hey guys today we're making this gorgeous tres leches cake it's a light
vanilla sponge cake soaked in milk bath and topped with fresh whipped cream it's
soft and creamy and delicious and it's the perfect summer cake so to make Tres Leches we need a sponge cake base which is slightly different than my
other sponge cakes and I'll explain why as we go along like any sponge cake
though we do need to start by whipping the eggs in this case egg whites I've
added 1/2 a teaspoon of vinegar to stabilize the eggs but you can also add
lemon juice or cream of tartar to give structure to our meringue we're going to
add the sugar one tablespoon at a time and continue mixing until you get stiff
peaks if you're new to my channel make sure to subscribe and click that bell I
post new videos every week set the meringue aside for a moment and in this
other bowl I have the egg yolks with vanilla and I'm going to add the milk
now what makes a sponge cake different than the other ones that I've shown you
in the past is that this recipe contains no butter or oil the reason behind this
is because we're going to soak this cake entirely in milk we want this cake to
keep somewhat of its structure if we add the butter or oil the cake will be too
soft and once we add the three milks it would just become soggy and fall apart
this is also the reason why we're using a sponge cake base for this recipe and
not a butter cake I've added the dry ingredients careful to not over mix the
flour as soon as it's incorporated stop mixing you're going to fold into this
cake batter two to three big dollops of the meringue this will help loosen the
batter and I wanted to show you guys how you can be quite aggressive with these
first spoonfuls don't be afraid to mix these in however when you add the
remaining egg whites this is where you want to be careful focus and gently that
way your cake batter doesn't lose too much air if you're going to pour those
into a pan buttered floured and lined with parchment paper you can use a round
cake pan if you prefer however today's matches is usually a square or
rectangular cake details just details bake it off in a preheated oven at 160
degrees Celsius for around 25 minutes do the toothpick test if it comes out clean
the cake is ready as the cake cools it will pull away from the sides and
deflate a little bit which is perfect because we don't want domed taste turn
this over onto a rack and let this cool completely okay so while the cake is
cooling we're going to make the bath for our cake now one of the milks that
people like to use is evaporated milk I prefer to use heavy cream because since
the cake has no fat the heavy cream adds this amazing subtle richness that really
takes this cake to another level the other milks remain the same we have
sweetened condensed milk and just plain milk now these are the ratios that I
like to use as you can see I don't use a lot of swim condensed milk because I
don't like overly sweet cakes I find this is the perfect combination and
ratio however if you want your milk mixture to be sweeter by all means add
more swinged condensed milk give these a good mix and the bath is ready transfer
the cake back into its pan I like to leave the parchment paper as it's easier
to take out and transfer onto a serving plate and using a fork or toothpick
you're going to poke some holes into the cake pour your milk mixture onto your
cake this is a lot of milk guys but the cake needs said this is why it's so
important to use a sponge cake I have an entire video dedicated to cake science
explaining the different types of cake so if you're interested I'll leave a
link in the description box now this cake needs to sit for at least an hour
it's going to absorb all that deliciousness soften and become so good
now how long you leave the cake to soak depends on your texture preference as I
said I like to leave it just an hour but some people like to make the cake of the
day before for the day after and leave the cake to soak overnight
that's completely up to you whatever you decide to do though make sure you cover
the cake well now in the same measuring cup that we used for the milk bath I've
added some heavy cream some sugar and vanilla and we're going to whip the
cream up to medium stiff peaks we're going to cover the cake entirely and
this cream it's going to be fabulous the first time I heard of tres leches I
really thought there was too much sweetness too much milk going on but no
no it's heavenly especially if you use the ratios I'm giving you smooth out the
top of the cake or make any decoration you like and I do also like to trim the
sides especially if you're making this cake and serving it for a special
occasion but again this is optional the sides are just as delicious and just as
soft as the entire cake can we just take a moment and look at the knife how it
just glides right through the cake this cake is so incredibly soft cut the cake
into squares and this is ready to serve this leches is usually served with
cherries or even better you know since it's summer any fresh fruit would be so
delicious here if you're looking for the perfect summer cake this is definitely
it's it's simple easy to make and light but at the same time so creamy and
absolutely delicious if you've never had that isn't it is cake the best way to
describe its texture is melt in your mouth soft almost a creamy like texture
very reminiscent of Italian tiramisu - the coffee it's amazing
you