Tres Leches Cake is one of those classic Latin American recipes that Hispanic children grow up knowing and loving. It can be made a ton of different ways, but as the name implies it involves the use of three milks (tres leches). These milks are mixed with cinnamon and poured over a sponge cake to soak up all the sweet milky goodness.
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I made this cake the same day I wrote my article on food plating, so of course I had to try to make it as pretty as possible. A traditional tres leches cake is baked in a sheetpan to maximize the usable space, and I did not change that here. What I did do however is use a metal ring mold to cut the cake into circles which allow the eater to see the moist inside of the cake. I also swirled it with a little homemade whipped cream using my whipped cream dispenser.
I then topped the middle of the whipped cream with some maraschino cherries soaked in Luxardo maraschino liqueur. Yes, alchol…because it tastes great. I removed the ring mold, placed in the center of the plate, and surrounded with some more of the tres leches cake soaking liquid to add even more milky cinnamon goodness.
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While I like to do everything homemade, you can always replace it with stuff from the store. Don’t want to make homemade whipped cream? Not a problem, store bought can replace it. Don’t want to make vanilla cake? I mean, I recommend you do, but of course you can buy it from the store. Don’t want to make the tres leches cake soaking liquid? Ok, at this point you might as well just go to any Mexican bakery and buy the cake.
If you don’t want to use alcohol soaked cherries, you absolutely do not have to, regular jarred maraschino cherries are just fine.
Tres Leches Cake Ingredients
This is a pretty complex cake with 4 different parts, so I’m going to divide up all the parts so you can decide if there’s anything you don’t want to do homemade
Vanilla Sponge Cake
1.5 cups Flour
3/4 cup White Sugar
1/4 cup Light Brown Sugar
1/2 cup Butter; unsalted
1/3 cup Whole Milk (3.5% in Europe)
1 tsp Bourbon Vanilla Extract; regular is okay too.
1 tsp Baking Powder
1/4 tsp Baking Soda
5 Eggs; separate the whites and yolks
Tres Leches Cake Liquid
14 ounces Sweetened Condensed Milk
12 ounces Evaporated Milk
1.5 cups Heavy Whipping Cream
1 tsp Ground Cinnamon
Whipped Cream
1 cup Heavy Whipping Cream
2 tbsp Sugar
1/2 tsp Vanilla Powder
1/4 tsp Cream of Tartar
Maraschino Soaked Maraschino
1 jar Maraschino Cherries
1/2 cup Luxardo Maraschino Liqueur
Tres Leches Cake Instructions
1. Begin by preheating your oven to 175°C or 350°F. Butter a 9×13 inch cake pan and place in the refrigerator to chill. If you are making the maraschino soaked maraschinos, open the jar and remove the liquid (it’s usually about a 1/2 cup) and add in the 1/2 cup of maraschino liqueur. These can soak for as long as you want really, but 5-6 hours is good enough for me.
2. Using a stand mixer on whisk attachment, whisk the egg whites until stiff peaks form. You should be able to remove the attachment, tilt it upside down, and still see a stiff peak. Place in a separate bowl, and change the attachment to a beater/paddle.
3. In a separate bowl, sift together the flour, baking powder, and baking soda.
4. Back in the stand mixer cream together the butter and the sugar until well combined. Slowly add the egg yolks, then the milk, then the vanilla extract in that order.
5. Lower the speed and slowly add the flour until combined. Remove the bowl from the stand mixer, and using a rubber spatula fold in the egg whites carefully. Spoon the mixture to your buttered baking tray and place in the oven for 30 minutes on convection.
6. While it is baking whisk together all of the Tres Leches Cake Liquid ingredients.
7. When the cake is baked remove from the oven and stab a bunch with a fork. Pour over the liquid, cover with a lid or plastic wrap and place in the fridge for 4-5 hours.
8. When are you getting ready to serve you can begin to make the whipped cream. In a whipped cream dispenser (you can do it with hand beaters or in your stand mixer on whisk, it just takes longer), add the whipped cream ingredients and seal the top. Give it a good few shakes to combine then put it in the fridge. When ready you will put in the Nitrous Oxide canister and pipe it over the cake.
