Tres Leches / 3 Milk Cake

TRES LECHES

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Tres Leches The Cake to Die For

Tres Leches is a 3-milk cake from Latin America. This cake is gaining popularity in the U.S. at a rapid rate.

Tres Leches or otherwise known as Pastel de Tres leches is a sponge cake or in some recipes a box cake that is soaked in evaporated milk, coconut milk, and condensed milk.  You would think that this cake would be soggy but it does not come out that way. The cake soaks up the mixture and holds it in and keeps it from being soggy. Another form of this cake is called the drunken cake or pastel borracho. This cake is very popular in Central America. Instead of using the 3 milks you would use water, rum, coconut milk.  Some people still make the 3-milk cake and add rum for flavoring.

For decoration you can fruit, berries and nuts to the top and sides of the cake to give it that extra special look.

Tres Leches

Great Tasting Tres Leches

Tres Leches Recipe

Here is a good recipe for Tres Leches. I hope yours turns out as well as mine did.

"This cake is made with three layers: Cake, filling, and topping. There are 4 types of milk in the filling and topping (whole milk, condensed milk, evaporated milk, and heavy cream).

This is an excellent cake for milk lovers!"

 

INGREDIENTS

* 5 eggs

* 1 teaspoon baking powder

* 2 cups white sugar

* 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

* 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

* 1/2 cup unsalted butter

* 2 cups milk

* 1 (14 ounce) can sweetened condensed milk

* 1 (12 fluid ounce) can evaporated milk

* 1 1/2 cups heavy whipping cream

* 1 teaspoon vanilla extract DIRECTIONS

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease and flour one 9x13 inch baking pan.

2. Sift flour and baking powder together and set aside.

3. Cream butter or margarine and 1 cup of the sugar together until fluffy. Add eggs and 1/2 teaspoon of the vanilla extract, beat well.

4. Add the flour mixture to the butter or margarine mixture 2 tablespoons at a time, mix until well blended. Pour batter into prepared pan.

5. Bake at 350 degrees F (175 degrees C) for 30 minutes. Pierce cake several times with a fork.

6. Combine the whole milk, evaporated milk, and condensed milk together. Pour over the top of the cooled cake.

7. Whip whipping cream, 1 teaspoon vanilla, and 1 cup of the sugar together until thick.

Spread over the top of cake. Be sure and keep cake refrigerated, enjoy!

Top off your cake with some nice ripe strawberrys or mango or pineapple. A nice little touch.

Tres Leches

Tres Leches - 3 Milk Cake

Pastel de Tres leches Recipe

The famous cake of three milks, pastel de tres leches is believed to have originated in Nicaragua. It has become very popular throughout Central America and is becoming more and more common in the United States. Soaking the cake in three kinds of milk gives it a rich, dense quality, almost like a cheesecake.

8-10 servings

 

 * Flour -- 1 1/2 cups

 * Baking powder -- 1 teaspoon

 * Unsalted butter, room temperature -- 1/2 cup, or 8 tablespoons

 * Sugar -- 1 cup * Eggs, room temperature -- 5

 * Vanilla -- 1/2 teaspoons

 * Whole milk -- 1 cup

 * Sweetened, condensed milk -- 1 cup

 * Evaporated milk -- 2/3 cup

 * Whipping cream -- 1 1/2 cups

 * Sugar -- 1/2 to 3/4 cups

 * Vanilla -- 1 teaspoon

 

 1. Preheat oven to 350°F and grease and flour a 8x11-inch baking pan.

 2. Sift the flour and baking powder into a large mixing bowl. Cream the butter and sugar together in a mixer on medium speed until light and fluffy.

 3. Reduce mixer speed to medium-low and add the eggs one at a time, allowing each one to get incorporated before adding the next. Finally add the vanilla and continue beating until foamy.

 4. Remove the bowl from mixer and fold in the sifted flour until it is well incorporated.

 5. Pour the batter into the prepared pan and bake 30 minutes, or until done. Remove from oven and set aside to cool.

 6. Pierce cake all over with a fork, toothpick or skewer. Mix the whole, sweetened, condensed, and evaporated milk together and pour the mixture over the whole cake.

 7. Refrigerate cake for anywhere from 2 to 8 hours, or until liquid is completely absorbed and cake is well chilled.

 8. Beat the cream, sugar and vanilla together to make whipped cream. Frost the cake with the whipped cream and serve.

 

 Variations

 

 * Substitute coconut milk for the whole milk if you like. Scatter the frosting with coconut flakes.

 * Substitute 1/2 cup rum for half the whole milk for a pastel with a punch.

 * If you would like a layer cake, divide the batter between 2 prepared, round cake pans. For layer cakes, you can add a fruit filling between the layers. Try pineapple filling, peaches, bananas or any fruit that suits your fancy.

