Cake Central › Recipes › The Best Tres Leches Cake

The Best Tres Leches Cake

mamapastelnenny20
By: mamapastel and nenny20
Posted 08/31/09 • Last updated 05/01/13 • 2989 views • 24 comments

Posted by mamapastel

This recipe is the best thing that has ever happened to me! I have used this recipe to make my cousins wedding cake!

The Best Tres Leches Cake

Ingredients

  • 1 3/4 C all-purpose flour
  • 2 teaspoons baking powder
  • 6 eggs seperated
  • 1 1/4 C sugar
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla 
  • Soaking liquid
  • 1 can evaporated milk (12oz)
  • 1 can sweetened condensed milk (14oz)
  • 1/3 C heavy cream

 

Instructions

 

1. Heat oven to 350. Coat 10 inch round springform pan with nonstick spray. Line bottom of pan with waxed paper; caot paper.

2. Cake: Whisk flour and baking powder together. In bowl, beat whites until soft peaks form. Slowly add 1/4 C of sugar, until stiff peaks form.

3. In seperate bowl, beat yolks with remaining 1 C sugar and van until thickened, about 3 min. Fold in whites, then flour mixture. Pour batter into pan. Bake for 38 min or until top springs back when pressed. Cool in pan for 10 to 15 min.

4. In bowl, whisk the milks together. With a wooden spoon, poke holes all over top of cake.

5. Place cake pan on plate or rack, and carefully pour milk mixture over cake until all soaked in. refridgerate overnight or for at least 6 to 8 hrs.

6. Take sides of pan off and invert cake on plate or platter. Take off waxed paper.

7. I top mine with fresh whipped cream stabalized with piping gel for more stability. You can also use frozen thawed whipped topping in a pinch. Add fresh fruit to your liking, or other pie fillings.

 

* To make this a Pina Colada cake, switch the condensed milk for a can of cream of coconut, add crushed pineapple to top of cake before topping with fresh cream. Some sliced almonds around the sides, pineapple chunks, maraschino cherries and flaked coconut on top for garnish! This is my husbands favorite cake! I hope you will enjoy too!! Who cares, its sooo good!!

 

Comments (24)

tobeydechristopher 12/2/09 at 3:44pm
I can tell by the formula and the ingredients that this is a superb Tres Leches Cake. I make dulce de leche and blend it in with the soaking milk. That is nice as well because it give the cake a caramel flavor. Thank you for posting your recipe and I will try it.
eileen50538 1/5/10 at 12:38pm
I am new to cake making.... I was reading the directions and don't know what Van is. It says to mix the egg yolks, sugar, and van together... I have to make a chocolate tres leches cake for a grooms man cake in May... Thanks.
sharridee 1/7/10 at 2:57pm
I think Van is short for vanilla.
stephilde 3/18/10 at 10:14am
i have never made tres leches but wouldnt it be very soft due to soaking it in the milk? Does this hold up well to frostings like fondant and buttercream? Is it stackable or carvable? I wouldnt think so.
carbmen 5/4/10 at 10:46am
This is such a delicious cake I made it and topped it with strawberries and kiwis ...
nat969 5/7/10 at 9:48am
Hello, I was wondering if you can help me...I've been asked to do a 2-tier cake with the bottom layer being tres leches, is this at all possible?
sknnypggy 5/20/10 at 7:03am
Absolutely the best Tres Leches Cake. My friend who is very Picky who only Likes "authentic" tres leches loved it! Thank you MamaPastel!
Cossa 5/20/10 at 10:36am
I tried this recipe last week and it was a total success!!!! I never had it before so I wasn't sure about the consistency, but I asked some friends from Mexico and they said it was very, very good!!!!! Thank you for sharing your recipe.
Lelka 5/23/10 at 3:39pm
My question is can you layer it? It will be a bottom tier of 3 tier cake and I was wondering if I can layer it with stabilized WC and tort it? Did anybody try it? Please please please let me know!
josie76 6/11/10 at 4:27am
I had never even heard of this type of cake before but liked the sound of it so I tried this recipe last week for my Dads birthday I covered it in chocolate ganache and it was a HUGE success, I will definatley be making it again!! Thankyou !!
Chris6703 7/17/10 at 4:09am
YES, my question also, is this stackable? will it hold up to BC/fondant, AND will it weep out if left out for an event? I can just taste this now...... reply please
Jomamasita 7/26/10 at 9:37am
No, u cant cover a tres leches cake in fondant, and buttercream will probably be too sweet. So its prefferable to do a light fluffy topping with fruit for decoration.
Linda2010 7/31/10 at 7:38pm
I live in Mexico and have been requested many times to make a tres leches cake covered in fondant, but I have been afraid to do it because this type of cake is very humed and fluffy. Humidity is the worst enemy of fondant. So I do not think it is a good idea. This is my opinion unless someone has tried it, I would like to know. However I have seen many tres leches cakes covered with buttercream. But I agree with Jomamasita that it is too sweet.
Becca_YummyDelights 9/12/10 at 8:13pm
Just mix Cool Whip with crushed pineapple for the frosting. It's beyond amazing!! And no do NOT try to stack, or cover with buttercream/frosting. That's just asking for trouble!!
tmt578 11/4/10 at 5:37pm
I have to agree... This is the BEST TRES LECHE cake! I made it last night for my maintenance guy who just obtained his citizenship here in the States. He's from El Salvador and he talked about how good and authentic it was and tasted. Said that it tasted like the Tres Leche from his home (country). That was a great compliment since this was only my 2nd time making it! I have to add, that I added about a 1/4 cup of Mocha (chocolate) Rum Liqueor that I brought from St. Maarten. I brush coated it on top of the baked cake (after the holes were poked thru and the milk was added). EVERYONE LOVED IT!
writersblock15 11/24/10 at 12:08pm
After favoriting this recipe months ago, I'm finally going to make it. I'm going to substitute cake flour for all purpose flour and add some Kahlua to the milk mixture. Should be interesting.
areinsbach 12/21/10 at 1:44pm
So, the soaking liquid part is the filling or tort? You wouldn't cut the cake in half and fill it, would you? Sounds like you don't....
cakefanatic 11/6/11 at 7:03pm
My aunt makes this cake and sells it a lot. the only frosting she uses is whipped frosting and she bakes two cakes adding the filling in the middle. I do not suggest this cake for stacked weddings cakes. You could use them but as single cakes due to the liquids that are added to this cakes makes it very soft. I was thinking maybe you can use it for wedding cakes I would think maybe for a 2 tier cake as long as they are not stacked.
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