Tres Leches Cake Recipe – Pastel de Tres Leches

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Tres Leches Cake

Cake:

  • 1 ¼ cup white sugar (1 cup for yolk, ¼ cup for whites)
  • 5 egg whites
  • 5 egg yolks
  • 1/3 cup milk
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • 1 cup all purpose flour
  • 1 ½ teaspoons baking powder

Topping:

  • 1 can sweetened condensed milk (14 oz)
  • 1 can evaporated milk (12 oz)
  • 1 pint whipping cream (take out ¼ cup milk for syrup)
  • 2-3 T powdered sugar, to taste

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).  Coat a 9″ x 13″ pan with cooking spray, or coat with butter and flour.  In a medium sized bowl beat the egg whites until soft peaks form.  Gradually add ¼ cup sugar.  Beat until firm but dry.  Beat the egg yolks with 1 cup of sugar until light in color and almost doubled in volume.  Stir in milk, vanilla, flour and baking powder.  Gently fold egg whites into yolk mixture.  Pour into prepared pan.  Bake at 350 degrees F for 30-40 minutes or until cake tester inserted into the middle comes out clean.  The cake will be a light golden color.  Allow to cool for 10-15 minutes.

While the cake is cooling, mix together condensed milk, evaporated milk and ¼ cup of the whipping cream.  Allow this to chill.  Now, loosen the edges of cake with a knife before removing from pan.  Allow to cool completely; place on a deep serving plate.  Use a fork to pierce surface of the cake.  Alternatively, keep cake in the 9″ x 13″ pan for easy transport and serving.  After the cake has cooled pour the milk mixture slowly and so that the milk really soaks in.  Whip the remaining whipping cream until it thickens and reaches spreading consistency.  Add 2-3 Tablespoons powdered sugar to the whipping cream as to your liking.  Frost cake with the whipping cream and garish with fresh berries.

Variations: You can easily make this into a Cuatro leches cake (pastel de cuatro leches) by adding ½ cup dulce de leche to the milk mixture.  If you want the cake to be sweeter and if you prefer the cake to be extra moist add an extra ½ can of sweetened condensed milk.  I have baked this several times in two round cake pans and stacked the cake between a layer of whipped cream.  It is not the most stable cake, but when sliced it gives a nice presentation.  A tiny bit of lime zest can be added to the milk mixture to give the cake nice lime undertones.   Melted sugar cooled on a silpat makes a lovely garnish.