Tres Leches Cake: Can It Be Made For A Wedding?
Decorating By loriemoms Updated 20 Mar 2009 , 8:52pm by Rosie2
It wasn't a wedding, but an anniversary, does that count?
I had to make sure it was chilled, chilled, chilled and then iced it with vanilla Bettercreme.
People were falling over themselves to get a 2nd piece =)
oh and I don't soak mine as much as a traditional tres leches recipe says to, its just too soggy to stack.
hth!
It wasn't a wedding, but an anniversary, does that count?
I had to make sure it was chilled, chilled, chilled and then iced it with vanilla Bettercreme.
People were falling over themselves to get a 2nd piece =)
oh and I don't soak mine as much as a traditional tres leches recipe says to, its just too soggy to stack.
hth!
That is what I was wondering...do you use like half? 3/4? to soak?
If I had to guess Id say 1/2, the original recipe was just wayyy too softy soggy.
I didn't try to ice it with buttercream, because I was afraid of it seeping thru, but if you kept it chilled the whole time you might be ok.
Maybe someone who has tried BC or fondant will chime in =)
Yes, it's the most popular cake in the latino community. Only thing is you can not cover with fondant since it's a very humid cake. I've never done a wedding cake, but I always do 'tres leches' for b-days and events.
The milk is:
condensed milk
liquid heavy cream
carnation milk
I'd definitely like to try your recipe JGMB, my recipe would be too soggy to stack.
Thanks,
MS
JGMB:
I would love your recipe--please post it!
Last time I made this cake one of the milks called for was coconut milk. The cake was amazing, a real treat for my BIL's birthday. I think it would be delicious with the right buttercream.
Also, there's a process you can do so that the milk don't drip.
After you bake the cake, you take it out of the pan, cool the cake. Then cover your pan (same pan you baked in) with suran wrap...then put the cake back in the pan, pick the cake with a fork and add the milk. Cover and chill overnight. The next day you decorate the cake and the milk do not drip. It sounds like a process, but it's worth it. It's a delicious moist cake.
Here's a pic of my daughter's quinceanera's cake...it was all tres leches with different fruit fillings.
Please make a note I did not make this cake though...I've never done a cake that big!
Good luck,
Rosie
Tres Leches Cake
2 ½ cups flour
1 Tbsp. baking powder
7 eggs, separated
1 cup sugar
¾ cup whole milk
1 Tbsp. vanilla
1 can (12 oz.) evaporated milk
1 can (14 oz.) sweetened condensed milk
1 container (1/2 pint) whipping cream
¼ cup brandy (optional, but it adds great flavor when used)
Meringue
6 egg whites
¼ tsp. cream of tartar
1/8 tsp. salt
1 ½ cups sugar
¾ cup water
Zest of 1 lemon
1. Heat oven to 375 degrees. Combine the flour and baking powder in a medium bowl; set aside.
2. Beat the 7 egg whites and sugar with an electric mixer in a large bowl until soft peaks form, about 3 minutes. Beat in the yolks one at a time. Beat in 1/3 of the flour mixture and 1/3 of the whole milk; repeat twice, beating until smooth. Add vanilla.
3. Pour the mixture into a buttered and floured 10 round cake pan. Lower the oven to 350 degrees; bake until a toothpick comes out clean, 35-40 minutes. Cool in the pan 15 minutes; unmold. Cut the cake into 3 horizontal layers; place on wire racks set into shallow baking pans.
4. Combine the evaporated milk, condensed milk, cream and brandy in a medium bowl. Prick the top of each cake layer with a toothpick. Ladle 1/3 of the milk mixture over each cake layer; set aside. (It will seem like a lot of liquid, but it really does sink in if you ladle it on slowly, kind of pressing down as you go.)
5. For the meringue, beat the 6 egg whites, cream of tartar and salt with an electric mixer on medium-high speed in a large bowl to form stiff peaks; set aside. Combine the sugar, water and lemon zest in a medium saucepan. Heat to a boil over medium heat; cook until temperature reaches 240 degrees on a candy thermometer, or until the mixture reaches the soft ball stage. Remove from heat. Carefully add the syrup in a thin stream to the egg whites, beating on medium speed. Beat until firm, 5-6 minutes. Restack the cake layers; cover the sides and top of the cake with meringue. Refrigerate until serving time.
This makes a really big cake. Serve fairly small slivers, because it's very rich. Leftovers freeze very well, too!
