Tres Leches Cake

One of my mother's favorite desserts, tres leches cake, is simple yet flavorful. It makes for the perfect sweet treat on a hot summer day. In my home, tres leches cake was always waiting in the refrigerator. It's an ideal dessert to prepare alongside a larger meal since it doesn't take long to make. It's also a great way to use milk before it expires or to prepare a dessert ahead of a dinner party. Best of all, you can dress it up or keep it simple by decorating it however you'd like or topping it with fresh fruit.

Despite its simplicity, tres leches cake is a truly universal dessert. Built on a light sponge cake and topped with fluffy whipped cream, it gets its name from the three kinds of milk used to soak the cake. Together, they create a rich, creamy flavor that the sponge absorbs beautifully. Although there are many ways to make tres leches cake, this recipe is one of the most reliable for achieving a consistently delicious result. 

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Tres Leches Cake

Yield 20

Author Alexandria Flores

Prep time

1 Hour

Cook time

35 Min

Total time

1 H & 35 M

A Latin American classic, this will become your go-to recipe for this noteworthy dessert

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Ingredients

Sponge Cake

• 2 cups of all-purpose flour
• 1 cup of granulated sugar
• 8 whole eggs
• 2 tsp of baking powder
• 2 tsp of vanilla extract
• One stick of salted butter

Milk Mixture

• 1 can of condensed milk
• 1 can of evaporated milk
• 2 cups of whole milk

Whipped Cream

• 2 cups of heavy whipping cream
• ½ cup of powdered sugar
• 1 Tbsp. of vanilla extract

Instructions

1. Separate the egg whites and the yolks into two separate bowls
2. Preheat oven to 150℉ for twenty minutes
3. Once separated, grab a large bowl and place all egg whites into the fresh bowl. Once placed, add half the cup of sugar and begin to whip egg whites. After egg whites begin to foam up add the other half of sugar into the egg whites.
4. Once the egg whites start to form peaks, fold in egg yolks one at a time until all egg yolks are incorporated.
5. After egg yolks are placed into the mixture, add flour, baking powder and vanilla extract.
6. Grease a 9x13 baking dish with salted butter and place the batter into the dish. Bake at 250℉ and leave in the oven for thirty-five minutes.
7. Remove the cake from the oven and let the sponge cake rest for two hours
8. After the cake is cool, place all of the kinds of milk into a large bowl and mix until it is incorporated.
9. Place the milk mixture on the cake until all the milk is absorbed by the cake.
10. Let the cake rest in the refrigerator for three hours or up to overnight.
11. In a different bowl, place heavy milk, powdered sugar, and vanilla extract in a bowl.
12. Whip the combination until it creates stiff peaks.
13. Decorate the cake with the whipped cream.

Notes

Note: Once the milk mixture is in, it is recommended to leave the cake overnight for the best flavor profile.