(If you’re lactose intolerant, please don’t even read this post. It will make you so, so sad.)
So the Boy (Kid 4) asked for a Tres Leches cake for his birthday. And I made it. And as I’m now buzzing with a sugar high and carefully licking the sticky off my face (where it landed after I totally licked the plate), I thought I’d share the goodness.
If you’re my neighbor, come on over for a hunk. Otherwise, make your own. Here’s how.
1 and 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 cup (1 stick) butter
1 cup white sugar
5 eggs
1/2 teaspoon (really good) vanilla extract
1 and 1/2 cups cream (go ahead and sub if you want, I’m just giving it to you The Right Way)
1 (14-ounce) can sweetened condensed milk
1 (12-ounce) can evaporated milk
1 and 1/2 cups heavy cream (but this time, I mean it)
3/4 to 1 cup powdered sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Grease and flour a 9×13 pan (except I just sprayed the pan, because you don’t need to turn the cake out).
Sift flour and baking soda together and set aside. (I love this direction. I have a very lovely vintage metal sifter that I inherited from Grandma Jennie’s kitchen, and I love recipes that ask me to make use of it.)
Cream the butter with the one cup of white sugar until fluffy. Add eggs, one at a time, and beat between each. Add in the half-teaspoon vanilla and beat well.
Add that perfectly sifted flour mixture to the butter mixture, two tablespoons at a time. (I don’t know why. Just do it.) Mix until well blended. Pour into prepared pan.
Bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes. When the cake is done, poke it all over with a fork. Don’t skimp on the poking. Get it good and poked. At this point, you can cover the cake and wait till you need it, freeze it, whatever. But at least 8 hours before you eat the cake, do this part. Combine the first 1 and 1/2 cups cream, the sweetened condensed milk, and the evaporated milk together. Stir it all up. Pour it slowly over the cake. Yes. All of it. This is where the cake gets its name – Tres Leches means Hard Arteries in Spanish.
For the final touch, before serving, whip the last 1 and 1/2 cups cream with the powdered sugar and teaspoon of vanilla. (Did you know if you whip cream with powdered sugar instead of white grain sugar, it holds its shape longer? It’s true.) Spread the thick and fabulous whipped cream (we used heavy cream, remember? because that is the good kind?) over the cake. Serve with strawberries, if your Kid isn’t celebrating a birthday in December (who has Kids in December, anyway?) or pretty little pomegranate seeds, which is sure to make you look classy (if your fingers come clean). If it lasts overnight, this is even better on day 2.
Disclaimer #1: I am not really a cake girl. I always prefer pie. But I think I love this cake with a deep and abiding passion. But if you’re expecting crumbly, box-mix cake, you might be disappointed. It’s more like a Pudding (not the Jell-O box kind, the English kind).
Disclaimer #2: I combined three recipes to get this one. But it’s most like one from allrecipes.com
Disclaimer #3: Apparently I’m on sugar again.
(14) Comments for this blog
Sounds really yummy…and like waaay too much work for me…maybe I’ll make one for Marc’s birthday! It’s a ‘special occasion kinda cake!
Sounds really yummy…and like waaay too much work for me…maybe I’ll make one for Marc’s birthday! It’s a ‘special occasion kinda cake!
I think I love you.
And I think that I’d be right over if I didn’t have to bring 4 kids and if I wasn’t wearing my pajamas.
I think I love you.
And I think that I’d be right over if I didn’t have to bring 4 kids and if I wasn’t wearing my pajamas.
Oh. My.
I’m scared to try this. It sounds SO good.
Oh. My.
I’m scared to try this. It sounds SO good.
Oh…heaven. You are SANTA, Becca!
Oh…heaven. You are SANTA, Becca!
Love, LOVE tres leches cake.
Love, LOVE tres leches cake.
*drool* I AM lactose intolerant, but I would still totally eat that! Maybe I’ll make it over Christmas vacation! Mmmmm. Becca, you are so cool!
*drool* I AM lactose intolerant, but I would still totally eat that! Maybe I’ll make it over Christmas vacation! Mmmmm. Becca, you are so cool!
Love your post about sweet, innocent, super smart and absolutely beautiful kid 4. And that cake is to die for, I will have to make it for Kevin, it’s his favorite. He always orders it at Tarahumara’s. Happy Birthday!
Love your post about sweet, innocent, super smart and absolutely beautiful kid 4. And that cake is to die for, I will have to make it for Kevin, it’s his favorite. He always orders it at Tarahumara’s. Happy Birthday!