It can be a puzzle sometimes to figure out
what kind of dessert to make
when you're bringing it to friends or family,
and it's a medium-sized group.
You don't want something so big,
but it has to feed everybody.
Well, I have the dessert for you.
You need to make this tres leches cake recipe.
Ah, it's a sponge cake with a syrup
and whipped cream on top, and it's so delicious.
And let's get right into making the sponge
with milk number one, because tres leches means three milks.
So this is the first milk.
One cup that I'm going to pour into my pot
that already has 1/2 a cup of butter.
And while that starts melting,
I might as well get into whipping the sponge.
I have four whole eggs and they're at room temperature.
Whoa!
And two cups of sugar.
Now, I'll whip up the eggs and sugar
until they more than double in volume.
You wanna give it about three to four minutes.
(mixer whirring)
When you're making a sponge cake with this much sugar,
it's really easy to build in that structure and volume.
Now, I'll add two teaspoons of vanilla.
(mixer whirring) Blend that in.
All right, now I can sift the dry ingredients,
starting with two cups of all purpose flour.
Two teaspoons of baking powder
and 1/2 a teaspoon of salt go in.
And I've seen a lot of recipes call for nutmeg.
And I love that addition of nutmeg, 1/4 teaspoon.
There are a lot of different recipes for tres leches cake.
It is such a popular dessert across all of Latin America.
The first time I enjoyed it was
on my first visit to Guatemala,
and there was such a sense of pride in sharing that dessert.
And to me, this is why tres leches cake is
an ideal dessert to serve for family and friends.
It's about that coming together and sharing.
And the first thing I'll do is add just 1/2 of the flour.
And I'll use the whisk to fold it in.
And I like to do this because it won't break down
the air bubbles that I whipped into the eggs and sugar.
(whisking) All right.
So it's quite thick right now.
And this is the point that you add
your warm milk and melted butter,
and you add it all at once.
(liquid pouring)
And give it a good stir, make sure you pull from the bottom.
And you will see it thins out a little bit,
but it doesn't deflate, it's absolutely amazing.
It really does still hold its volume.
Now, for the remaining flour.
But I do pull from the bottom to make sure it's blended,
(whisk banging) and that's it.
That's the sponge cake.
I've already got my pan ready.
So a 9 X 13, and I've greased and floured it.
Normally, I put parchment paper in my baking pans,
but because this is served in it, obviously I won't.
I've preheated my oven to 325.
And in a metal baking dish, the cake takes 40 minutes.
Metal conducts heat quickly, heats up quickly,
cools down quickly, porcelain or ceramic takes longer.
So in this pan, it will take 50 to 55 minutes to bake.
Let's check on that cake.
Ooh, beautiful.
I mean, really, this is just a simple, but elegant sponge.
And to check the doneness, I press my finger.
And when I see it springs back, then I know I'm good.
Now, the syrup is where the other two milks come in.
First, evaporated milk, which has the richness of cream.
This is a full tin, 1 1/2 cups.
The third milk is sweetened condensed milk,
a full 300 milliliter tin.
Oh, and that's where the sweetness comes in.
So we're layering the sweetness between the sugar
and the sponge and this sweet condensed milk.
And lastly, 3/4 of a cup of whipping cream,
(chuckling) it's just a little rich.
That's why a small piece goes a long way
and you can feed a crowd with this cake.
And just to heighten the vanilla flavor that's in the cake,
a teaspoon right here.
Before you pour all of this syrup on,
you do wanna take a bamboo skewer and poke some holes.
That way you know the syrup can soak
right through to the bottom of the cake.
And then, let's just pour this right in.
If you actually have the patience to sit and watch,
as the cake is absorbing the syrup, it's actually expanding.
It's amazing to see.
You can see it sinking into the holes.
I'll give it another little swirl around.
I'll let it cool completely.
Then I want to chill it.
I really wanna chill that syrup
before I finish it with a nice, simple topping.
Now, the topping for a tres leches cake,
it's a simple whipped cream topping.
(mixer whirring)
So I've got two cups of whipping cream I'm going to whip up.
I'll add my icing sugar, my 1/4 cup.
In goes the skim milk powder and two teaspoons of vanilla.
Now, it's easy enough to spoon and spread the whipped cream
on the entire surface of the cake.
Or if you wish, you can pipe it on.
I've got a large star tip.
And whatever you want, you could do little dollops,
or a nice little back and forth.
I think the first time I tried tres leches cake,
it had toasted coconut.
So to me, that's how I feel it should always be finished.
There's so many reasons to love this dessert,
from the sponge cake, the sweet milky syrup,
the whipped cream on top,
and the fact that it's easy to transport
to your next family gathering,
perhaps with a dessert this size,
an extended family gathering.
So I do hope you give this recipe a try.
I was sold the minute I took my first bite
of tres leches cake,
and I know you're going to love this one.