Monday, April 22, 2013

Tres Leches Cake : Bake Along #43

Time for our Bake-Along, and for this week's theme, my baking buddy, Zoe from Bake For Happy Kids has chosen Tres Leches Cake. When Zoe suggested this cake for our theme baking, I was excited because I have read so much about this cake and have always wanted to give it a try. On the other hand, the long steps of making this cake is one of the reasons that it is still on my list of to-try! Sometimes, I needed that push, and this is definitely it! 

Tres Leches Cake is very popular in Latin America : it is a light airy sponge cake, soaked in the combination of three types of milk ; evaporated milk, condensed milk and heavy cream. I have never tried Tres Leches Cake before and am rather curious about cake soaked in milk! And I am not a fan of soggy desserts, especially bread pudding! But I am keeping an open mind on this, as I have read the good reviews about Tres Leches Cake, and mostly from those who has tried it for the first time.

I have a couple of baking cookbooks that has Tres Leches Cake recipe. There's one from "Heavenly Cakes", and there's some extra steps involved, you know Rose's recipes! Another one from "The Cake Book" which requires quite a few extra ingredients and also some extra steps. So my search for a simple Tres Leches Cake began. And found it at The Pioneer Woman's website, with very, very good reviews! The best thing is, it is so simple and easy to follow, so I decided to use the recipe from The Pioneer Woman! 


First of all, make the sponge cake. Since this is the first time that I'm going to try Tres Leches Cake, and not even sure whether would I like it or end up disliking it, I've made only a third of the recipe. My cake above is baked in a 8-1/2" x 4-1/2" loaf pan. I did not line the pan with parchment paper, simply grease it generously, but I have some problem getting it out of the pan, so my advise would be to grease and line the pan. Bake the cake as per the instructions in the recipe below, turn in out immediately after baking and leave to cool, right side up. Place the cake in another platter with rims at the sides, or you can use the same baking pan, clean it first, as you are going to soak the cake with milk mixture later.


Prepare the milk mixture of evaporated milk, condensed milk and heavy cream. I have added in 1 tsp of rum. I did not wait for the cake to cool down, while still warm, maybe about 20 minutes after baking, prick some holes all over with a fork, pricking it right to the bottom of the cake so that all the milk will go right through. Drizzle the milk mixture over the cake.


Drizzle all around, especially the sides, the milk will seep right into the cake, and some of the milk mixture will flow down, pooling around the cake.


You can see the milk mixture already seeping into the cake.


Leave the cake undisturbed for 30 minutes.


Can you see there's hardly any milk on the top of the cake now, there's a pool of milk at the bottom of the platter.

This is less than 30 minutes later! Maybe about 25 minutes! All the milk mixture has been absorbed by the cake! I am so excited to see the whole process of it! Now I can't wait to try the cake, but it will have to wait for the next day, as it was already late and I am actually lazy to whisk the frosting, because I have washed my mixing bowl and whisk beater twice when making this cake, once for the egg yolk batter and also for the egg whites! Haha! Lazy, lazy! 


I left the cake in the refrigerator covered overnight and frost it the next day. The frosting is made up of heavy cream plus 1 teaspoon of caster sugar, whipped until thick and spreadable. Spread the frosting all over the cold cake.


Slice and serve! What's the review?


Super delicious cake! This is one of the best cake I've eaten! A total winner with the family. This cake is not soggy at all, the texture is moist, make that very moist, in such a way that it is not soggy at all. The sponge cake soaks up the milk mixture without falling apart, and the sweetness is just perfect, it is not overly sweet, maybe because I used slightly less than what the recipes calls for, and also less condensed milk in the milk mixture. Do not skip on the frosting, it blends very deliciously with the cake. I have a request from my son to make this cake for his birthday! Haha, he might change his mind, but I am happy to make this cake again! Perhaps now I am more confident to try out either Rose Levy's or Tish Boyle's recipes!

Thank you, Zoe, for that "push", otherwise it will still be on my list of-to-try!  Now it is on my list of "family gathering yummies"!

Please visit my baking buddies, Lena from Frozen Wings and Zoe from Bake For Happy Kids, and all our friends who has baked along with us in the linky below :

Bake-Along is starting it's third year in the month of May. To celebrate Bake-Along's past two years of fun baking, there will be a special theme bake, Theme : Celebration Cupcakes. The linky will start on 2nd May to 11th May. Thank you to all my baking friends for your continuous support for the last two years! Let's continue on with the fun baking and bring out your creativity in this coming fun baking theme! 


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Below is my measurement, with slight changes for 1/3 of the recipe, to view the original recipe and step-by-step pictures, please visit The Pioneer Woman website, here.
Tres Leches Cake
(adapted from The Pioneer Woman)
For the batter :
1/3 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 tsp baking powder
pinch of salt
2 whole eggs
scant 1/3 cup sugar, divided
1/2 tsp vanilla
80ml milk

For the milk mixture:
2/3 cup evaporated milk
1/4 cup condensed milk
2 tbsp heavy cream
1 tsp rum (my addition)

For the frosting :
3/4 cup heavy cream
1 tsp caster sugar

Preheat oven to 350degreesF. Grease and line a 8 x 4-1/2 inch loaf pan with parchment paper.
For the batter :
Combine flour, baking powder, and salt in a large bowl. Separate the eggs.
Whisk egg yolks with the sugar (leaving about 2-3 tbsp to use for the egg whites later), on high speed until yolks are pale yellow.
Stir in the milk and vanilla. Pour egg yolk mixture over the flour mixture and stir very gently until combined.
Whisk egg whites on high speed until soft peaks form. With the mixer on, pour in remaining 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 about 30 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean. Turn cake out into a rimmed platter and allow to cool.

