Recipes
TRES LECHES CAKE (3 MILKS CAKE)
Tres Leches Cake (3 Milks Cake)
Soaking cake with liquids is a common practice across the globe. And while liquor or liqueurs are a common choice, such as Rum Cake, Real Fruit Cake, and most Genoise based cakes, there is nothing that is quite as extreme as the famed Tres Leches of Mexico. Dare I say it, even the Coconut Milk cake my mom use to make when I was a kid, falls short of this gorgeous galette. (though it is a really close second... Love ya mom!)
Tres Leches Cake is kind of a paradox, both in flavor and in texture. One would expect that the cake would be soggy, but it's surprisingly moist and tender. One would expect it to be a cloyingly sweet, however it has more of a delicate "creamy" flavor than anything else. One would expect this soaked cake to be a heavy dessert suitable for wintertime, but on the contrary, it is surprisingly light and refreshing, making it an excellent dessert on the hottest of summer days.
So what exactly is Tres Leches Cake? Direct translation is "Three Milks" cake, for this is what the soaking liquid consists of -- Evaporated Milk, Sweetened Condensed Milk and Heavy Cream (or Half & Half) This liquid is poured over a very "dry" sponge cake, allowing the "sponge" to soak up the lucious milkiness, thus providing a tender and utterly moist, but light cake. On top of this, the whole thing is generously slathered with unsweetened or very lightly sweetened whipped cream. Sinful! My own recipe uses milk in the sponge cake itself, so I guess it's kind of a Quatro Leches cake; but why argue semantics?
Needless to say, I don't make this cake very often. I purposefully forget that I know how to make it. It's a matter of waistline preservation that forces me into the self inflicted memory loss. But I have accessed the darkest recesses of my mind, where said cake knowledge is stored, on a couple of occasions...
Like a week ago, when I inquired of my little brother what sort of cake he would desire for HIS birthday. I thought he would ask for German's Chocolate cake, since that is the traditional celebratory dessert for both him and my dad. I was slightly taken aback when he burst out with "I really want a Tres Leches cake. Do you know how to make one?"
Oh God, do I EVER!!!
So armed with 8x8 square pans (round does not work, the cake is too tender to foster cutting a radial pattern from the center of a round cake) I embarked upon Tres Leches Nirvana.
As a side note, exactly 1 month later, my Aunt asked for it for her Birthday too... (That is where the picture came from)
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