Tres Leches Cake
In recent years, Tres Leches Cake, or Pastel de las Tres Leches, has become one of the most popular Mexican desserts. It is traditionally made with a light sponge cake, although some recipes use a butter cake, soaked in three kinds of milk. That is where the name Tres Leches, or “three milks,” comes from.
The cake is soaked with sweetened condensed milk, evaporated milk, and whole milk, then topped with freshly whipped cream.
Although Tres Leches Cake is now one of Mexico’s best-known and most popular desserts, its exact origin remains uncertain. Both Mexico and Nicaragua have been associated with its creation, and the cake belongs to a much older tradition of desserts in which bread or sponge cake is soaked with milk, custard, wine, or syrup.
Soaked cakes had been prepared in Europe for centuries, including British trifles and rum cakes as well as Spanish and Portuguese desserts. By the nineteenth century, similar recipes could also be found in Mexico.
The Tres Leches Cake we recognize today developed after evaporated and sweetened condensed milk became widely available in Latin America. During the first half of the twentieth century, canned-milk companies expanded throughout the region. Nestlé, in particular, helped popularize the dessert by printing recipes using condensed and evaporated milk on its cans in Mexico and other Latin American countries.
By the 1940s, recipes for cakes soaked in a mixture of milks were circulating widely. The combination of an airy sponge cake with evaporated milk, sweetened condensed milk, and whole milk or cream eventually became known as Pastel de las Tres Leches, literally “Three Milks Cake.”
Whether the modern recipe was first created in Mexico, Nicaragua, or elsewhere in Latin America may never be known with certainty. What is clear is that Tres Leches became deeply rooted in Mexican cooking and today is a favorite dessert for birthdays, weddings, family gatherings, and celebrations throughout Mexico.
Ingredients
For the cake
- 1 cup all-purpose flour, sifted
- 6 eggs, separated
- 1/2 cup granulated sugar
For the Tres Leches mixture
- 2 cups whole milk
- 1 can sweetened condensed milk
- 1 can evaporated milk
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
For the whipped cream topping
- 1 cup heavy whipping cream
- 2 tablespoons sugar
Instructions
Preheat the oven to 375°F.
Butter and flour a 9 x 13-inch baking pan. You can also use a glass Pyrex dish if you prefer to serve the Tres Leches cake directly from the pan.
In a large bowl, beat the egg whites with half of the sugar at medium-high speed until firm peaks form.
In another bowl, beat the egg yolks with the remaining sugar until the mixture becomes pale yellow and creamy.
Slowly add the sifted flour to the egg yolk mixture and beat until you have a smooth batter.
Gently fold in the beaten egg whites, taking care not to deflate them too much.
Pour the batter into the prepared baking pan.
Bake for 15 to 20 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.
Allow the cake to cool completely to room temperature.
Once cooled, prick the entire surface of the cake with a fork. This will help the Tres Leches mixture soak evenly into the cake.
Prepare the Tres Leches mixture
In a blender, combine the whole milk, sweetened condensed milk, and evaporated milk. Blend until completely combined.
Slowly pour the milk mixture evenly over the entire cake, allowing it to soak into the holes.
Refrigerate for at least 30 minutes. For an even richer and more evenly soaked cake, refrigerate it overnight.
Prepare the whipped cream topping
Beat the heavy whipping cream with the vanilla extract and 2 tablespoons of sugar until soft to medium peaks form.
Spread the whipped cream evenly over the chilled cake.
Refrigerate until ready to serve.
Serve cold.
