Tres Leches Cake

I made this delicious tres leches cake to celebrate our Cinco de Mayo dinner last week. Tres leches means three milks in Spanish, however this cake actually calls for 4 milks (whole milk, evaporated milk, condensed milk and heavy cream).

Now, you might think that this would make it taste overly sugary sweet but it doesn't at all. The cake itself is actually a light sponge cake that soaks up all the creamy milks. When the milks get absorbed it makes it super moist but not heavy or dense. Then it's topped with a light, fresh whipped cream....so, so good!

This is a great cake for any occasion, not just Cinco de Mayo. In fact, I posted a picture of this cake on my Facebook page shortly after I made it and a friend ended up making it for his wife and family on Mother's day. They gave it rave reviews also.

A slice of the cake on a festive plate.

This is a great recipe for the kids to help with. My son loved poking the cake with the fork, then mixing up the milks, pouring them over the cake and watching it all disappear...just like magic!

Oh, I also didn't have a nice square platter like PW does, so I simply inverted the cake once it was completely cooled in it's baking dish...worked like a charm.

In the fridge, till after dinner. I had to cut a slice to photograph it while I still had light...and to test for poison (heehee).


Ingredients

1 cup All-purpose Flour
1-½ teaspoon Baking Powder
¼ teaspoons Salt
5 whole Eggs
1 cup Sugar, Divided
1 teaspoon Vanilla
⅓ cups Milk
1 can Evaporated Milk
1 can Sweetened, Condensed Milk
¼ cups Heavy Cream
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FOR THE ICING:
1 pint Heavy Cream, For Whipping
3 Tablespoons Sugar

Preparation Instructions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spray a 9 x 13 inch pan liberally until coated.
Combine flour, baking powder, and salt in a large bowl. Separate eggs.
Beat egg yolks with 3/4 cup sugar on high speed until yolks are pale yellow. Stir in milk and vanilla. Pour egg yolk mixture over the flour mixture and stir very gently until combined.
Beat egg whites on high speed until soft peaks form. With the mixer on, pour in remaining 1/4 cup sugar and beat until egg whites are stiff but not dry.
Fold egg white mixture into the batter very gently until just combined. Pour into prepared pan and spread to even out the surface.
Bake for 35 to 45 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean. Turn cake out onto a rimmed platter and allow to cool.
Combine condensed milk, evaporated milk, and heavy cream in a small pitcher. When cake is cool, pierce the surface with a fork several times. Slowly drizzle all but about 1 cup of the milk mixture—try to get as much around the edges of the cake as you can.
Allow the cake to absorb the milk mixture for 30 minutes. To ice the cake, whip 1 pint heavy cream with 3 tablespoons of sugar until thick and spreadable.
Spread over the surface of the cake. Decorate cake with whole or chopped maraschino cherries. Cut into squares and serve.

Source: Pioneer Woman