Tres Leches cake
A soft vanilla sponge soaked in three kinds of milk: evaporated milk, condensed milk, and whole milk, topped with whipped cream and fruits.
Ingredients
For the vanilla sheet cake
- 3 egg whites
- 170 g all-purpose flour
- 180 g castor sugar
- 3/4 tsp baking powder
- 135 g whole milk
- 1 tsp vanilla
- 90 g butter
- 30 g buttermilk/ yogurt
For the milk mixture
- 70 ml whole milk
- 150 g condensed milk
- 140 g evaporated milk (see notes below)
For the whipped cream topping
- 100 ml whipping cream
- 1 tsp vanilla
For the topping
- Freshly sliced fruits of your choice (i used peaches)
Instructions
For the vanilla cake
- Preheat the oven to 180C.
- Prepare a 12" x 4" sheet cake pan by adding parchment paper and greasing it with butter. (you can use any other similar pan size)
- Sift in the flour, baking powder, salt, and sugar in a large bowl. Give it a whisk and set aside
- Add in room temperature butter in cubes or pieces to this dry mixture, and rub it in using your fingers, or a hand mixer, until you get a breadcrumb texture
- In a separate bowl, add egg whites, milk, vanilla, almond extract, and sour cream. Whisk together
- Add the wet ingredients to the butter and flour mixture, and mix together, using a whisk or a hand mixer
- Bake for 30 - 35 minutes and/or until a toothpick inserted comes out clean. Let it cool completely at room temperature
For the milk mixture
- Add the three kinds of milk into a large bowl, whisk together and set aside. You can add more milk to cut the sweetness if desired.
For the whipped cream topping
- In a large bowl, whip the whipping cream using a hand mixer until you get stiff peaks
- Add in the vanilla and mix well.
For the assembly
- Poke holes in your sheet cake to help it absorb the milk mixture.
- Drizzle over all the milk mixture on top of the cake, and wait till all of it is absorbed.
- Now, put generous dollops of your whipped cream frosting, and smooth it with an offset spatula.
- Top with fresh fruit slices and cut it into classic square slices.
Notes
*evaporated milk may not be locally available in India, but its actually very easy to make it at home. To make 140 ml of evaportaed milk, add 300 ml of whole milk (roughly the double quantity) in a pan, and constantly stir it, while it reduces to half its original quantity. This makes the milk more richer to use in recipes.