PaisleyJade

faith

Sweet Christmas...

By PaisleyJade - Sunday, December 04, 2011

13 Comments

faith

Things I'm Loving...

By PaisleyJade - Friday, December 02, 2011

18 Comments

food

Tres Leches (Three Milks Cake)

By PaisleyJade - Thursday, December 01, 2011

I decided I would have a go at making myself a birthday cake this year!

A long time ago a friend (thanks Emily) gave me the 'secret squirrel' recipe for a Latin American cake called "Tres Leches", otherwise known as "The Three Milks Cake". I have treasured my sacred copy, and after many years, finally decided I was ready to actually attempt making it for myself, only to discover my copy lost!!

Thankfully today we have this wonderful thing called Google - and I found a similar recipe here.

I love this cake - mainly because of the very delicious (and naughty) concept of making a light, spongy cake, then pouring a mixture of 'three milks' (cream, evaporated milk and condensed milk) all over the cooked cake, letting it soak into the cake and set before icing.

Sooooooooooo good!!

Ingredients:

Cake:

6 large eggs, separated

2 cups sugar

2 cups all-purpose flour

2 teaspoons baking powder

1/2 cup milk

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Cream topping:

1 14-ounce can evaporated milk

1 14-ounce can sweetened condensed milk

1 cup heavy cream

Icing:

3 tablespoons water

3/4 cup granulated sugar

3 large egg whites

Directions

To make the cake: Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Lightly grease and flour a 9 by 13-inch baking dish and set aside.

In the bowl of a mixer, beat the egg whites on low speed until soft peaks form. Add the sugar gradually with the mixer running and peak to stiff peaks. Add the egg yolks 1 at a time, beating well after the addition of each.

Sift together the flour and baking powder and add to the egg mixture, alternating with the milk. (Do this quickly so the batter does not lose volume.) Add the vanilla. Bake until golden, 25 minutes.

To make the cream topping: In a blender, combine the evaporated milk, condensed milk, and heavy cream and blend on high speed.

Remove the cake from the oven and while still warm, pour the cream mixture over it. Let sit and cool to room temperature. Cover and refrigerate until well chilled, at least 4 hours or overnight.

To make the icing: Once the cake is completely chilled, in a saucepan combine the water and sugar.

Bring to a boil. Reduce the heat and stir to dissolve the sugar. Cook until the mixture reaches the soft ball stage. Remove from the heat. In a medium bowl, beat the egg whites to soft peaks. While beating, add the hot syrup in a stream. Beat until all the syrup has been added, the mixture cools, and a glossy icing forms.

To assemble: Remove the cake from the refrigerator and spread the icing evenly across the top.