Melt In Your Mouth Tres Leches Cake

Have you ever had Tres Leches before? It is so delicious! This cake is soaked in 3 different kinds of milk, and it makes the cake so moist and flavorful! When I asked my boys what I should name this cake, Rylan said, “Melt in your Mouth Tres Leches”. I couldn’t agree more!

The first time I had Tres Leches was when I was in college at Brigham Young University. My friends and I went to one of my favorite restaurants (Cafe Rio) and a friend ordered Tres Leches. She asked if I’d like a bite and as soon as I put it in my mouth, I fell in love! Every time after that, I always ordered Tres Leches with my meal.

A couple of years ago, I figured I should try and make it myself, and I am SO glad I did! Our recipe is adapted from this recipe here! Give it a try and let us know how you like it. It takes a little bit of time to make but it is so worth it and it is such a crowd-pleaser!

About the meringue…

The first time I made Tres Leches, I remember whipping up the meringue and feeling a little nervous about getting it to the right amount of stiffness. For this recipe, you want a nice stiff and glossy meringue to help keep your cake soft and fluffy. If the meringue is not whipped up enough, the cake will not hold its shape.

1. Make sure you have a nice clean bowl to whip your meringue up. I like to wipe my bowl down with some distilled vinegar to make sure there’s no grease in the bowl.
2. When you separate the egg yolk and egg whites, do NOT get any yolk in with the egg whites.
3. Don’t throw in all of your sugar into the egg whites at once. Whip the egg whites at a slow speed until it is foamy and has large bubbles.
4. Once there are large bubbles in the egg whites, slowly add in the sugar a few teaspoons at a time as you whip. Do not throw in all of the sugar at once because it’ll deflate all of the bubbles you’ve been working on.
5. Whip the egg whites until the texture is glossy and smooth. This will take a good 7-10 minutes.
6. To check the stiffness of your peaks, pull the whisk out of the meringue. If the peaks at the end of the whisk stand straight up, you should be good. You don’t want the peak to curve over, that’s a soft peak. Also look to see if the meringue chunks up at the tip of your whisk, like in the picture below
7. Another thing to look at is the meringue in the bowl. If meringue is able to hold the striations in the bowls, that’s a good indication that your meringue is good to go! See the picture below.
8. Please note, there is such a thing as overwhipping your meringue! You’ll know when you’ve over whipped when your meringue starts to separate. Be careful not to get your meringue to that stage!

I hope you’ll enjoy this cake as much as my family does!

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Melt In Your Mouth Tres Leches Cake

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Dessert

By Our Little Nook – Serves: 12

Prep Time: 20 minutes – Cooking Time: 20-25 minutes – Total Time: 1 hour

Try this delicious Melt In Your Mouth Tres Leches Cake for any special occasion. This cake is delicious and will please any crowd!

Ingredients

• The Cake
• 1 c. flour
• 1 3/4 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp of salt
• 5 large eggs, separated into yolks and egg whites
• 1 1/4 c of granulated sugar, separated
• 1/4 c whole milk
• 2 tbsp coconut milk
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• Tres Leches (3 milks)
• 12 oz evaporated milk
• 14 oz sweetened condensed milk
• 1/4 whole milk
• **Whipped Cream
• 2 c. heavy whipping cream
• 3 Tbsp powdered sugar
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• Topping
• Cinnamon to taste
• fresh strawberries

Instructions

The Cake

1

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Prepare a 13x9 baking pan, spray with non-stick spray.

2

Grab 3 bowls, 1 large, 2 medium bowls.

3

In the large bowl, sift (highly recommend) flour, baking powder, and salt together, and then gently mix ingredients.

4

Crack the eggs and carefully separate the yolk from the egg whites, place egg yolks in one medium bowl, place the egg whites in the other medium bowl.

5

In the bowl with egg yolks add 1 cup of sugar. Mix until pale yellow. Add in whole milk, coconut milk, and vanilla extract and mix thoroughly.

6

Pour the egg yolk batter in with the dry ingredients and fold until just combined.

7

Start whipping the egg whites in the other medium bowl. Do not add the sugar in right away. Wait until the egg whites are foamy and have large bubbles. Slowly sprinkle the sugar in a little bit at a time until you've added all of the sugar. Continue whipping the egg whites until the texture of the meringue is smooth and silky.

8

Pull your beaters out and check the peaks. If the peaks are sticking straight up and the texture is nice and silky, you should be good to go.

9

Put the meringue in with the batter and gently fold them together until just combined. Don't overfold because you don't want to deflate all of your meringue.

10

Pour the mixture into your prepared 13x9 pan.

11

Bake for 25-35 minutes.

12

Take the cake out and let it cool completely. Poke the whole cake with a fork to make holes in the cake to allow it to soak up the tres leches.

Tres Leches

13

Pour all 3 kinds of milk into a bowl and thoroughly mix.

14

Evenly pour the Tres Leches over the cooled cake. Add a little bit more milk to the outside of the cake as it tends to cook faster towards the edge of the cake.

Whipped Cream

15

Pour whipping cream into a bowl along with the powdered sugar and vanilla extract. Whip this mixture until it reaches stiff peaks. Gently layer it on top of the cake.

Topping

16

Sprinkle the top with cinnamon powder to your liking. Cover and place in the refrigerator for an hour but best if overnight. Garnish the cake with some strawberries. Enjoy!