Tremendous Tres Leches Cake
Prep
25m
Cook
30m
Total
55m
Bigly says
Tres leches. Tres leches! The greatest tres leches cake in the entire history of cakes that have been soaked in three different milks — and there's been more than you'd think, the tres leches situation goes BACK, the Mexicans have been doing this for over a hundred years, the Nicaraguans claim they invented it, the Cubans claim they invented it, everybody's fighting about it, it's a beautiful fight, the best kind of fight, a fight over CAKE. We need more fights over cake.
And this tres leches, MY tres leches, is going to settle the entire debate. Permanently. End of discussion. Big strong men, tough men, dessert men — and yes there are dessert men, NOBODY talks about this, the dessert media is a disgrace — they eat this cake and they go quiet. They get very quiet. They stare at the wall. They have a moment. Then they ask for seconds. Then they ask for thirds. Then somebody says, 'That's enough,' and they have a fourth piece anyway because the cake has BROKEN them. In a good way. The cake wins.
The secret is the SOAK. You have to give it the soak. You poke holes in the cake — many holes, dozens of holes, the cake should look like it lost an argument — and you pour the three-milk mixture over the top SLOWLY, in stages, letting the cake drink. It drinks. Like a sponge. Like a thirsty, beautiful sponge. And then you wait. You wait OVERNIGHT. People want to eat it right away. Those people are wrong. Patience. The cake needs to live in the milk for a while. The milk does its work. Believe me.
Ingredients
- 1.5 cupsall-purpose flour
- 1.5 tspbaking powder
- 1/4 tspkosher salt
- 5large eggs, separated(room temperature, please, cold eggs are sad eggs)
- 1 cup, dividedgranulated sugar
- 1/3 cupwhole milk
- 1.5 tspvanilla extract
- 1 can (12 oz)evaporated milk
- 1 can (14 oz)sweetened condensed milk
- 1/2 cup (for soak)heavy cream
- 1.5 cupsheavy cream (for topping)
- 3 tbsppowdered sugar
- 1/2 tspvanilla extract (for topping)
- for dustingground cinnamon
Steps
- 1
Preheat oven to 350°F (175°C). Lightly grease a 9x13-inch baking pan.
- 2
Whisk the flour, baking powder, and salt in a medium bowl. Set aside.
- 3
In a large bowl, beat the egg yolks with 3/4 cup of the granulated sugar on high speed until pale, thick, and ribbony — about 3-4 minutes.
- 4
Stir in the whole milk and vanilla. Gently fold in the flour mixture in two additions, just until combined.
- 5
In a clean, dry bowl, beat the egg whites on medium speed until soft peaks form. Gradually add the remaining 1/4 cup sugar and beat to stiff, glossy peaks.
- 6
Fold the egg whites into the batter in three additions, very gently — you want to keep all the air you just whipped in.
- 7
Pour the batter into the prepared pan and smooth the top. Bake 28-32 minutes, until the top is light golden and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.
- 8
Let the cake cool in the pan for 15 minutes. Meanwhile, whisk the evaporated milk, sweetened condensed milk, and 1/2 cup heavy cream in a large measuring cup.
- 9
Use a fork or skewer to poke holes all over the warm cake — many holes, evenly spaced, all the way to the bottom of the pan.
- 10
Slowly pour the milk mixture over the cake, working in stages and letting it absorb before adding more. Use all of it. The cake will look soupy at first — this is correct.
- 11
Cover the pan and refrigerate at least 4 hours, ideally overnight. Do not rush this step.
- 12
When ready to serve, whip the remaining 1.5 cups heavy cream with the powdered sugar and 1/2 tsp vanilla to soft peaks. Spread evenly over the chilled cake.
- 13
Dust the top with ground cinnamon. Slice into 12 squares and serve cold.
One more thing
Pay attention. You serve this cake at a dinner party and people start CRYING. Real tears. From a cake. They didn't even know they had it in them. Somebody calls their mother. Somebody makes a confession they've been holding in for ten years. The cake brings people together. The cake heals. The cake is, technically, a marriage counselor — and I'm not joking, I never joke about dessert, dessert is sacred. Make this cake. Refrigerate it overnight. Eat it cold. Then write me a letter, on paper, like a CIVILIZED person, telling me how it changed your life. I won't write back. But I'll know. Save me a piece.
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