Sunday, June 26, 2011

Tres leches cake


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.

11 comments:

  1. I made this cake about a year ago and enjoyed the moistness of it! Im glad you liked it, it sure looks yummy, dip and all:0)

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  2. I tried to make cupcakes and I got it wrong somehow as the milk didn't all soak up correctly and it was floating in milkiness...maybe I would have better luck with the cake version and your recipe. It certainly looks lovely.

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  3. This recipe is nice Cake Law, we really love Tres Leches heres is so popularm we have Tres leches desserts and Tres leches Ice Cream, I love your recipe, xgloria

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  4. Great looking cake! Yum!

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  5. Strangely enough I am not really into milk unless it is condensed - so am not sure about if I would like this cake - don't think I have ever encountered it in the blogosphere but enjoy seeing it around the blogosphere occasionally

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  6. It's such a lovely moist cake isn't it! I adore it :D

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  7. Funny (yet painful) story: I once cut my tongue while licking the remnants of sweetened condensed milk off of it.

    This cake looks divine!!!!

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  8. I made a tres leche in my early days of blogging - amazing. It's like eating spongy cream i.e. fantastic!

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  9. Lead me not into temptation!!! I've actually never had tres leches cake, despite seeing it on the menu at various Mexican restaurants. Now I'm going to have to try it.

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  10. I've seen this type of cake so many times but have never tried it. With sweetened condensed milk, it's got to be good!

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  11. I'm on a baking binge this week and I am sooo going to make this. Looks great and if there is 1/2 tin of condensed milk left over at the end - so much the better.

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