First and foremost, HAPPY MOTHER’S DAY to all the moms out there! And an extra special Happy Mother’s Day to my mom and BFF, Sarah! She’s going to be so mad when she sees this photo! 😂💕🤷♀️ She is the inspiration for our first recipe back, though. My parents celebrated their 41st wedding anniversary a few days ago, and one of their fabulous neighbors gave them their first ever Tres Leches Cake. They can’t stop talking about how delicious it was. My mom has a new favorite food! So, this one is for you, Mom; here’s the recipe for Tres Leches Cake!
Tres Leches Cake:
Cake:
2 cups All Purpose Flour
2 tsp Baking Powder
1 1/2 tsp Salt
6ea, separated Eggs
1 1/4 cups Sugar
1/2 cup Milk, Whole
1 Tbsp Vanilla Bean Paste
Milk Mixture:
1 can Evaporated Milk
1 can Sweetended Condensed Milk
1 cup Milk, Whole
1 Tbsp Vanilla Bean Paste
Chantilly Cream:
2 cups Heavy Cream
1 cup Powdered Sugar
1 Tbsp Vanilla Bean Paste
I made this Tres Leches Cake recipe into both cupcakes and a small cake. If you are making a cake, I suggest using a 9×13 Pyrex baking dish. If you are going to make cupcakes, make sure you have a jelly roll pan to catch any overflow of the milk mixture! You will need a mixer for this recipe; I used a stand mixer, but you could easily use a hand mixer as well!
The recipe for the cake uses a meringue to keep it light and airy, so you’ll need to make sure you have all of your tools and ingredients ready before you begin mixing the cake batter. You can combine the flour, salt, and baking powder into one bowl (fewer dishes to wash please! 🙋♀️) and you can also combine the milk and vanilla into one bowl. Preheat your oven to 350ºF and lightly spray your pan with cooking spray.
1. Put your 6 egg yolks into the bowl of your mixer, and secure the whisk attachment. Make sure your sugar is close by! We will only be using about half of the sugar! So don’t pour it all in, and yes, you can just eyeball about half. Begin to whip your egg yolks on low speed and slowly add in your sugar while it’s whipping. Once you’ve added all the sugar, turn up the speed to medium/high, and whip until the yolks are pale yellow in color.
2. Pour the milk and vanilla bean paste into the egg yolk mixture and whisk on low/medium speed until combined.
Side Note: I highly recommend using real vanilla bean paste, rather than vanilla extract for this recipe…its worth it!!
3. Pour the flour, baking powder, and salt into the egg yolk mixture. Give it a quick stir with your spatula before turning on your mixer, just to make sure flour doesn’t go flying into your face! Then you can turn on your mixer on low/medium speed, still using the whisk attachment, and mix until the flour is combined.
I transferred this cake batter base into a different bowl (well back into the bowl I had the flour measured out in… fewer dishes 🙌), because we will need the mixer and whisk attachment for the next step! After you transfer your cake batter, make sure your mixing bowl and whisk attachment are clean and dry; if they’re dirty the meringue won’t whip properly.
4. Pour your egg whites into your clean mixing bowl. Make sure you have the remainder of your sugar nearby! Start whisking on medium/high speed. You want to whip the whites until they don’t look green anymore; they should be frothy and starting to turn white (see second photo!). Once they look frothy, you can start slowly pouring the rest of your sugar down the side of the bowl. Hot Tip: try to avoid the sugar hitting the whisk while it’s whipping or you might end up with a face full of sugar! Once all of your sugar has been added, turn up that mixer! The meringue will turn white and triple (at least) in volume. We are going to whip to a medium peak, meaning the meringue should loosely hold a peak when you lift out your whisk.
5. Now that you have your meringue made, we can combine it with the cake batter base to create this fluffy, delicious cake! Take a generous spatula full of meringue and mix it into the cake batter base. This will lighten that base and make it easier to fold into the rest of the meringue. Next, pour the cake batter mixture into the meringue and fold it together with a spatula, just until there are no white streaks of meringue left. Be gentle with it; you don’t want to deflate the meringue too much!
6. It’s time to bake! Make sure your oven is preheated to 350℉. Lightly spray your baking dish or cupcake pan with pan spray. If you are making cupcakes, I recommend using an ice cream scoop, to gently scoop the batter into each cupcake liner. Make sure to use foil liners for your cupcakes; they’ll hold the milk mixture better than the paper ones! Fill the cupcake cups about 3/4 full. If you are making a cake, gently pour the batter in, filling the pan about 1/2 to 3/4 full. Gently even out the top with your spatula; do not agitate the dish to help the batter settle or you’ll release the air we whipped into it.
Make sure your oven is set to 350℉. The cupcake version of this recipe will bake for about 20 minutes in the oven. I recommend turning it, very gently, halfway through your baking time if you have an uneven oven. The cake version will bake for about 35-45 minutes. Poke the center of the cake with a skewer to make sure it’s done!
7. While your cake is baking we can go ahead and make the milk mixture that we’ll be soaking it with. Combine the evaporated milk, sweetened condensed milk, whole milk, and vanilla in a bowl and stir it up with your spatula.
8. Allow your cake to cool slightly before starting this step; I don’t want you to burn yourself! We’re going to poke holes in our cakes now. For the cupcakes, I recommend using a toothpick or a small skewer. I usually poke 7 holes per cupcake: one in the center and 6 in a circle around it. For the larger cake, you can still use a toothpick or a skewer, but I prefer to poke slightly larger holes (more yummy sweetened milk per bite!), so I used a dowel. Once you have your holes poked, slowly pour the milk mixture over your cake. Pouring slowly helps ensure it will soak inside your cake rather than all over your counter! Now cover your cakes with plastic wrap and let them cool in the fridge.
9. Once your cakes are almost cooled, we can make the creme Chantilly (a fancy french term for sweetened whipped cream). I whipped mine in my stand mixer with the whisk attachment, but you could definitely use a hand mixer for this. And if you feel like you need a workout before eating all this cake, just whip up the cream by hand 💪 ! Combine the cream, powdered sugar, and vanilla and whip it to a medium stiff peak. Slice up some strawberries too; they really complement the flavor of this cake.
10. If you made the cupcake version, move them into a baking dish or platter with a lip to keep things less messy! I piped the Chantilly cream onto my cupcakes using a star tip and piping bag. I highly recommend trying this method! If it doesn’t go well, just cover it up with those sliced strawberries, no one will know! If you made the larger cake version, go ahead and pile on the whipped cream (or as my sister would say: whhhooooped cream) right on top of the cake. Gently spread it around to create an even layer with your spatula. I used this fancy texture tool to add a little something extra to mine; you can get the same effect if you gently drag a fork across the top! Then add your strawberries and you’ve got a delicious cake to enjoy!
11. Now go give this cake to your mom! It’s Mother’s Day for crying out loud! And if you are a mom, no need to share, this is your day, you eat your cake! #treatyoself #selfcare
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