Pastel de Tres Leches

Pastel de Tres Leches or three milks cake is a personal favorite of mine, and has, surprisingly, not made to onto this blog yet. Shocker! and past time to remedy that. Tres Leches is a light sponge cake that gets soaked through with a mixture of evaporated milk, sweetened condensed milk, and heavy cream. How can you go wrong? The milk moistens the sponge giving you a sweet fluffy cake that will just fly off of your fork and into your mouth. The only stumbling block to Tres Leches is that it can easily tip into the category of cloyingly sweet. I have made some adjustments to my Mom’s original recipe by trimming back the sugar and replacing the more traditional meringue topping with whipped cream… and when there is whipped cream involved who can resist a few fresh strawberries…

Ingredients:

6 Eggs (separated)
1 1/2 cups Sugar
1 tsp Vanilla
3 tsp Baking Powder
2 cups Flour
1/2 cup Milk
3/4 cup Sweetened Condensed Milk
3/4 cup Evaporated Milk
3/4 cup Heavy Cream + 1 cup Heavy Cream
3 tbsp Powdered Sugar
fresh Berries for garnish

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 350 F (~177 C).
Sift the flour and baking powder together, and set aside.
Whip the egg whites until they begin to stiffen.
Gradually add the sugar while continuing to beat the egg whites.
Once the egg whites form into soft peaks, beat in the egg yokes.
Beat in the vanilla.
Lightly mix in the 1/2 cup milk, flour, and baking powder.
Pour the cake batter into a greased, rectangular 9″ x 13″ cake pan.
Bake for 40 – 45 minutes.
Allow the cake to cool fully.
Use a fork to poke holes into the top of the cake.
Whisk together the sweetened condensed milk, evaporated milk, and 3/4 cup heavy cream.
Pour the milk mixture evenly over the cake, pausing form time to time to allow the milk to absorb.
Whip up the remaining heavy cream and powdered sugar.
Spread the whipped cream over the top of the cake, and decorate the cake with fresh berries.
Make sure to keep this cake refrigerated.