Fauzia's Kitchen Fun

Tres Leches Cake

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Tres Leches Cake

A deliciously soft and delicate sponge cake that is soaked with ‘three milks’ or tres leches in Spanish (sweet condensed milk, evaporated milk and heavy cream)…then topped with whipped cream and fruits. I served it with peach & strawberry slices.
This is truly one of the best & most decadent milk cakes ever!!  Ideal for special occasions.
Servings 8 people

Ingredients
  

Ingredients for Sponge Cake

  • 1 cup self rising flour you can make your own self rising flour using: 1 cup all purpose flour, 1 1/2 tsp baking powder & 1/4 tsp. salt. Sift all three ingredients well
  • 5 whole eggs separated into yolks and whites
  • 1/2 cup sugar divided into two parts
  • 1 tsp. vanilla
  • 1/3 cup milk

Ingredients for Tres Leches Syrup

  • 1 can evaporated milk 385ml
  • 1 can sweetened condensed milk 300ml
  • 1/4 cup whipping or double cream

Ingredients for Frosting

  • 2 cups whipping cream
  • 3 tbsp. sugar
  • 1 tsp. vanilla essence

Instructions
 

  • First you will need to bake the sponge.
    Preheat your oven to 180 degrees C. Grease a 9×13 inch pan liberally until coated then dust it with flour. I prefer to use a glass pyrex dish because I serve the cake in the same pan.
    Sieve flour, baking powder, and salt in a large bowl. Set aside.
    Beat the egg yolks with quarter cup sugar on high speed until yolks are pale yellow. Mix in the milk and vanilla.
    Once ready, slowly and gradually pour the egg yolk mixture into the flour mixture and stir using a spatula or wooden spoon very gently until combined. Set aside.
    Beat egg whites on high speed until soft peaks form (you can add an eighth of a tsp. of cream of tartar to help stabilize the egg whites, optional if you have). With the mixer on, pour in the remaining quarter cup sugar and beat until egg whites are stiff but still glossy.
    Very gently, fold egg white mixture into the batter until JUST combined. Do not over-mix or you will risk deflating the batter. Pour into prepared pan and spread with a spatula to even out the surface as best as you can.
    Bake for 25-30 mins or until a toothpick comes out clean.
    In the meantime, prepare the tres leches syrup. Mix the condensed milk, evaporated milk and heavy cream in a small jug.
    Once cake is out of the oven, let it cool slightly in the same baking dish for about 15 minutes then pierce the surface with a fork all over.
    I like doing all this in the same glass pan that I used for baking. You can opt to turn it out into a tray but make sure the tray has depth to hold in the syrup as you pour.
    Slowly drizzle the milk mixture, try to make sure you drizzle it evenly. If it feels like there is too much milk, give it a few minutes to absorb and keep going.
    Allow the cake to absorb the milk mixture for 30 minutes.
    Once all the syrup has been absorbed, whip the frosting cream with sugar and vanilla essence until thick. Spread over the surface of the cake. Refrigerate to allow the frosting to chill properly. You can even make this cake the day before you want to serve it.
    When ready to serve, cut into squares and decorate each square with strawberries, peaches, pineapples or cherries…whatever you like. Serve!
    Enjoy! :))

Join the Conversation

  1. Hello Fauzia
    You are a gem!!
    i made this cake yesterday for my 1st wedding anniversary
    and guess what it was a huge hit !!!!
    My husband loved it and everyone at office loved it too and kept asking for more.
    Next on my list is to bake the black forest Gateau and strawberries&cream just confused which one to bake first.
    Thanx a ton 🙂

  2. tried this a few days ago, was absolutely devine! my new fav cake 🙂 thanks for the great recipe

  3. Hey fauzia..i would like to know if der s any oder fruit for to garnish..bcz i dont wanna use strawberries…

    1. Hi, as you can see from the pic I have garnished with peaches too. You can use any fruit you like.

  4. I was wondering how far ahead can you put the milk on the cake cause i am making this cake for someone but i also need to decorate it as far as frosting it so i wanted to know how soon i can pour the milk so that it will absorb the milk but to wear i still have at least 2 hours to decorate the cake

  5. Hi fauzia
    Hi fauzia
    Can i make this in springform pan? I would like to use this as a bday cake

    Is it possible??

    1. Yes it will. Remove the cake
      Yes it will. Remove the cake and transfer into a shallow tray or dish, the cake will have to be served from the dish in which you add the milks to the cake.

  6. Hy fauzia. Was wondering can
    Hy fauzia. Was wondering can I use already Mixed cake bought from the store and just make the cream, or do I have to make the cake from scratch.

    1. The mixed cake wouldn’t give
      The mixed cake wouldn’t give the same results as this cake needs to be a sponge cake, which makes it able to take in all the liquid poured into it. A regular cake would not be able to hold all the liquid and will end up being mushy and not as good.

    1. The vanilla helps with the
      The vanilla helps with the flavouring, I would recommend to use it for a nicer taste.

  7. Hi fauzia, the cake looks
    Hi fauzia, the cake looks yummy. Will definitely give it a try. Just have a quick question. The cream u used is heavy whipping cream, right??

  8. The sponge cake turned out a bit hard, even though I baked it for even less than the time specified! Perhaps because the baking dish was wide, so the layer was rather thin.

    What I liked even better were the “kulfi popsicles” 😂 Just had it as ice-cream, but it was amazing!

  9. Hello fauzia..Hope you are fine..I tried to make this tres leches cake..i followed all the instructions as per its written..but i dont know why my cake isnt that spongy..and its very thin..Can you please tell me the reason for it?

    1. Hi, sounds like maybe you may have knocked all the air out from the batter during mixing.

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