Tres Leches Cake

Well, it is fall again which means that Community Groups are in full swing. I love getting back into regular time spent with friends. Summer is a nice break but after a couple of months I miss the time we get to spend together each week. Anyway, so we are back - yay! That also means that my side job of baking birthday treats is back! Birthdays, birthdays, birthdays! There are 1-2 a week for the next month! It is a good thing I enjoy baking so much!

This week was Tyler’s birthday and being a man of habit he requested French Silk Pie. I think this is the 5^th row running. I can’t blame him though; it is a pretty decent request. After making his boys a Lightning McQueen cake for their birthday, he requested that his French Silk Pie be shaped like the Sears tower. I was going to try to attempt something just to be funny, but you can’t really “shape” French Silk. (So, Tyler, you will take your round, normal shaped pie and be happy about it!)

Jaime’s birthday was also this week and he requested a Tres Leches cake. I LOVE when people ask me to make something I haven’t ever done before. I Googled recipes and found a great one on the Food Network that had rave reviews. I decided to go with that one and it turned out delicious! If you have never had Tres Leches before, it actually means “three milks cake”. It is a spongy yellow cake with three types of milk combined and poured over top of it. I was a little nervous pouring 4 cups of liquid over a baked cake but it actually absorbed all of it overnight and the result was a cake that has the buttery flavor of shortbread but the texture of a dense, moist, cake. Mmmm, mmmm good!

This particular recipe called for it to be topped with sliced mango but that doesn’t seem to be consistent with most of the recipes I found. I do like that addition though, I felt like the like, tangy fruit complimented the rich, sweet cake well. This recipe is definitely a winner and I anticipate it making it into the regular dessert rotation.

Tres Leches Cake

Ingredients:

Cake:
6 eggs, separated
2 cups sugar
2 cups flour
2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 cup whole milk
1 tsp. vanilla

Cream topping:
1 14 oz. can evaporated milk
1 14 oz. can sweetened condensed milk
1 cup heavy cream

Frosting:
3 Tbs. water
3/4 cup sugar
3 egg whites

*optional - 2 ripe mangoes, peeled and thinly sliced


Directions:

Cake:

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Lightly grease and flour a 9” x 13” baking dish and set aside.

In the bowl of a mixer, beat the egg whites on low speed until soft peaks form. Add the sugar gradually with the mixer running and peak to stiff peaks. Add the egg yolks 1 at a time, beating well after the addition of each.

Sift together the flour and baking powder and add to the egg mixture, alternating with the milk. (Do this quickly so the batter does not lose volume.) Add the vanilla. Bake until golden, 25 - 30 minutes.

Cream topping:

In a blender, combine the evaporated milk, condensed milk, and heavy cream and blend on high speed.

Remove the cake from the oven and while still warm, poke holes throughout the cake with a fork so the cream can absorb evenly throughout the cake. Pour the cream mixture over it. Let sit and cool to room temperature. Cover and refrigerate until well chilled, at least 4 hours or overnight.

Frosting: 
Once the cake is completely chilled, in a saucepan combine the water and sugar. Bring to a boil. Reduce the heat and stir to dissolve the sugar. Cook until the mixture reaches the soft ball stage, 235 to 240 degrees F. Remove from the heat. In a medium bowl, beat the egg whites to soft peaks. While beating, add the hot syrup in a stream. Beat until all the syrup has been added, the mixture cools, and a glossy icing forms. Remove the cake from the refrigerator and spread the icing evenly across the top.

*Optional: top with sliced mangoes

 

*Disclaimer, this is not my picture. I forgot to snap one so this is a random pic from the internet, but my dessert looked like this :)