Tres Leches Cake

The Tres Leches cake is one that is certain to please a crowd with its sweet, moist, and creamy texture created by soaking the baked sponge cake in a silky-milky elixir. 3 types of milk are used in the soaking process, and this is where the pastel de tres leches got its name – ‘Cake of 3 Milks’!

Total time is not inclusive of resting time. This cake requires a good resting period for soaking in the milk syrup. Overnight soaking is best, so plan ahead.

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♦Prep time:25 min ♦Cook time:35 min ♦Yield: 8-10 servings

You can strike through ingredients, as you prep them, by clicking on the ingredient.

Ingredients:

For the Cake

For the 'Tres Leches' Milk Syrup:

For topping:

Method:

1. Place beaters and an extra large bowl in the freezer, well ahead of time, to get the ice cold for beating the whipped cream later.
2. Take out the eggs from the fridge. Separate the whites and yolks into separate bowls while the eggs are cold. Make sure there’s no trace of yellow in the white. Cover and set aside. Allow to come down to room temperature.
3. Preheat the oven to 350ºF/ 176ºC.
4. Sift the Cake flour with baking powder and salt into a large bowl. Sift 2 times for a lighter textured cake. Set aside.
5. Grease and dust with flour: one 9×13 Baking pan or casserole. Or use two smaller casserole pans as I have used. Dusting the cake with plain flour prevents sticking.
6. Beat the egg yolks in a bowl along with 3/4 cup of sugar. Beat until very pale yellow in color and ribbon-like streaks are created when lifted. Add vanilla extract and beat through. Set aside.
7. Add the egg whites, to another bowl along with 1/4 cup of sugar. Beat till the egg whites are stiff but not dry. ( Till Stiff peaks start to form).
8. Now, add the beaten egg yolk mixture into the sifted flour mixture and mix/beat well. Add the milk and beat till the batter is smooth and lump free. No more use of beaters after this stage.
9. Lastly: Fold in, the whipped egg white into the batter (in two batches). This is best done with a spatula, folding in the egg white quite quickly without overmixing (IMPORTANT). Try not to deflate the whites in this process. Also, make sure there is no thick yolk mixture at the bottom of the bowl.  Fold in gently but quickly till all the egg white is used.  (A little bit of white specks is okay but no thick bits of yellow!)
10. Pour the batter into the greased and dusted pan or casserole dish.
11. Pat gently on the countertop move from side to side and pat again to remove air bubbles. 
12. Bake for 30-35 minutes or till a toothpick inserted comes out clean.
13. Remove from the oven and place on wire racks to cool off. About 30 minutes.
14. Meanwhile, you can prepare the whipped cream and the Tres Leches Milk Syrup.

To make the whipped cream topping:

1. Take out the cold mixing bowl and beaters/whisk from the freezer. To this, add the chilled whipping cream and the icing sugar. Add a little icing sugar first, as you can adjust this to taste.
2.  Whip until slightly thick.  (Start on slow speed to avoid sugar dust).
3. Whip at high speed until stiff.  Once soft peaks start forming you will need to watch carefully. If using a stand mixer, do not walk away! You might even want to whisk by hand to finish off.  Stop when you achieve the correct consistency (stiff cream) OR you will make butter not whipped cream!!! 
4. Cover with saran wrap and refrigerate till ready to use.

Tres Leches Milk Syrup- for soaking the cooled cake:

1. Add the evaporated milk (or coconut milk for Coconut Tres Leches), the sweetened condensed milk, and the heavy cream to a bowl. Stir in vanilla and mix till smoothly blended.

Once the cake has cooled off:

1. Take a wooden skewer and poke holes all over the cake, especially around the edge of the cake, which is the driest part.
2. Pour almost half of the prepared syrup over the cake, concentrating on the edges. Chill for an initial 30 minutes till the milk has been absorbed and then pour the remaining syrup, reserving a little for serving time(keep chilled).
3. Chill for 6 hours or overnight for best soaking.
4. Spread the whipped cream with a spatula or use a piping tool for a simple piped topping.
5. Decorate with sliced fruit. Rinse and drain/pat dry the fruits before adding them to the top of the cake. Don’t add wet fruit. Instead of fruit, some people like to sprinkle cinnamon powder over the whipped cream topping.
6. Cover and chill till time to serve. This cake can be chilled for up to three days.
7. Serve along with the extra milk mixture. Some people will like to add more chilled milk over this cold dessert.

Notes:

• You will need a stand mixer or egg beaters to beat the eggs as well to whip the cream. 1 extra large bowl(for whipping the cream, 1 large bowl(to mix the batter), two medium-large sized bowls(for beating egg yolk and whites) and a couple of smaller bowls( to separate eggs). You will need one 9×13 Baking Pan or two smaller-sized casserole dishes. Casserole dishes are ideal, as we can serve the cake in this later.
• Instead of serving from the baking dish, you can also invert onto a shallow serving tray before adding whipped cream. in this case, the milk will flow on the sides of the dish.
• CAKE FLOUR can be made at home. For one cup: Measure 1 cup of plain all-purpose flour, and remove 2 tablespoons from it. Add 2 tablespoons of cornstarch(cornflour) to it. Sift 4-5 times and you have one cup of cake flour.
• Tres Leches Cake

Key Ingredients: Eggs, Flour, Sugar, Milk mixture, Cream, Vanilla, Baking powder, Salt.

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