Tres Leches Cake. My boyfriend speaks fluent Spanish and I’m not gonna lie, I always say phrases to him in Spanish because I’d like to think that I’m fluent in another language besides English and Vietnamese.
Te amo.
¿Qué Hora Es?
¡Ayúdame, por favor!
Nothing too special, really. Just the basic phrases you learn in Spanish I. And besides, practice makes perfect, right? How am I going to learn if I never try? I’m actually not that bad at Spanish– I used to write letters in Spanish when I was writing to my bestie on his mission in Guatemala. It’s the whole speaking part that I struggle with.
When I made this cake, I must have gone around the house saying “Tres Leches Cake!” a million times because it’s fun to say. I also took one of my formspring reader’s advice and baked something out of the ordinary– something more cultural. This cake is most popular in Latin America and I actually tried it for the first time at one of my boyfriend’s family gatherings since his grandma made it. It’s kind of strange, at first, if you’re not expecting it to be so…. wet. It’s basically a sponge cake soaked with three different kinds of milk. It may initially be very sweet, but the cake tends to mellow out if you refrigerate it overnight. I added freshly cut strawberries to top it all of, but any fruit will do. You can even leave it plain if you’d like. Recipe from The Pioneer Woman.
Ingredients
- 1 cup All-purpose Flour
- 1-½ teaspoon Baking Powder
- ¼ teaspoons Salt
- 5 whole Eggs
- 1 cup Sugar, Divided
- 1 teaspoon Vanilla
- ⅓ cups Milk
- 1 can Evaporated Milk
- 1 can Sweetened, Condensed Milk
- ¼ cups Heavy Cream
FOR THE ICING:
- 1 pint Heavy Cream, For Whipping
- 3 Tablespoons Sugar
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spray a 9 x 13 inch pan liberally until coated.
- Combine flour, baking powder, and salt in a large bowl. Separate eggs.
- Beat egg yolks with 3/4 cup sugar on high speed until yolks are pale yellow. Stir in milk and vanilla. Pour egg yolk mixture over the flour mixture and stir very gently until combined.
- Beat egg whites on high speed until soft peaks form. With the mixer on, pour in remaining 1/4 cup sugar and beat until egg whites are stiff but not dry.
- Fold egg white mixture into the batter very gently until just combined. Pour into prepared pan and spread to even out the surface.
- Bake for 35 to 45 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean. Turn cake out onto a rimmed platter and allow to cool.
- Combine condensed milk, evaporated milk, and heavy cream in a small pitcher. When cake is cool, pierce the surface with a fork several times. Slowly drizzle all but about 1 cup of the milk mixture—try to get as much around the edges of the cake as you can.
- Allow the cake to absorb the milk mixture for 30 minutes. To ice the cake, whip 1 pint heavy cream with 3 tablespoons of sugar until thick and spreadable.
Spread over the surface of the cake. Decorate cake with whatever fruit your heart desires. Cut into squares and serve.
I am soooo going to try this. My hubby is Cuban and this is like the most popular cake in all his family functions. I have never made it and I think its really too sweet for me but my in laws, sister in law and hubby tear this cake up! LOL They also sell this cake on every corner of Miami, FL also so its very popular!!! :0))
I am from the Dominican Republic and this cake is SO popular here, it is one of my fav 🙂
Here for the icing we usually put suspiro on (made with egg whites and sugar, yumm!) and a cherry to top it 🙂
My boyfriend and I just ate tres leche cake for the first time on a trip this past week. I have been meaning to look up a recipe and try it myself!
Looks yummy.
Kim you are a goddess. My boyfriend was just saying how much he missed tres leche cake (he lived in Peru for a summer) and I just promised him last night that I would find a recipe and make it. You are amazing! Thanks for posting so regularly!
I love tres leches cake. This looks sooo tasty.
This is my FAVORITE cake ever!! I grew up in Mexico, but I’ve never made it. I must try this recipe now… so yummy!!! Visiting for the first time 🙂
You are too funny with your Spanish phrases! I haven’t made tres leches cake yet but your photos are making me want to make some asap!
Hi! I made this recipe last night and it came out AMAZING! Thank you so much.
I sliced kiwi into thin slices and put it on top. It looked beautiful and the tartness of the kiwi was a great contrast to the sweet of the cake. My whole family loved it! thank you again!
I’ve gotten very lactose intolerant in the past three years but love this cake. Have you successfully tried using any alterna-milks (soy, rice, oat, hazelnut, hemp, etc.)? I’d love to know if you have any good alternative recipes.
What do you do with that last 1 cup of milk that you didn’t pour over the cake?
Soooo i found you blog thanks to pinterest, of course. And i started printing out recipes……until i ran out of paper! Lets just say your blog is getting a spot on my bookmark bar!! Incredible!
what do you do with the last 1 cup of milk?
Good question! Has she answered? Do you know for how many does this serve?
Tried many tres leches cake recipes over the years. I used yours this time & added Jamaican rum to the three milks & heated to combine. Poked cake ( in springform pan) while hot, then saturated. Chilled in refrigerator over night before “Icing cake” made with mixed fruits to completely cover and glazed with apricot jam/Jamaican rum combined over med heat, then served with fresh lightly sweetened whipped cream
Where does the last one cup of milk go
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