Enjoy!!!! Julie
Found a blurb about Jenna's tres leches wedding cake:
"San Antonio's Ultimate Cheesecake Bakery created the wedding cake--a tres leches cake. The dessert featured layers of delicate sponge cake soaked with three different milks ("tres leches" in Spanish). The layers were "torted" and filled with dulce de leche filling and topped with whipped cream icing. "The cake is a moist, delicious combination of rich caramel and cool, refreshing whip cream," Mary Jane Ontiveroz, the company's co-owner, tells Special Events. She and her husband drove the cake from their bakery in San Antonio 195 miles to the Crawford ranch. Upon arrival, presidential aides told the pair that President Bush wanted to meet them. "At that moment, my knees became like Jell-O!" she says. "I had no idea that we would even see any family members, let alone the president!"
thanks for the recipe! Just a few hours ago someone asked if i could make this kind of cake for their birthday (teenage girl) and i said "sure" but had no idea what it was but figured i could always find something on cc 
Wow, DDaigle what a story! I imagine how she felt when the cake started falling...maybe she underestimated the weight of the layers. I've seen huge 'tres leches' wedding cakes with no problems. But, of course, the guests never see what's behind the scenes, huh?
I'd be afraid to stack a tres leches cake, but there is someone here on cc who made a tres leches cake & covered in fondant. Her cake was beautiful too. It was an Indian wedding theme I want to say, I even asked how well it went and never got a response. so I'm just guessing?! Anyhow being that tres leches is on the sweeter end I wouldn't use bc only bettercreme or pastry pride stuff. Fresh whipped cream taste even better. I would say the purpose of the is to be drenched in milk and soggy that's the traditional way. It usually starts to drip or seep out of the cake if it's left out or not in the frig. if it really cool and left in frig until ready to cut you should be good.
I have attended a wedding that had a four tier tres leches cake. The way they got around this was much like Rosie2's picture. Each tier was actually sitting on a floating stand type thing and there were flowers in between. So, at first glance it almost looked like a traditional stacked on top of each other cake.
I suppose anything is possible as long as you have a great support system! I would even suggest using the SPS, if you wanted to do a traditional stacked cake.
The florist did it! And from the pic it looks like the florist lifted the top layer on one side to shove some stems in UHHG! I found this on the blog...
The folks over at The Ultimate Cheesecake Bakery just informed me of the real scoop behind that now infamous crooked cake photo released this week from Jenna Bush & Henry Hagers wedding.
Mary Jane Ontiveroz of the Ultimate Cheesecake in San Antonio decorated and delivered this cake. She has over 40+ years handling cakes. The cake, a combination tres leches/dulche de leche, did in fact have whipped icing. This is a very popular cake in south Texas and she has a lot of experience with it. The cake had all the necessary supports and was set-up completely straight. When Mary Jane asked where the floral was, she was told the florist would be finishing the cake. Mary Jane insisted to assist or do the floral herself! She was told that was not an option and escorted out by secret service ( not before getting a quick photo with George who was in the tent ). Our only guess is, the topper was to heavy or the florist did not use a ladder to place the arrangement directly in the center. Long story shortleave the entire cake to the pastry chef!!! Do not have people who cut flowers for a living stick them in your cake.
Ahhh, so that's the real story!!
I was surprised the cake would be tilting considering Ms Ontiveroz years of experience. I'm sure she has made many 'tres leches' wedding cakes.
BTW, the best icing for this cake would be a whipped cream icing or I've tried Pastry Pride and it's perfect! also, a traditional filing is 'dulce de leche' or we called it 'cajeta' = caramel.
I made a tres leches for a wedding and the couple had the cake out in the outdoors. I delivered around 5 in the afternoon and set it up with roses on the sides of it and it was frosted with bettercream and it did not fall apart or leak. What I did was put the asked amount of liquid on the top layers and the bottom layer I didn't put as much. I knew they would be having it outdoors and not in a cool environment so I kept it in the fridge overnight and I decorated and then put it back in the fridge until I dropped it off. Here is a picture of it. And it was done in July to top it all off! I added the gumpaste roses that I made once I was there.
Just a thought-I wonder if you could paint on some melted white chocolate( thinned a bit like a truffle filling and painted on while still warm and paintable) on the bottom and sides of the cake before milking them. Wouldn't that kind of seal in the bottom of each layer and keep the milk in? Then 
oh yeah the dowels..LOL so you would still have to light on the milk. I just like adding chocolate to anything Ionk Ionk! 
Just a thought-I wonder if you could paint on some melted white chocolate( thinned a bit like a truffle filling and painted on while still warm and paintable) on the bottom and sides of the cake before milking them. Wouldn't that kind of seal in the bottom of each layer and keep the milk in? Then
oh yeah the dowels..LOL so you would still have to light on the milk. I just like adding chocolate to anything Ionk Ionk!
Well, since I don't like chocolate (no I don't, believe or not ) I never thought of that but, wouldn't that make the cake too heavy??
The process I've mentioned earlier really works to avoid the milk dripping.
well ya probably if it was slathered on good and thick..LOL My thought process on it was more along the lines of when you brush a cake with jam nice in a nice light coating just to seal it in.
Hmmmm, I see what you mean...maybe next time I'll try that for the chocoholics in my family LOL 
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