Tres Leches Cake is a classic Mexican dessert that is very similar to the French Milk Chocolate Mousse Cake. The difference is that Tres Leches Cake uses condensed milk, evaporated milk, and sweetened cream to make a creamy filling that is poured over a sponge cake.
One thing we love about this recipe is how easy it is! All you need are some simple ingredients like cake flour and baking powder, some unsalted butter or margarine (we prefer unsalted because it has less salt), powdered sugar (for dusting), vanilla extract, and spices like cinnamon or nutmeg depending on your preference (these will go into your batter).
Tres Leches
There are three layers to this cake: cake, filling, and topping. This cake is perfect for milk lovers!
Equipment
- 9 x 13 Pans
Ingredients
- 13 oz AP Flour
- 3 ¾ tbsp Teaspoon Baking Powder
- ½ tbsp Salt
- 13 Eggs
- 2 ½ cup Sugar, divided
- 1 tbsp Vanilla
- 2/3 cup Milk
- 1 can Evaporated Milk
- 1 can Sweetened, Condensed Milk
- 1/4 cup Heavy Cream
FROST
- 16 oz Heavy Cream, For Whipping
- 3 tbsp Sugar
- 1 tbsp Vanilla
Instructions
PREPARATION Instructions
- Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Turn on fan. Line full size hotel pan with parchment.
- Combine flour, baking powder, and salt in a large bowl. Separate eggs.
- Beat egg yolks with 1 ½ 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 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 50 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.
TRES LECHES COOKING Instructions
- Wash, Rinse, and Sanitize prep station .
- Wash hands
- Collect all necessary pans, pots, utensils, and equipment
- Pre-heat oven to 350 F
- Combine dry ingredients
- Separate eggs yolks from whites, save whites
- Beat egg yolks and ¾ sugar, stir in milk and vanilla
- Stir gently with flour mixture
- Beat egg whites and ¼ sugar till stiff peaks .Fold into batter .
- Bake for 35-45 minutes, or until testing doneness with toothpick .
- Place on cooling rack .Mix 3 milk .
- Pierce cake with fork to make little holes through out cake
- Add cream mixture to top, letting it absorb from the top. Caution not to let it run over cake edge.
- Get heavy cream, powder sugar, and vanilla.Whip in mixer until thick and spreadable .
- Cut into 16 pieces, and portion into dessert takeout trays, add cherry to top
- Cover with lid .
- Label with name and date .
- Check and log temperature .
- Store in walk-in .