Tres leche Cake

Best Tres Leche cake in the world is at Bon Bom at mexican Bakery on Ashland Ave. in Chicago. It IS expensive, but well worth it!

Tres leches is probably the default dessert down here now. I think that it is typically made in sheet pans, and sold in various sized squares cut from the mother cake. We just get ours from the Publix supermarket. My pups love the ooze left on the plate after we consume the cakelets.

As usually served in Miami:

The cupcake tour by BillyBoy inspired me to find a recipe for Tres Leche cupcakes. My son wants to make something different for his birthday.

I found the recipe from The Cupcake Project.


Makes about 28 cupcakes


8 eggs, separated
1 1/3 C granulated sugar
1 t vanilla extract
1 1/4 C all purpose flour
3 T corn starch
1 t baking powder
pinch of salt
6 oz evaporated milk (1/2 can)
11 oz condensed milk (3/4 can)
3/4 C heavy cream or 1 can of coconut milk, unsweetened (I used heavy cream)

In a big bowl, beat the egg yolks and 1 C of the sugar until pale and fluffy.

Add the vanilla.

In another bowl, sift the flour, baking powder, corn starch, and salt.

Mix until combined with the yolk mixture.

Beat the egg whites until soft peaks form.

Add 1/3 C sugar at the end. Do not over beat!

Fold the whites into the yolk and flour mixture, being very careful not to deflate the batter.

Fill cupcake liners about halfway.

Bake at 350 F for 20 minutes or until golden brown and when a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean.

With a serrated knife, remove the top golden layer on each cupcake to expose the sponge. You can toss the tops in the trash or proceed to eat them all! You can see the pile of cut off tops on the left edge of the photo above.

Mix the three milks and spoon them into the cupcakes.

Put about three T of the milks into each cupcake.

Wait for the milks to be absorbed and add more. You will see a pool of milks at first, like the photo above, but soon the milks will completely absorb into the sponge cake.
Refrigerate the cupcakes covered for 5 hours or overnight.


The Meringue Frosting Recipe

The frosting recipe is also from Cooking Along. I reprinted it with my notes and modifications.


2 egg whites
pinch salt
1 C sugar
1/2 C water
1 t ground cinnamon

Mix the water and sugar in a small pan.

Bring it to a boil and cook until soft crack point, about 10 minutes. To know when the syrup has reached soft crack, take a little bit with a clean spoon and drop it in a bowl filled with water. It is ready when you can make a little soft ball with it inside the water (be very careful handling the syrup, it gets extremely HOT).

When the syrup is about to come to the soft crack point, beat the egg whites (with a pinch of salt added just a minute after starting the beating) until soft peaks form.
Still beating the whites, add the syrup in a steady way and beat until the mixture cools down. The final mixture will resemble soft marshmallows.

Frost the cupcakes.

Top with cinnamon. This will give a great flavor and a pretty presentation.

I've been kicking this recipe around for a while ,I will try it today and report back.

If you don't have time to make homemade on occasion Whole Foods has  Tres Leche cakes, I think they taste great but they aren't exactly inexpensive either............

I made this yesterday,One box white cake mix cooked to directions let cool poke holes all over the top,Mix one can sweetened condensed milk,one can evaporated milk and one cup whole milk together and pour over cake let sit in fridge overnite and set. Was unbeliveable.
I will use heavy cream in place of milk next time.

The best tres leche cake I've ever had (and I've had some very good ones, working with many Hispanic people) was a 112 Eatery in Minneapolis. Every component of the cake is distinctive and delicious. One of the best desserts out I've had.