For the milk mixture :
Combine condensed milk, evaporated milk, heavy cream and rum (my addition) in a small pitcher. (I use a mini hand-held whisk to whisk everything together). When the cake is cool, pierce the surface with a fork several times. Slowly drizzle the milk mixture over the cake - 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.

For the frosting :
Whisk heavy cream with sugar until thick and spreadable.
Spread over the surface of the cake. Decorate cake with whole or chopped glazed cherries.



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32 comments:

  1. Delicious and mouthwatering cake. Excellent preparation.
    Deepa

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  2. Hi Joyce,

    What an co-incidence! We are using the same recipe!!!

    Great choice that you waited for the milk mixture to soak overnight. The impatient me just trimmed off the sides. LOL!

    Zoe

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  3. wah, another great review... so tis recipe is a must try huh???.. it looks so heavenly moist with the milk and frosting:)

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  4. Joyce, I used the same recipe :) It was very very good! But alot of calories ha ha

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  5. So it's an individual preference for this cake, I suggested to my boys and they gave me wierd looks when I described it to them, so I am thinking, better not lol!

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  6. I've just learned that this is called the thee-milk cake in english! I guess this is a high calcium cake since it needs to be soaked in 3 types of milk! Your cake looks very nice there!

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  7. Joyce, you certainly sound very enthusiastic about this cake. And you make me somewhat convinced that I might like the cake. You see, I don't like milk but maybe, just maybe if it is soaked into a sponge cake that is topped with whipped cream (that part I like), I might be converted :)

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  8. Interesting. I've heard a lot about Tres Leches cake, but I've never been brave enough to try it because I don't like particularly milky things or soggy cake things and I always envisaged a "soggy-milky-cake" So pleased that you've made this and set my mind at rest - I'm excited to give this a try now.

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  9. Such a beautiful cake, wonderful job..

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  10. Sounds like a really moist cake! Think my Hubby would like it cos it's got lots of creammmmmmm.

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  11. this cake is worth every last piece! very nice indeed!!

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  12. Eileen, Hundred Eighty DegreesMonday, April 22, 2013

    Hi Joyce, I wonder if my family would love it but I am going to give a try. Sound too good not to try: )

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  13. Joyce, your tres leche looks good!! I'm also not a fan of soggy cakes and even bread pudding too. Now you are enticing me to join in the tres leches cake bake ;)

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  14. no wonder you sound relaxed only asking you if you had done the cake :) From the way you described it, i think my cake tends to be a little wet than yours :)

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  15. 3rd tres leche cake I've seen so far and it's so tempting to make it!

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  16. I love all 3 leches recipes and I adore this, I wanna participate in this but today I have posted Secret recipe club anyway I will try to post.yours is delicious!

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  17. Oh Joyce, I love tres leche cake, soaked with the milks...so flavorful and rich...yum!
    Have a wonderful week :)

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  18. My 2nd of the day :D I'm gonna bake the mocha tres leches cake but will try this recipe sometime ! Your cake looks moist and just darn delicious lol

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  19. Will try and bake this as soon as my fridge has more space! Very intriguing!

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  20. I begin a diet period and your cake is killing me ... sigh...

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  21. Hi Joyce! Your cake looks good! Haha saw that everyone so far (except for Lena) has used PW's recipe! I'm not a fan of milk so I've skipped this bake, but will definitely be joining the next one! Cupcakes! :D

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  22. This is one of my daughter's favorite cakes! I need to try the PW's recipe next...it looks amazing!!!

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  23. It looks great, Joyce. I'm glad you ended up liking it. I love Tres Leches Cake. I have made Rose's recipe and loved it. But my favorite TL recipe has to be from America's Test Kitchen. Super easy and delicious. Try googling the recipe. If you can't find it, let me know and I'll email it to you. One experiment I did (which turned out delicious) is use Dulce de Leche (which is **caramelized** sweetened condensed milk) and it kicks it up a couple notches!! :o)

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    1. Hi Hanaa
      Thank you! I've managed to get the recipe when I googled for it, and from the reviews I've read, this is another must try! I'm rather curious to try with Dulce de Leche, something that I've always read about. Will try the ATK's recipe the next time when I make Tres Leches Cake. Thank you so much! Have a great week!

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  24. This cake looks fabulous!! I would love to try this for a family get together. Thank you for encouraging this recipe. Blessings dear. Catherine xo

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  25. Wow...Luce delicioso y hermoso soy muy fan de tres leches quiero ir por varios trozos,abrazos y abrazos.

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  26. you stole my heart. I love this cake- it is one of my favorite cakes in the world! You did it justice my friend

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  27. Hi Joyce,
    This tres leches cake looks very interesting!!
    I love lots of cream.:p
    Again this is new to me...i must try this:D
    mui

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  28. Your Tres Leche Cake looks delicious. I prefered letting it soaked ovenight & it's even tastier! I've tried this cake 3 times & my sons love it very much too except my big boss . I've baked a Tres leche cake last month , will post it ASAP! ;)

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  29. Splendid! It looks so yummy my baby would love this… I would try to bake one…
    Love,
    Alva@ Cake Decorating Bristol

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  30. I have always wanted to make this cake as I have eaten it at numerous places, now you have made it look so easy, that I am going to have to give it a whirl!

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