Monday 22 April 2013

Tres Leches Cake

A Tes Leches Cake, or pastel de tres leches (from Spanish, "three milks cake"), is a sponge cake soaked in three kinds of milk: evaporated milk, condensed milk, and heavy cream/whole milk. This is the first time I have heard of this cake and I was fascinated by the idea of soaking the cake in milk. I imagined that the cake would be really delicious with the flavours of the different types of milk (especially condensed milk!).


However, being health conscious, I was worried about the calories so I I cut down the amount of milk for soaking to reduced the damage to my waist line and also not to waste the milk mixture as there would be quite a fair amount of left over if I followed the recipe exactly. The sponge cake on its own was light and airy but not much to rave about. The magic really begins with the milk "disappearing" into the fork holes I made on the cake. 


Reviews have said that this cake is highly addictive and there is absolutely no doubt about that. The soaked sponge is moist but not quite as soggy as one might expect (I was honestly expecting the cake to fall apart with all that liquid). Later, I read that because the Tres Leches sponge is a very light cake, with many air bubbles, it does not have a soggy consistency, despite being soaked in the milk mixture. The three types of milk gave the cake a wonderfully rich and creamy bite and when topped with the fresh cream, was so delicious, I couldn't help but wolfed down two pieces right away.  


Tres Leches Cake (9 by 13 inches)
Recipe by The Pioneer Woman

Ingredients

For the Cake: 
  • 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
For Soaking the Cake*: 
  • 1 can Evaporated Milk
  • 1 can Sweetened, Condensed Milk
  • ¼ cups Heavy Cream (I replaced with low fat milk)
*I only used about 2/3 cup of Evaporated Milk, 2/3 cup of condensed milk and 1 tbsp of milk as I read from the steps below that there will a fair amount of left over milk mixture and I did not want to waste the mixture. 

For Icing:
  • 1 pint Heavy Cream, For Whipping
  • 3 Tablespoons Sugar (I omitted)
Method
  • Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). 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 (I reduced to 1/2 cup) 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 whole or chopped maraschino cherries. Cut into squares and serve.
I am submitting this to Bake-Along hosted by Joyce of Kitchen FlavoursLena of Her Frozen Wings and Zoe of Bake for Happy Kids

40 comments:

  1. Hi Mich,
    I agree with you, this cake is so delicious! It's a good thing I've only made 1/3 of the recipe, otherwise I'll eat more! Haha!
    I do hope that our other blogger friends will give this a try, too good to be missed! :)
    Thank you for baking along with us!

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  2. No No! I am going to resist making this lol! Looks tempting but no, otherwise I'll be eating it all by myself! Yours looks delicious too! Good idea to cut down on the milk mixture!

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  3. Eileen, Hundred Eighty Degrees22 April 2013 at 23:16

    Hi Mich, so tempting. Same here, never heard of this cake. I was in Spain last year but didn't know of this cake otherwise I will by all means try since it sounded so good. Well, I will have to bake it my own :)

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  4. Gosh! This pioneer woman recipe has been at the back of my mind ever since I read it on her blog but I guess I'm a bit too scared to have THAT much sugar in a cake. Your version looks just as good as hers!

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  5. I might just try this cake because it sounds and looks so tempting. I will just have to forget about the calories this time round.

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  6. Tres Leches is amazing.. We grew up eating this all the time!!! Every Cuban household put a twist on it.. Now they are making one called Quatro Leches or Four milks.. They add dulce de leche also!! I know ridiculous amounts of sweetness!!

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  7. Good morning Mich! Feel like having a bite of your three-milk cake! I'm ok with evaporated & fresh milk but not a big fan of the condensed milk except for using it in baking.

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  8. Dead me, sound so incredibly delish! Sponge cake soaked up in all delicious milk...yum! I don't blame mind u wolfing down two pieces, I would have ate four!! Lol!

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  9. Miche yes this cake is delicious and addictive. Love them.

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  10. I have to say that this sounds like an interesting cake. Looks yummy.

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  12. I told Lena that this cake reminds me of tiramisu - just soak in milk and coffee :)

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  13. I am so tempted to try this, want to know if I can substitute evaporated milk with anything as we do not get here. And happy to hear your verdict that this cake isn't very soggy as anyone would expect

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    1. Amrita, how about using condensed milk, heavy cream and fresh milk?

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    2. Shall try and let you know!!Thanks

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  14. This sounds and delicious insanely delicious prepared with tres leches!

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  15. Mich , your tres leches cake looks sinfully delicious ! Definitely one on my to-bake list :D

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  16. Mich, everyone who baked this cake gave it rave reviews. I don't like milk but maybe the kids might enjoy this cake. Your piece of cake up there sure looks good :)

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  17. me too , i hv cut down the milk mixture volume too but not becos of the calories, i was just thinking that my cake will get a lot more soggy. Nevertheless, i cant deny that this is a very unique cake and tasted good too. Thanks for baking along with us, Mich!

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  18. Absolutely a fabulous cake and such a decadent and delicious treat!

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  19. Hi Mich your cake looks wonderful! Love that you adapted to it a less-damaging-to-the-waistline version, haha! I really need to adapt more of my recipes to be less damaging!

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  20. Sounds delicious. Looks even better than that.

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  21. I've heard of this cake before, but I didn't know that you soak in 3 kinds of milk! That is a fun project. :) Your cake turned out to look so moist! I'd love to have a piece if I can...

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  22. Hi Mich,

    What an co-incidence that Joyce, you and I are using the same recipe from Pioneer woman! This recipe is indeed very good and I should learn from you cutting down the amount of pouring milk mixture.

    Zoe

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  23. I would definitely devour it, if I had it in front of me! Looks very moist and fluffy!

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  24. Milk cake...looks so moist I am sure it would not last long in our home. Just thinking out loud but I wonder how it would taste to first caramelize the sweetened condensed milk over the stove first until it gets caramel like. Do you think that would work or too thick?

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    1. Bam, I think that may be too thick and it won't seep into the cake...

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  25. I love this cake, soaked with different milk...
    Hope you are having a lovely week Mich :)

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  26. I've heard about this cake but never actually tasted it.
    It looks great and sounds DELICIOUS
    Definitely on my to-do-list
    Thanks!

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  27. I would love to make a tres leches cake. I'm always a bit intimidated though! Yours turned out just beautifully, so clearly I need to push my fears aside and give it a go! Thank you for sharing!

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  28. Thought I left a comment much earlier ;(

    Absolutely YUMMS! This has been on my to-do-list for a long time. Hope to get around to this next couple of nights if not tonight!

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  29. I've never heard of Tres Leches - I always learn something new when I visit your blog ;-)

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  30. This recipe has been into my list to do for a long long time and still not dare to give it a go, due to the soaking milk. It sounds like the cake going to be really soft. I wonder my kids would like it. hehe.... But after went through all the post here. I think I might give it a try some day. Kudos!
    Have a lovely evening dear.
    Kristy

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  31. Very interesting this one Mich. I have never seen it before. Surely these 3 types of milk must give it a unique taste. I must bookmark this one. Take care X

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  32. Hi Mich, lovely cake, look awesome. I love the topping. Nice click.

    Best regards.

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  33. Tres leches is one of my favorites cakes; love this!!

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  34. Hi Mich,
    Delicious cake. I must try this too:)
    mui

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  35. This cake sounds really interesting...I've never heard of it before but I 'd like to give it a go! It sounds like it would be really moreish too! :-)

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  36. Hahaha, I love this post especially the part about reducing the damage to your waist line. You have very tempting recipes over here :)

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