Hi Bold Bakers!
With such a diverse group of bakers all around the world, I get asked to make a lot of traditional
dishes.
Tres leches is one of those recipes that keeps on popping up.
It is a delicious rich cake soaked in 3 different types of milk.
It is really popular in central and South America and also in Europe.
As always the recipe can be found on BiggerBolderBaking.com and make sure you check out my website, I've
got hundreds more recipes over there.
So our first step is to add our dry ingredients into our little bowl.
Add in your flour, baking powder and salt.
And then just give these a little mix together.
Okay so I'm gonna set these over to the side, and I'm gonna bring in my mixer.
So I'm using my stand mixer but feel free to use an electric hand mixer however this
recipe would be really tough to do by hand.
So into my machine I'm going to add in my egg yolks.
Now just turn your machine onto like a medium high speed and let these whip up.
So what you want to do is let these get a little bit pale in color and nice and loose,
and then very slowly we're going to stream in around ? of the sugar.
So just a little bit of sugar at a time, we don't want to deflate the eggs we want them
to get really lovely and fluffy and like pale in color, so we're just gonna add in around
? of this sugar.
So there you go, I have around a quarter of my sugar left, so I'm gonna set this over
to the side and we're gonna use that later.
So you see this is starting to change color, it gets lovely and thick.
Into this I'm going to add in my milk, and some vanilla extract.
And then just continue whipping on medium high speed until it kind of thickens up a
bit more.
Okay this is looking great, this is the foundation for our cake so you wanna make sure you get
all that lovely air and all the bubbles in there.
Into this I'm going to add in the dry ingredients that we mixed up earlier, so turn your machine
down low, and then just scooch in your flour.
Now all you want to do is just let it mix until it's just combined, and then stop it.
And then you should end up with a mix that looks like this, so now I'm gonna take this
off the machine and we're gonna get it into a bowl.
So I'm transferring this to a nice big bowl because we are going to have to mix in this
later, so you wanna make sure it's nice and big.
Right now I'm going to wash this and we're gonna whip up our egg whites.
So these are the egg whites that are separated from the egg yolks that we already used.
I have these at room temperature, because they whip up so much better.
So now I'm gonna turn these on to like a medium high speed and let them get nice and foamy.
So when you start to see your egg whites start to get nice and thick, around the 2-3 minute
mark, slowly start to add in your sugar.
Now just like the last one, you want to add it in slowly so it doesn't deflate your eggs.
Add in the sugar here just stabilizes the egg whites so much better and it kind of gives
a better structure to your cake.
Okay so that's all my sugar now I'm gonna let this whip up and let it thicken up a little
bit more just for around a minute or 2.
So now I often get asked can you substitute the eggs?
And usually you can, but unfortunately for this recipe the eggs are super important so
there's no substitution for them.
So there you go our egg whites are at stiff peaks, this is what I want.
Then go ahead and add your egg whites into your egg yolk mix.
So now for this step you want to fold these two together, so I've got a thin metal edge
spoon, and then just gently fold the egg whites into the egg yolks.
Classically you would always use a metal spoon to fold in egg whites into something because
it's got a very thin edge, and it just slices all the way through.
If you use something like a spatula that can be quite thick, and it will knock out the
air in your egg whites.
So try and use a metal spoon.
So this looks good.
Our egg whites are folded in.
This is a really beautiful to make, look at that, how satisfying is that already?
It's even a beautiful color.
This is fantastic now it's ready to put into our tin.
So here I have a 13x9in baking pan, you can use anything in and around this size it'll
work well you can even use a lasagna dish.
So here I have my lovely mix, look at all that air.
Look at all the bubbles in it.
This cake is as light as air.
Once it's all in there just spread it out with a spatula.
So for this particular cake you don't have to line your baking pan with parchment paper
however I did butter it.
Okay lovely!
This is looking fantastic, it's like a big cake cloud.
This guy is ready for the oven.
Bake your cake off at 350°F/180°C for roughly around 35-40 minutes.
So it's been 35 minutes, my kitchen smells like absolute heaven, just check this out,
this is a beautiful looking age, it's lovely golden brown all over, and if I touch it,
it's kind of firm underneath my finger but you can still feel like there's loads of air
underneath there.
This is gonna be one good cake.
So I'm gonna set this cake over to the side let it cool down a little bit and while it's
doing that let's mix up our milk which is our Tres leches for this cake.
O into my separate jug over here I'm going to add in a little bit of regular milk, a
can of evaporated milk, and lastly a can of condensed milk.
Now this is what makes up this cake and what makes it really special.
Now you know on my website I've got a recipe of how you can make evaporated milk and condensed
milk, so there should be no stopping you.
And then with a fork just whisk all of these together.
So that's our three milks.
Now I like to do this next step while the cake is still warm I kind of have this notion
in my head that it soaks up so much better, so with a little toothpick, all you want to
do is just go ahead and prick the top of your cake.
Don't worry about doing this too much.
It's just creating holes for the milk to soak through.
So just lots of pricks all along the top.
Make sure you go all the way through to the tin with your toothpick.
So now I'm just gonna pour over half of my milk mix.
All over the top.
Make sure you get the edges and everywhere.
I like to pick it up and just make sure the whole surface of the cake has gotten covered.
Now I only like to add in half at the start, let that soak up, and then I'll add in the
rest.
So for just a few minutes we're going to have to wait.
[Whistling] I actually can't whistle.
You're supposed to go out, and I whistle in.
Once that's soaked in, pour over the remaining milk.
So now set this over to the side until the cake cools down completely, and then we're
gonna pop it into the fridge.
Now I prefer to put it in the fridge overnight just so the cake soaks up all of that milk
and it gets really yummy.
So here I have a cake that I made yesterday because I wanted you to see exactly how it
should look.
I'm going to decorate this really simply.
Just an FYI, this weighs a ton, because of all that milk in there it's super heavy.
So in the tin I'm just gonna decorate the cake really simply with some whipped cream
on top.
So you don't have to be too particular with the whipped cream, it always looks good no
matter which way you do it.
And then lastly we're going to dust over some cinnamon.
This just really enhances the flavor of the cake.
I'm pretty generous with my cinnamon as you can see.
This is looking gorgeous, I don't have to wait any longer, I'm gonna cut a big slice.
This is delicious!
This is absolutely delicious.
I have to say, this is something kind of new to me, I'd never had this until I moved to
the United States and just in the most recent years.
I absolutely adore it.
It's sweet, it's creamy, there's a little bit of spice from the cinnamon.
Mm, heaven.
So here is what I want you to do, let me know in the comments below what other desserts
you'd like to see me make from around the world and I'd love to try them.
I'll see you back here really soon, for more Bigger Bolder Baking.
Oh yeah, this is delicious.