Tres leches is a Mexican dessert, tres is 3 and leches is milk(s). It is a sponge cake soaked in 3 kinds of milk; evaporated milk, condensed milk and heavy cream or full cream milk. I use skimmed milk in my tres leches cake because that’s the kind my fridge always carries. Before you say that this cake is hard to make or that you don’t have enough time let me tell you this, it’s not. It is super easy to make and doesn’t take that long. Like Julia says this is for the ‘servantless American’ and non-American. Okay, lesson’s over.
The story of how I came to make my own tres leches cake is a good one or at least I think it is. I first saw this cake trend on twittermv but it never occurred to me to try it or make it.
It wasn’t until the world cup match between Brazil and Mexico I tried this. I woke up to an invite from my Canadian-Mexican friends to watch the match at this Mexican restaurant (the best Mexican place) in Halifax; Antojos. Antojos had this sweet ‘Mexico wins and you win your food’ deal in place during this world cup. I’m a Brazil supporter and I watched the match at the most Mexican place I’ve been to here surrounded by Mexicans (with scattered handful of Brazil supporters) and their delicious food.
I also learnt a cheer in Spanish. You basically yell ‘Órale’ to express approval or encouragement and sometimes even frustration.
So, we did not win our food but we did order every single dessert on the menu which included tres leches cake. I kid you not, it was so moist, light and you could just eat spoonful after spoonful until you’re left with an empty plate or a baking tray. Either way there’s no judgement I am all for eating cake for breakfast.
While I was making this last night it reminded me of my sister. She used to make this super moist vanilla cake and bathe it in half-whipped whipping cream. Come to think of it now what she made was a uno leches cake.
Special shout out to my photography consultant buggee who helped me with the photos and edits. I am very lucky indeed to have supportive friends.
Serves from 1 to as many people as you’d like. Prep time 1 hour but I always leave the cake to chill overnight the fridge. The longer you chill it, the better it tastes.
Ingredients:
For the cake:
– 1.5 cups of flour
– 1 teaspoon of baking powder
– 1.5 cups of unsalted butter
– 1.5 cups of sugar
– 5 eggs
– 1/2 teaspoon of vanilla extract
For the tres leches:
– 2 cups of milk of your preference (I used skimmed milk )
– 1 can of evaporated milk
– 1 can of condensed milk
* Even though I didn’t specify the size of the cans do ensure that its roughly proportional.
For the whipped cream
– 1.5 cups of whipping cream
– 1 tsp of vanilla extract
– 1/2 cup of white sugar
* you could also use cool whip or pre-whipped cream instead as it tastes the same.
Directions:
– Preheat the oven to 350 degrees and grease your baking pan. I used 9×13 inches pan.
It’s not the end of the world even if you don’t preheat your oven. I never do because I always forget and they turn out great.
– Combine flour and the baking powder together and set aside
– Cream the butter and and sugar together until they are fluffy.
– Add eggs and vanilla extract and beat well.
– Add the dry ingredients to the beaten butter mixture and fold well.
– Pour the batter into your greased pan and bake at 350 degrees for 25 minutes. Adjust the timing accordingly if you have an oven that has a mind of it’s own.
– While your oven is doing it’s thang combine the 3 milks together.
– Once your cake has cooled down you can either trim the edges so everyone gets a middle piece or just go with it and let your friends fight for it.
– Fork that cake multiple times. Make sure you get the edges. The more holes you make the better it’s going to absorb tres leches.
– For the whipped cream, combine the 1.5 cups of whipping cream, 1 tsp of vanilla extract and 1/2 cup of white sugar together and whip until thick.
– Spread it evenly on the cake.
– As for the toppings, my favourites are caramel and cocoa powder. Pictured above is cocoa powder sprinkled on top, paired with strawberries and a cherry. You can use coffee and cinnamon as well. I don’t like my tres leches cake paired with raspberry because its sour and doesn’t go well with milk. Basically, be creative and go nuts.
– Cover your cake with aluminium foil and refrigerate over night to chill for the best outcomes. If pressed for time stick that bad boy in you freezer. Either way I can assure you that people are going to rave about this cake.
Cooking through medicine 