12 Recipes of Christmas – Tres Leches Cake

On the eighth day of Christmas, my true love gave to me – eight maids a’milking… and Cook Local gives you Tres Leches Cake.

Now I think this particular recipe is very appropriate and perfect since we just got back from Mexico and I’m learning Spanish. I can understand a lot of Spanish so far, but I’m still slow to speak it. But regardless, it is largely believed that Tres Leches cake originated somewhere in Latin America. So not too far off.

In addition to being fitting because it is reminiscent of our recent wonderful trip, Mr. Cook Local has always wanted to make a tres leches cake. Back when he lived in Charlotte… Well, let’s let him tell the story.

When I lived in Charlotte, I started up a little restaurant club, where a group of us would go out to a random restaurant that all or most of us hadn’t been to before. Many of you who know me aren’t going to be surprised by that.

Well, one night, the first night in fact, if I recall correctly, we went to this wonderful little Argentinian restaurant. Probably doesn’t exist anymore. Doesn’t, near that I can tell.

Anyways, it was a fantastic night, a fantastic meal. In fact, the owner was going to comp our meal if we were able to guess the booze he delivered in a glass. Today, I would have recognized it for the grappa it was. But that night, none of us were smart enough.

One of the couples in this little club was… well, I guess I’d call them a little more religious than most. They weren’t bible-thumpers by any stretch of the imagination, but they weren’t whatever the opposite is either. He was a bit more coarse than she was, but she was prim and proper young lady. This is important. Believe me.

Flash forward to the end of dinner. We all order dessert and the smokers head out to the sidewalk to have a little post-meal nicotine fix. While they are out, leaving the couple above, myself and a couple others, desserts arrive and, after brief negotiations, we decide the smokers can just go to heck and we’re going to eat our dessert without waiting.

I don’t remember what I ordered, but I do remember what she (from the couple above) ordered.

She ordered tres leches cake.

After one bite, this relatively devout young lady said two words, that have stuck with me ever since, and the smokers could not believe it when we told them. The two words were also accompanied by everyone who wasn’t smoking choking, spit taking, or generally dropping their jaws.

Those two words:

“Oh, Daddy.”

Maybe you had to be there.

Back to the recipe we go, and for this cake we’re going to go visit the Pioneer Woman. She’s got this great recipe for Tres Leches cake. But wait. There’s a problem. Tres Leches cake requires (obviously) three milks. Those three milks are evaporated milk, sweetened condensed milk, and cream. Can you spot the problem? No local evaporated or sweetened condensed milk! But we’ve got plenty of raw milk. I wonder… can you make those other two milks? It turns out that you can.

So we did. We’ll provide the instructions for that at the end of the post.

Tres Leches Cake, or Pastel de Tres Leches, adapted from The Pioneer Woman

• 1 cup flour
• 1.5 tsp baking powder
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 5 eggs, divided
• 1 cup plus 3 Tbsp of sugar, divided into 3/4 cup, 1/4 cup, and 3 Tbsp
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 1/3 cup milk
• 1 cup evaporated milk
• 1 cup sweetened, condensed milk
• 1.5 cups heavy cream, divided into 1/4 cup and 1.25 cups

1. Preheat the oven to 350.
2. In a large bowl of a stand mixer, beat the egg yolks and the 3/4 cup of sugar on medium-high until the egg yolks lighten (about 5 minutes).
3. Grease a 13×9 pan.
4. In a separate large bowl, add the flour, baking powder, and salt.
5. Pour the beaten egg yolks into the flour bowl and stir gently until combined.
6. Next beat the egg whites on medium-high until the soft peak stage.
7. Add the 1/4 cup of sugar to the egg whites and turn the mixer up a notch and beat until stiff peak stage.
8. Fold the egg whites into the bowl with the yolks and the flour and mix gently until combined.
9. Spread the cake batter in the prepared pan and bake for 35 minutes and check with a toothpick for doneness.
10. Remove the cake from the oven and invert into a platter to cool.
11. Mix the evaporated milk, the condensed milk, and the 1/4 cup of cream in a pitcher.
12. Prick the cake all over with a fork.
13. Pour 1/2 the milk mixture over the cake slowly and let it seep in.
14. Beat the remaining 1.25 cups of cream and the last 3 tbsp of sugar until thick.
15. Spread the frosting over the cake.
16. Slice and top with toffee crumbles (or more authentically, with maraschino cherries)

Such simplicity

Notes: Remember yesterday? When I said I didn’t like tiramisu? Well, as I was pouring the milk mixture over the cake, I said to myself “geez, you’re never going to like this. It’s the same consistency as tiramisu.” In fact, it is very similar. Even the method of making the cake is similar (beat the egg yolks, then the whites, then fold together with some flour). But I actually did like this cake. I personally wouldn’t want more than one piece of it in an evening, but it was very good. The cake isn’t all that soggy, even after about a cup of the milk mixture. This is a very sweet dessert. There’s no want for sugar here. However, the milk does help to moderate the sugar a bit so it won’t quite coat your teeth as you eat it. I’d make this again.

Making Evaporated or Sweetened, Condensed Milk

Believe it or not, making both evaporated milk and sweetened, condensed milk is pretty darn easy. It isn’t quick though. The easiest way is to fill canning jars with milk and set them in a water bath canner with water 3/4 of the way up the side of the jar. Place the canner on the stove and simmer gently for a solid 12-18 hours, checking the water level frequently. You’ll also want to stir the milk in the jars every couple of hours. Once the milk has reduced by half, strain it and you’ve got evaporated milk.

To make sweetened, condensed milk, just mix in 1.5 times the sugar as the milk. So if you’ve got a cup of milk, mix in a cup and a half of sugar and heat gently to dissolve the sugar.

Both evaporated milk and sweetened, condensed milk will keep for a week or 10 days in the fridge.

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