9. Remove the now chilled cake from the fridge and if you want you can pipe over the whipped cream and drop a few cherries and you’re done, but if you want to make it look pretty like the picture continue on. Take a metal ring mold and cut the cake into circles. While in the mold, pipe a ring of whipped cream and drop a few cherries in the middle. Plate on a small plate or saucer and pour around it some of the tres leches liquid from the bottom of the cake tray. You can dust with cinnamon, but as it was in the liquid and now in the cake, there really isn’t a need.
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A Note About Tres Leches Cake
Tres leches cake has a distinct and delicious flavor due to the usage of three different types of milks. I sometimes hear people asking if they can substitute for an almond/soy milk, or only use one/two milks and change the ratios. Since it is soaked after baking and won’t change the chemical composition of the cake pre-bake I can’t tell you that this would not work. However, I do not think it is a tres leches cake, but a sponge cake soaked in liquids. If you are not lactose intolerant, or vegan, I highly recommend you make the cake in the traditional way (or at least as traditional as my way is).
As to the sponge cake; you can technically just make a regular vanilla/yellow cake and soak it, but if you follow the recipe exactly you will end up with the lightest, fluffiest sponge cake that just dissolves in your mouth.
One last note about the cherries. I used regular radioactive looking red maraschinos from the average market, but if you really wanted to kick things up a notch you could use maraschino cherries soaked in marasca syrup, also by Luxardo. I usually use these for cocktails as the price is absurd (but well worth it once you give it a shot) but it would totally work atop this tres leches cake.
Tres Leches Cake
Ingredients
Vanilla Sponge
- 1.5 cups Flour
- 3/4 cup White Sugar
- 1/4 cup Light Brown Sugar
- 1/2 cup Butter unsalted
- 1/3 cup Whole Milk 3.5%
- 1 tsp Bourbon Vanilla Extract
- 1 tsp Baking Powder
- 1/4 tsp Baking Soda
- 5 Eggs separate whites and yolks
Tres Leches
- 14 ounces Sweetened Condensed Milk
- 12 ounces Evaporated Milk
- 1.5 cups Heavy Cream
- 1 tsp Ground Cinnamon
Whipped Cream
- 1 cup Heavy Whipping Cream
- 2 tbsp Sugar
- 1/2 tsp Vanilla Powder
- 1/4 tsp Cream of Tartar
Maraschino Soaked Maraschino
- 1 jar Maraschino Cherries
- 1/2 cup Luxardo Maraschino Liqueur
Instructions
- Begin by preheating your oven to 175°C or 350°F. Butter a 9x13 inch cake pan and place in the refrigerator to chill. If you are making the maraschino soaked maraschinos, open the jar and remove the liquid (it's usually about a 1/2 cup) and add in the 1/2 cup of maraschino liqueur. These can soak for as long as you want really, but 5-6 hours is good enough for me.
- Using a stand mixer on whisk attachment, whisk the egg whites until stiff peaks form. You should be able to remove the attachment, tilt it upside down, and still see a stiff peak. Place in a separate bowl, and change the attachment to a beater/paddle.
- In a separate bowl, sift together the flour, baking powder, and baking soda.
- Back in the stand mixer cream together the butter and the sugar until well combined. Slowly add the egg yolks, then the milk, then the vanilla extract in that order.
- Lower the speed and slowly add the flour until combined. Remove the bowl from the stand mixer, and using a rubber spatula fold in the egg whites carefully. Spoon the mixture to your buttered baking tray and place in the oven for 30 minutes on convection.
- While it is baking whisk together all of the Tres Leches Cake Liquid ingredients.
- When the cake is baked remove from the oven and stab a bunch with a fork. Pour over the liquid, cover with a lid or plastic wrap and place in the fridge for 4-5 hours.
- When are you getting ready to serve you can begin to make the whipped cream. In a whipped cream dispenser (you can do it with hand beaters or in your stand mixer on whisk, it just takes longer), add the whipped cream ingredients and seal the top. Give it a good few shakes to combine then put it in the fridge. When ready you will put in the Nitrous Oxide canister and pipe it over the cake.
- Remove the now chilled cake from the fridge and if you want you can pipe over the whipped cream and drop a few cherries and you're done, but if you want to make it look pretty like the picture continue on. Take a metal ring mold and cut the cake into circles. While in the mold, pipe a ring of whipped cream and drop a few cherries in the middle. Plate on a small plate or saucer and pour around it some of the tres leches liquid from the bottom of the cake tray. You can dust with cinnamon, but as it was in the liquid and now in the cake, there really isn't a need.
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