Tres leches cake is not well known in Australia. However, from the moment I first read about this cake, which literally means "three milks" cake in Spanish, I was eager to try it. The cake is a loose crumbed golden sponge cake which is soaked in three milks, making it sweet and moist and dense.
The three milks are evaporated milk, condensed milk and cream. The presence of condensed milk had me swooning. As a child, I used to eat condensed milk by the tube - I adored it, and when my mother opened a can of condensed milk, she always gave me the empty tin and lid to lick the remnants of the sweet, sticky milk within.
The cake is traditionally topped with whipped cream, making it an indulgent delight.
The recipe that I used for tres leches cake came from Jane Asher's Beautiful Baking. I will confess that my cake sunk a little in the middle, but in the end, I don't think this mattered one jot. It still looked and tasted fantastic!
To make this cake, you will need:
175g butter
175g sugar
3 lightly beaten eggs
175g self raising flour
175ml evaporated milk
125ml condensed milk
100ml whipping cream
extra whipping cream for topping the cake
Preheat your oven to 180degrees Celsius. Grease and line (with the lining protuding ~5cm above the sides of the tin) a 21 x 10 x 6cm loaf pan. (The lining is vital, as it helps you to lift the milk soaked cake out of the pan.)
Place the butter and sugar into a stand mixer and beat until light and fluffy. Add the eggs gradually, beating all the while.
Fold in the sifted flour, then stir in three tablespoons of the evaporated milk. Spoon the batter int the prepared loaf tin, and smooth out evenly.
Place the cake in the oven and bake for 40-50 minutes or until cooked through. Remove the cake from the oven leave it in the tin.
While the cake is still hot, poke holes in it with a skewer or a fork, right down to the bottom of the cake. Mix together the cream, evaporated milk and condensed milk, and pour them evenly over the cake, pressing on the top of the cake as necessary to help the milks to penetrate into the cake. Refrigerate the cake over night.
Remove the cake from the tin, and spread with whipped cream. Cut into slices. Enjoy!
This cake is so dense and moist that they thought it was a white chocolate mud cake at work - so if this sounds like you, try the tres leches cake.