your stressful IKEA adventure.
Whether you are baking for a birthday, a bake sale donation or just to console yourself after an exhausting trip around the Billy flatpacks, these cupcakes will make you glad the Swedish food store exists.
Tips baking Daim Cupcakes
Whole Daim Bar or Daim Pieces? You can use either whole Daim Bars or get bags of chocolate covered Daim pieces. Either is good, although the pieces are easier to steal whilst baking.
Don’t You Mean Dime Bar? Yes, it’s the same thing – but you’re showing your age. Dime Bars were rebranded as Daim back in 2005 as this was their name in Sweden for global brand awareness. It’s a bit like Marathon and Snickers.
Big Cupcakes or Mini Cupcakes? This batter mix makes 12 large muffin sized cupcakes. Alternatively you might make around 24 mini cupcakes but you’ll need a mini muffin tin and mini cupcake cases. Mini cupcakes will require a shorter cooking time and because they’re smaller you must take extra care not to over bake them.
Help! They’ve exploded like volcanoes! This happens when the surface cooks quicker than the centres. Try turning your oven down slightly next time. But for this batch, panic not, you can lop the pointy bits off with a knife (cook’s snack!)
Wait patiently: I know, I know, it’s tempting to stuff a hot cupcake base in your mouth before it cools down, but honestly you get more cake if you wait. Hot cake sticks to cupcake wrappers – I know this from experience. Shush.
Must I pipe them? I don’t have a nozzle thingy: Of course not! Cupcakes with swirly piped buttercream do look fantastic and it’s a skill worth perfecting. But you can spread the dulce de leche buttercream on with a table knife and they will taste just as good.
But I don’t have any Daim Bar: Oh honey, calm down. Try my Crunchie Rocky Road Bars instead. You won’t even need an oven.
Can I bake one big Daim Cake Instead? You can, and the dulce de leche buttercream will look fabulous on a larger cake. But remember a single larger cake needs longer baking time than individual cupcakes – probably 30-40 minutes depending on your oven.
Daim Cupcakes with Dulce de Leche Buttercream
Equipment
- 1 12 hole muffin tin and paper cases – or more smaller ones according to size desired (see above).
Ingredients
For the cupcake bases
- 125 g self raising flour
- 25 g cocoa powder
- 125 g caster sugar
- 125 g butter softened
- 2 large eggs
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 2 tbsp milk
- 1/2 tsp chocolate extract (optional) available from Lakeland
- 50 g Daim Bar pieces from Ikea OR about 4 large squares of milk cooking chocolate
For the buttercream
- 500 g icing sugar
- 160 g softened butter
- 2 tbsp Dulce de Leche
- 50 ml milk
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- Dime Bar pieces extra decoration, approx 5 per cake
- Chocolate powder Shaken on top - optional.
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 180c or gas mark 4. Cream the butter and sugar using an electric hand mixer. Add the eggs and chocolate extract and mix some more. Finally mix in the flour, cocoa powder, chopped chocolate or dime bar pieces and the milk. Do not over mix.
- Spoon the batter into large muffin cases in a 12 hole muffin tray so that they are around two thirds full. Bake for around 18 minutes. For 12 large cupcakes I set the timer for 12 minutes, turn them around on the shelf and leave for another 6 minutes. For standard cupcake size and mini muffin size I set the timer for 10 minutes, turn around then give them a further couple of minutes until done.
- The centres may erupt like little volcanoes but that’s ok, you can lop off these peaks if you want to ice them flat or pipe icing in a spiral to emphasis their shape!
- When the cakes are done, a cocktail stick will just about come out dry. With practice you get the confidence to know how early this is, leaving them even a couple of minutes beyond this point will make your sponge too dry.
- Leave to cool in the tins for a few minutes before transferring to a wire rack. Allow to cool completely before covering with icing.
- For the buttercream, beat the softened butter and milk with an electric hand mixer or free standing mixer until very soft and fluffy. Sift on the icing sugar several table spoons at a time and incorporate. The more you do at once the more it gets wafted round the kitchen covering everything so it’s best to go slow. When all the icing sugar is mixed in, add another the dulce de leche then a tablespoon of milk if you think it’s still too stiff. Beat the buttercream with the mixer for several minutes, it will go fluffier and lighter. Remember that although it will be soft and squidgy now, the surface of the buttercream will go harder when it’s had a couple of hours to dry out on the surface of a cake.
- Paste your buttercream over the cupcake bases using a small palette knife or pipe with a star nozzle to get the same effect you see above. Dot with dime bar pieces to decorate.
Sweet chocolatey Daim Cupcakes with swirled dulce de leche buttercream and Daim Bar pieces. Pin these Daim Cupcakes for later. You might also like my Sweet Potato Cupcakes with Salted Caramel Buttercream or my Dulce de Leche Brownies.
Oh Wow, these look amazing. Got to make these a.s.a.p! Can i ask, what dulce de leche do you buy and where do you get it? Ive not really looked as such but i’m a keen baker and i’ve never seen it in the shops.