If he homemade tres leches cake It is one of the most popular desserts in Latin America for a reason. Sweet, tender and deliciously juicy, the tres leches cake falls in love from the first bite. If just seeing the photo you feel like trying it, I invite you to prepare this milk cake recipe. She will love you.
If you have never heard of this dessert, you will probably have found the name funny and you are wondering why. Well, I will tell you that the tres leches cake consists of a sponge cake that is soaked in the so-called tres leches saucethat is, a mixture between condensed milk, evaporated milk and milk cream.
The combination of all these ingredients results in a delicious, juicy cake with a very present sweetness. This turns the tres leches cake into a ideal dessert for sweet tooth Well, as I say, it is quite sweet.
Making tres leches cake is very easy, as you will see now. The main trick is to get a very spongy and light sponge cake that absorbs the tres leches sauce correctly. In addition, you must have a little patience so that the sauce penetrates well into the crumb of the cake and it is juicy.
choice of mold
Although it is very typical to bake the tres leches cake in a rectangular mold, this time I have opted for a round one. My mold had 23cm diameter.
You have two options for present the tres leches cake and, depending on the one you choose, you must choose the mold.
If you are going to serve the cake as a decorated cake Ideally, you should use a springform pan so you can easily remove the cake. It is the option that I chose to make the cake that you see in the photos. To prevent the tres leches sauce from spilling through the joints of the mold, we will use plastic wrap to line its interior.
This cake can also be presented in the same mold where we are going to bake it and bathe it right there with the three milks. To remove it we will cut portions. In this case it is not necessary for the mold to be removable.
Ingredients to make three milk cake. Quantities for a 23 cm diameter mold
— FOR THE CAKE —
220g of flour
5 eggs L
130g white sugar
90g whole milk
1 teaspoon vanilla paste (or vanilla essence)
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 pinch of salt
— FOR THE THREE MILK SAUCE —
275g evaporated milk
275 condensed milk
250 whipping cream (milk cream)
– TO DECORATE –
350 g whipping cream
40g icing sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla essence or vanilla sugar
Previous steps before starting with the tres leches cake recipe
Preheat the oven to 175 ºC without fan and with heat above and below.
Sift the flour and yeast. It is important to sift the dry ingredients not only to remove possible lumps, but also to aerate it.
In this case do not grease the mold. The dough for this cake needs to “climb” the walls of the mold to grow properly.
How to make three milk cake
Prepare the sponge cake for the tres leches cake
Crack the eggs and Separate the whites from the yolks. Be careful not to let any of the yolk fall into the container where you have the whites.
Assemble the whites with half the sugar (approximately 65 g) and the pinch of salt until they are very firm. Ideally, you should use a stiff rod whisk, because by hand it will cost you a lot and it will be worse. Reserve them.
In another container, beat the yolks with the other half of the sugar until they double their volume and acquire a pale yellow tone.
Add the milk and vanilla. Beat again a little more.
Now let’s go add the dry ingredients that we had already sifted, that is, the flour and the yeast. Mix them until they are perfectly integrated and there are no lumps, but do not overdo it with the batter shake.
To finish the dough incorporates the whipped egg whites. Ideally, you add them three times and mix them with encircling movements with the help of a spatula. Make sure that there are no remains of dough at the bottom of the container without mixing well.
Pour the batter into the mold you have chosen and smooth the surface a little with the spatula. Do not hit the mold against the table to distribute the dough, because what you achieve in this way is that part of the air that we had incorporated with the mixing of the ingredients leaves us. Bake the cake at 175 ºC for 40 minutes about. The exact time will depend on the mold chosen and the capacity of your oven.
When the cake is ready, take it out of the oven and book it.
Prepare the three milk sauce and bathe the cake
While the cake is baking, you can prepare the mixture of the three milks that will soak the cake. For it combine condensed milk, cream and evaporated milk in a large bowl and whisk until the condensed milk is completely dissolved. Once the cake is ready and tempered, we are going to bathe it with this sauce.
If you’re using a springform pan:
Take out the cake of it and cover it with transparent plastic wrap.
Put the cake back inside and puncture the entire surface with a fork or skewer so that the sauce soaks the cake well.
Pour all the mixture of the three milks about the biscuit Little by little you will see that the cake absorbs the liquid as if it were a sponge.
cover the surface with more plastic wrap and keep it in the fridge for a minimum of 2 hours.
If you’re using a springform pan:
Without removing the cake from the mold, puncture the surface of it with a fork or skewer and bathe it with the sauce three milks.
cover the surface of the cake with plastic wrap and keep it in the fridge for a minimum of 2 hours.
Decorate the tres leches cake with chantilly cream
Once the cake is well soaked, take it out of the mold and remove the film from the bottom. Being so soaked, the cake is very tender and can fall apart, so do it very carefully. You can help yourself with a spatula.
ride cream (also called whipping cream or half cream) with electric rods or with your kitchen robot. For it to mount correctly, remember that it must have at least 35% fat and also be very cold. I leave this link for you to consult more details on how to make cream chantilly.
In the middle of the process, add the icing sugar and vanilla.
cover the cake with the cream chantilly. I used a putty knife and gave it a somewhat rustic finish. If you wish, you can use a pastry bag and nozzles to create some more decorative elements.
Finally, decorate your tres leches cake with the fruits of the forest previously washed.
Tips for making the tres leches cake
I have already told you about some of them throughout the recipe, but we are going to make a summary.
The base of the tres leches cake is a sponge cake very similar to the Genoese one, which does not have any fatty element among its ingredients. In these biscuits it is essential that the batter mix incorporates too much air to make them fluffy. So that the beaten egg whites is perfect, no yolk should fall inside. Its fat prevents the cake from growing. You should always incorporate them with enveloping movements and very slowly.
Do not leave the cake batter resting. Once the whites are integrated, put it in the oven.
Remember do not grease the mold.
Store the tres leches cake On the fridge until the moment of its tasting. Cream is an ingredient that is quite sensitive to heat and spoils easily.
Adapt the tres leches cake recipe to your liking
With the proportion of ingredients that I give you to make the tres leches sauce, there is a juicy cake, perfect for well-cut and pretty portions. However, if you are one of those people who like the sauce to drip, I recommend preparing a little more and pouring it over the cake once it has been cut.
Tres leches cake is characterized by being a very sweet dessert, something that not everyone likes. In this recipe I think the sweetness is quite balanced but, if you have a sweet tooth, you can increase the proportion of condensed milk in the sauce.
To decorate the three milk cake I recommend that you use a mild-flavored cream, that does not mask the taste or the sweetness of the milk. With cream chantilly it is delicious, but you can also cover it with a firm meringue. The touch of red fruits gives it a slightly acid point that contrasts with the sweetness of the cake. I recommend this combination.
