Tres Leches Cake is an incredibly delicious milk-soaked sponge cake topped with whipped cream. So good!
What is Tres Leches Cake?
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Cooking and Baking with Dairy
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You may enjoy these other recipes made with dairy from the dairy farmers of New England:
- Grilled Cheese Club Sandwich
- No-Bake Greek Yogurt Cheesecake Squares
- Broccoli Cheddar Soup
- Milk Braised Pulled Pork with Mushrooms
Tres Leches Cake
Tres Leches Cake is an incredibly delicious milk-soaked sponge cake topped with whipped cream. So good!
- Prep Time: 12 hours 30 minutes
- Cook Time: 45 minutes
- Total Time: 13 hours 15 minutes
- Yield: 12 servings 1x
- Category: Dessert
- Method: Baking
- Cuisine: Mexican
Ingredients
Cake
Butter and flour, to prepare a 9×13-inch pan
1 cup whole milk
1 cinnamon stick
6 tablespoons butter
7 whole eggs
2 cups granulated sugar
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
3 cups all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
Dairy
1/4 cup heavy cream
1 can sweetened condensed milk
1 can evaporated milk
Topping
2 cups heavy cream
1/4 cup confectioner’s sugar
Ground cinnamon to dust the top
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
- **This cake preparation method is not the traditional way that a cake is usually made, which is to cream sugar and butter, beat in eggs and then alternate wet and dry. Instead, please follow the steps below carefully. The result is a light and airy cake.
- Butter and flour a 9X13 inch pan and set aside.
- In a small sauce plan place milk, cinnamon stick and butter and heat to melt butter, do not boil.
- While the milk mixture is heating, in the bowl of a stand mixer with the paddle attachment, beat eggs on medium speed for four full minutes, no less.
- Add sugar and beat for four more minutes, no less.
- Add vanilla, mix and scrape bowl then mix again. Make sure all residue from the bottom is scraped and incorporated into the batter before going to the next step.
- Sift flour, baking powder and salt and slowly add to the egg mixture with machine running on low.
- Scrape the bowl and beat to combine.
- Remove and discard cinnamon stick from milk.
- With the mixer running on low, slowly drizzle in the hot milk and butter. Beat, scrape the bowl and beat again.
- Add the batter to the prepared pan and bake for 40-45 minutes, carefully rotating half way through. Be careful not to handle the pan too hard as it may deflate.
- After 35 minutes, insert a tooth pick into the center to test for doneness and continue baking until a tooth pick comes out clean and the center of the cake bounces back.
- Cool on a rack completely.
- Once cool, use a wooden skewer or a chop stick and poke lots of holes in the top. I poked a few hundred holes.
- Mix the heavy cream, sweetened condensed milk and the evaporated milk in a 2-cup measuring cup with a spout and slowly pour all over the cake getting the mixture to absorb into the holes and not all drip down the edges. Pour slowly to accomplish this.
- Cover and place in the refrigerator overnight or at least four hours. (I put a bunch of toothpicks over the top before covering with plastic so the plastic didn’t stick to the top of the cake).
- After the cake sits for four hours or overnight, whip the heavy cream and confectioner’s sugar to a soft whipped consistency and spread over the top of the cake.
- Dust with cinnamon then cut 4X3 into 12 pieces.
- Use a strong spatula to remove the pieces, making sure to get the spatula all the way under each piece so they don’t stick to the bottom. The bottom will be slightly moist.
Can I freeze this cake and if so, at which point. Before or after adding the milks
Hi Laura – Yes you can – we have frozen some leftover slices but the frosting does need to be reapplied if wrapped in plastic. If you plan to freeze the entire cake – I’d do it after the milks are added but before the frosting. Also make sure that your cake dish is freezer safe.
I made the cake and went by the directions. It was horrible! It pulled away from the sides, it felt like a brick, it was sad, did not rise and did not brown on the bottom. I don’t know what happen.
Sorry to hear that you didn’t have good results Charlotte – it’s hard to troubleshoot from a distance but if the cake didn’t rise, it could point to your baking powder no longer being fresh.
Your cake is beautiful! It doesn’t look soggy and there is no milk standing at the bottom like all the other Tres Leches Cakes I have seen. Why isn’t yours that way? I love it that yours isn’t that way!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Thanks Lisa! My husband Jack developed this recipe and his cake is lighter and more absorbent than some of the cakes we’ve eaten in the past – I think that did the trick! 🙂