Pastel de tres leches, or three-milk cake, is a signature cake in many Latin American countries. The origins of this cake are not certain. Some claim it originated in Nicaragua while others claim it was in Mexico, but what is certain about this cake is its popularity. Even here in the U.S. it has become a very popular dessert. When I was thinking about making this cake for Sweet Friday I made a recipe search online and Google returned about 250,000 results. That is a lot of cake!However, I noticed that just few of those recipes mentioned the most popular way to eat this cake in Mexico, with a fruit filling. No wedding or birthday can’t be called such without a Tres leches cake stuffed with fruit and nuts. The most popular fruit filling is strawberries, but since this is no strawberry season I used canned peaches and iced it with Chantilly cream, just like my mom does it.
Pastel de tres leches
Makes 8-10 servings.
Prep time: 15 minutes
Baking time: 40-45 minutes
For this recipe you will need:
- 6 eggs, separated
- 1 TBSP lime juice
- ½ cup sugar
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- ½ tsp baking soda
- 1 tsp baking powder
- 1 cup vegetable oil
- ½ cup milk
- 1 can condensed milk
- 1 can evaporated milk
- ½ cup whole milk
- ½ cup rum (kids in Mexico don’t mind if their cakes have it)
- 1 TBSP vanilla
- fruit for filling
- ¼ walnuts
- 3 cups Chantilly cream
Preparation:
- Preheat oven to 350° F (175° C)
- Beat egg whites with lime juice until stiff. Set apart.
- Separately, beat egg yolks and sugar until it changes to a lemon color.
- Mix together with flour, baking soda, baking powder and oil. If the batter is too stiff add ½ cup milk or as much as necessary to make a soft runny batter.
- Fold in the white eggs until incorporated. Don’t beat or whisk the batter.
- Grease very well a baking pan and pour the batter in.
- Bake for 40-45 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean when tested.
- In the meantime blend condensed, evaporated and whole milks with vanilla and rum.
- Once the cake comes out of the oven slowly pour the milks on it. Don’t do it too fast or the milks will plunge to the bottom of the pan. To help the absorption, poke the top of the cake with a fork to break the crust. It might look that it is too much liquid, but the cake will absorb it.
- Refrigerate for at least 4 hours. For better results refrigerate overnight.
- Turn over the cake on a cake plate and with a long knife cut the middle horizontally.
- Top the bottom half with 1/3 of the cream, fruit and walnuts. Put back the top half and decorate with the rest of the cream.
About this recipe:
- My mom makes an easier version of this cake using pancake flour. Just sift together 1 ½ cups of pancake flour, ½ cup regular flour. In the blender blend 6 eggs, ½ cup of sugar and 1 cup of vegetable oil and add to the flour. Bake the same way.
- You can add some cocoa powder to the mix and use chocolate icing to make a chocolate version of this cake.
When the summer comes I will be making this cake with strawberries, my favorite version.
Buen provecho!
14 Replies
I just realized I forgot to include the link for the Chantilly cream recipe I used Here it is.
Posted on March 14th, 2008 at 7:56 pm
I only discovered Tres Leches cake in Chicago,and its one of my favorites. I have never had it filled with fruit.Now I have to try that version.
Posted on March 14th, 2008 at 8:16 pm
I love Tres Leches cake — it’s become pretty popular out here and is even now available in our bakeries. I made one last year and it turned out pretty good. Now you’ve got me all excited to add fruit in the middle … it sounds so good!
Posted on March 14th, 2008 at 8:27 pm
This looks wonderful. I can’t wait to try it!
Posted on March 14th, 2008 at 8:43 pm
That looks amazingly decadent! “Yum!” Is all I can say Ben….
Posted on March 14th, 2008 at 8:54 pm
Ben, that cake has seduced me…I’m weak just from the condensed milk!
Posted on March 15th, 2008 at 7:38 am
Truthfully I have never heard of this type of cake before…it has been said that I sometimes lead a very sheltered life:D it does look incredible!!
Posted on March 15th, 2008 at 7:44 am
Hi Ben,
Thanks for the recipe. I sent it to my granddaughter in hopes she will try this one. The last one did not taste bad, it just didn’t soak up the milk.
This sounds great and I will have to try it myself.
Posted on March 15th, 2008 at 2:17 pm
Haha about kids not minding the rum! Always love the addition of rum to a cake. YUM!
Posted on March 16th, 2008 at 1:41 am
Is it still tres leches if you add chocolate? I made a tres leches a few months back and added chocolate and cinnamon.
Posted on March 16th, 2008 at 4:19 pm
You know I’m a new fan of this since I tried it a couple of months ago. And I like the idea of the fruit and nuts. Hmmm…bananas and pecans for sure. The peaches look luscious in your recipe, so I know we’d like that. I love how you tell how your mom put your dishes together — they’re always time savers!
Posted on March 16th, 2008 at 5:20 pm
I had a piece of this cake about a year ago with my daughter and she’s been begging me to get a recipe to make this for her. We both added it to our favorites list. I can’t wait to surprise her with this cake.
Posted on March 24th, 2008 at 12:08 pm
Hi Ben,
I got here from your link on your article posted on Gather.
This recipe sounds heavenly, however, I still don’t see any link to the Chantilly cream recipe…help!
Posted on March 26th, 2008 at 9:18 am
Hmm, my comment disappeared.
Ben, I got here from your link on your article at Gather. This recipe sounds heavenly, however…I still don’t see any link to the chantilly cream recipe..help!
Posted on March 26th, 2008 at 9:19 am
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