Tres Leches Cake - Layered or Not
We recently celebrated my husband's birthday and he told me he wanted a Tres Leches Cake when I asked him what type of cake he wanted this year. I've baked his cake a few time in the past with good results, but the last time I made Tres Leches Cake was for my mom, about 8 years ago. This time, I decided to add fresh fruit and make a layered cake. Let me show you how I made it. Be sure to check out the video to see the steps on making this into a layered cake. I tweaked the this recipe from Ree Drummond’s tres leches sheet cake. Ree is an amazing, genuine and hilarious blogger; definitely one of my role models. If you haven’t yet discovered her, you’re missing out big!
Here is what you'll need:
- 1 cup All-purpose Flour
- 1.5 teaspoon Baking Powder
- 1/4 teaspoon Salt
- 5 whole eggs, separated
- 1 cup sugar, divided
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- 1/3 cup whole milk
- 1/2 can evaporated milk
- 1/2 can sweetened condensed milk * you can add more or less accordingly
- 1/4 cup heavy whipping cream
- 1-2 pint Heavy Cream, For Whipping
- 3-6 tablespoons confectioners/powdered sugar
- Combine flour, baking powder, and salt in a large bowl. Separate eggs.
- Beat egg yolks with 3/4 cup sugar on high speed until yolks are pale yellow.
- Stir in milk and vanilla. Add flour mixture and mix until combined.
- Beat egg whites on high speed until soft peaks form. With the mixer on, pour in remaining 1/4 cup sugar and beat until egg whites are stiff.
- Fold batter into the egg mixture in 3-5 parts very gently until just combined.
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease or butter a 9 x 13 inch pan or 1/2 sheet pan generously.
- Pour into prepared pan and spread to even out the surface.
- Bake for 20 to 30 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean. Turn cake out onto a rimmed platter and allow to cool.
- Combine condensed milk, evaporated milk, and heavy cream in a small pitcher.
- When cake is cool, pierce the surface with a fork several times.
TO MAKE ONE LAYER CAKE: drizzle the whole cake with the milk mixture and allow it to absorb it for 30 minutes. To ice the cake, whip 1 pint heavy cream with 3 tablespoons of sugar until thick and spreadable.
Spread over the surface of the cake. Decorate cake with whole or chopped maraschino cherries. Cut into squares and serve.
TO MAKE LAYERED CAKE: cut into equal pieces. Pipe a wall of whipped cream around each layer and pour milk mixture over it. Once the milk has absorbed, add more whipped cream and spread evenly. You can add fresh fruit on top or leave as it. Continue until all layers are complete. Frost the entire cake in whipped cream and decorate to your liking.
This cake tastes much better the next day, so plan ahead and make it one day before you plan to serve. Tastes best chilled.