Tres Leches- 3 milks cake

Savor the bliss of Tres Leches cake, a delightful sponge soaked in three milk sauce, topped with fresh whipped cream, perfect for any celebration.

Hello HTS Community

Tres leches is a light and fluffy cake, with a three milk sauce poured over it, and served with freshly whipped cream. This is the perfect cake for any occasion, be it birthdays, anniversary, or just a god time to eat cake 😉

‘Tres Leches‘ means three milks in Spanish, which are whole milk, condensed milk and evaporated milk. Since evaporated milk is not easily available where I live, I switched it with heavy cream, still counts as a variety. The cake is a basic sponge, soaked in a creamy sweet milk sauce. You just can’t get enough of it, really.

The cake is served with freshly whipped cream, which is just really air incorporated in heavy cream, until it develops soft peaks and holds shape. Because it is just air and cream, it collapses easily too, so we need to stabilize it, so that it stays for few hours. There are multiple ways to stabilize whipped cream, I use cornstarch, which does the job, and keeps cream intact for 6-7 hours. Read steps below for more options. You can also get readymade whipped cream and use it on top of the cake.

As much as Tres leches is famous in the western world, Tiramisu is loved around the world. And if you’re looking for a quick dessert, do try 2 minutes microwave Chocolate cake.

Ingredients you will need:

For the Sponge

• All purpose flour- 1 cup
• Baking powder- 1+1/2 teaspoon
• Salt- 1/4 teaspoon
• Eggs- 4, separated
• Sugar- 3/4 cup
• Milk- 1/2 cup
• Vanilla extract- 1 teaspoon

For the Milk Sauce

• Whole milk- 3/4 cup
• Condensed milk- 1/4 cup
• Heavy cream- 1/3 cup

For Whipped cream

• Heavy cream- 1 cup
• Cornstarch- 1 tablespoon
• Powdered sugar- 3 tablespoon
• Vanilla extract- 1/4 teaspoon

Steps to make tres leches:

To make the sponge

• Preheat oven at 180 degree Celsius and grease & coat a 10*8 inch baking dish.
• Take 2 bowls, and sieve flour, baking powder and salt in one and keep aside. In the bigger bowl, take eggs and separate yolks from whites. Whisk egg yolks with sugar until pale and creamy. Switch off beater and mix milk and vanilla in the yolk mixture.
• Now incorporate flour mixture 1/3 cup at a time and whisk gently to avoid any lumps.
• In another bowl, start whisking egg whites until soft peaks achieved. Gradually fold in egg whites to the rest of cake batter. Do not over-mix the batter, we do not want to lose the air bubbles.
• Transfer batter to the baking dish and bake for 25-30 minutes, until the top is beautifully golden and a toothpick comes out clean. Let it cool to room temperature for 30 minutes.

Milk sauce

• While the cake is baking, mix the ingredients of the milk sauce together and keep aside.
• Once the cake has cooled, with the help of a fork poke holes on the top of the cake. Slowly pour the milk sauce over the sponge, and cover with a cling wrap. Refrigerate over night or at least 6 hours. The sponge will absorb all the liquid overnight and will be ready to be topped with whipped cream.

Whipped cream and cake assembly

• Chill a steel bowl and the beater attachment for 1-2 hours before starting to make whipped cream. The cream should also be cold, so make sure to refrigerate it as well. I generally place a bowl of ice and keep the bowl of cream over it while whisking.
• Another important aspect is stabilizing the whipped cream, and you may choose either of the following:
  • Cornstarch: 1 tablespoon for every 1 cup heavy cream. This recipe uses cornstarch
  • Confectioners sugar: 3 tablespoon for every 1 cup of heavy cream. In this case, do not add the extra sugar to sweeten the cream.
  • Milk powder: 3 tablespoon for every 1 cup of heavy cream
• Whip the cream for 30 seconds, gradually add sugar while whipping it. Once you reach the stage of soft peaks, add cornstarch and whip for another 30 seconds, until you have thick and fluffy peaks. Mix the vanilla extract refrigerate the cream for 10 minutes.
• Before serving, top the cake with whipped cream, decorate with your favorite fruits and serve.