 Notes

 * Because of the milk ingredients, pastel de tres leches is perishable.

 

Leftovers should be refrigerated.

Tres Leches

Tres Leches - 3 Milk Cake

Tres Leches Cake Recipe : Ingrid Hoffmann : Food Network

Tres Leches Cake Recipe : Ingrid Hoffmann : Food Network

Ingredients

* 1 pound cake, loaf-style * 6 ounces evaporated milk

* 8 ounces heavy whipping cream

* 1 (14-ounce) can sweetened condensed milk

* 1 cup heavy whipping cream

* 1/4 cup sugar * Chocolate covered candies, all in 1 color (recommended: M&M's)

* 1/2 cup crushed skittles

Directions

With a fork, punch some holes in the cake still in its loaf pan. In a medium saucepan, mix the 3 milks and heat over low heat. When the milk mixture is hot, remove it from the stove.

Pour the milk mixture slowly over the cake, being sure to fill all the holes. Refrigerate at least 30 minutes. Whip the heavy cream slowly adding sugar until soft peaks form. When the cake chilled, cover the cake with whipped cream. Using the chocolate covered candies and skittles, craft out a design of your own.

Ingrid Hoffmann - Food Network Star

The History of Tres Leches

Courtesy of "Whats Cooking America"

Tres Leches Cake (trays LEY-ches - Also called Three-Milk Cake. A dense, moist cake topped with a cloud of vanilla whipped cream. What makes it unusual is that after baked, it is perforated and soaked in a mixture of three different milk products: evaporated milk, sweetened condensed milk, and whole milk or heavy cream, hence the name Tres Leches. The three milks, when combined, create just the right sweetness, density and "mouth feel" for a rich cake, making it moist but not mushy. The cake is like one big giant sponge soaking up the delicious milk syrup. There is dispute over where it was first created. It is though to have come from native from Nicaragua by most historians. This cake is very popular in Nicaragua, Mexico, Cuba, Puerto Rico, and Guatemala. I can find no proof of this, but the origin of the recipe is reported to come from the back of an evaporated milk or condensed milk can in Latin America to promote the use of the product. Evaporated milk and condensed milk were sold throughout Central and South America and even the Caribbean. By doing this, the company would boost their milk sales, which was probably the original idea.

Condensed milk first came into use in the mid-1850s as a way to preserve milk in cans, without refrigeration. Evaporated milk first became available during the 1870s when milk companies were able to heat the evaporated milk so that it would not spoil in the cans, thereby making the sugar unnecessary. They both became an immediate success in urban areas where fresh milk was difficult to distribute and store.

This cake probably became popular in the early 1900s. Today, the use of condensed and evaporated milk is a part of Latin American culture.

Tres Leches (Three Milks Cake), Latin America Recipe : Emeril Lagasse

 

 * 6 large eggs, separated

* 2 cups granulated sugar

* 2 cups all-purpose flour

* 2 teaspoons baking powder

* 1/2 cup whole milk

* 1 teaspoon vanilla extract Cream topping:

* 1 14-ounce can evaporated milk

* 1 14-ounce can sweetened condensed milk

* 1 cup heavy cream Icing:

* 3 tablespoons water

* 3/4 cup granulated sugar

* 3 large egg whites

* 1 ripe mango, peeled, seed removed, and thinly sliced

* 1 ripe papaya, peeled, seeds removed, and thinly sliced

Directions  To make the cake: Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Lightly grease and flour a 9 by 13-inch baking dish and set aside.  In the bowl of a mixer, beat the egg whites on low speed until soft peaks form. Add the sugar gradually with the mixer running and peak to stiff peaks. Add the egg yolks 1 at a time, beating well after the addition of each.  Sift together the flour and baking powder and add to the egg mixture, alternating with the milk. (Do this quickly so the batter does not lose volume.) Add the vanilla. Bake until golden, 25 minutes.  To make the cream topping: In a blender, combine the evaporated milk, condensed milk, and heavy cream and blend on high speed.  Remove the cake from the oven and while still warm, pour the cream mixture over it. Let sit and cool to room temperature. Cover and refrigerate until well chilled, at least 4 hours or overnight.  To make the icing: Once the cake is completely chilled, in a saucepan combine the water and sugar. Bring to a boil. Reduce the heat and stir to dissolve the sugar. Cook until the mixture reaches the soft ball stage, 235 to 240 degrees F. Remove from the heat. In a medium bowl, beat the egg whites to soft peaks. While beating, add the hot syrup in a stream. Beat until all the syrup has been added, the mixture cools, and a glossy icing forms.  To assemble: Remove the cake from the refrigerator and spread the icing evenly across the top. Arrange the mango and papaya slices over the top and serve.

Emeril Lagasse - Food Network Star

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