Tres Leches Cake

Hey everyone!

I just got back from a lovely-ish few months in the UK. My first order of business? Food! I'm not really sure why but I have a serious craving for Tres Leches cake. When it comes to store bought, I prefer Portos. But today I'm going to make my own from this super easy recipe I found on Pinterest!

Pintesting is awesome fun because sometimes you never know how things will turn out. This one should be pretty easy because it's not a from-scratch recipe. Still, we'll see how it goes.

Firstly, you'll need a few things:

Cake:

• 1 boxed French Vanilla cake mix
• Ingredients to complete boxed cake mix

(I used a Betty Crocker French Vanilla cake which required 1/2c oil, 3 eggs, and 1c water.)


Milk Filling:

• 1 (14oz) can Sweetened Condensed Milk
• 1c Evaporated Milk
• 1c Half n Half / or Milk

Frosting:

• 1 1/2c Heavy Whipping Cream
• 1tsp Vanilla
• 1/2c Sugar

INSTRUCTIONS

• Prep and bake boxed cake per the instructions on the box.
• Remove from oven and let cool 5 minutes.
• Poke the cake using a skewer every 1/2 inch or so
• Mix together the Milk Filling ingredients and pour over cake. Making sure to fill in all of the holes.
• Cover and refrigerate a few hours. You can leave it overnight but who has the patience for that? NOT ME!
• At least 30 minutes before serving, combine the Frosting ingredients and spread over the cake. 
• Return the cake to the fridge until ready to serve.

Let's do this!

I started out with a Betty Crocker french vanilla cake mix. I've not used it before but the Pinned link did note that mixes that contain pudding work the best for this recipe. I purchased it at my local grocery store. I hate when recipes request an ingredient that I have to go to a specialty store to purchase. 

Ironically enough while prepping and baking this cake, I was watching an episode of Bones. This particular episode was about an ex-con who worked in a bakery. It feels fitting to be baking a cake with that playing in the background. 

Anyway... I threw all of the ingredients from the box into my mixer and whipped it up. I love my KitchenAid mixer and definitely missed it while I was away. 

I threw the mix into a 13x9 metal pan and put it in a 350 degree oven for about 30 minutes. My whole house smells like vanilla now. I LOVE IT! I forgot how easy baking was... I feel like I should have more to do. 

While the cake was cooking, I mixed together the Milk Filling in a medium bowl. I have a lovely set of vintage pyrex bowls that I bought at the Rose Bowl Flea Market here in Los Angeles. I want another set but they're hard to come by and I've not been in the states in a few months. I think I'll stop by again next Sunday and see what I can get my hands on. There's nothing in the baking world like vintage kitchenware. 

I let the cake back about 30 minutes and it rose beautifully. I let it stand about 5 or so minutes and then poked its life out with a wooden skewer. I'm not one for measurements but if you'd like to be precise, the original recipe calls for holes spaced about 1/2 inch apart. Mine weren't completely random but I didn't use precise technique. 

Now it's time to pour the milk filling over the top. This part is important because you need to make sure that you fill in all of the holes. If you miss some, you'll end up with some dry spots in your cake and there's nothing fun about a dry Tres Leches cake, I assure you. 

Now it's time to refrigerate for a few hours. While it refrigerates, I'll whip up the frosting... 

Combine the Frosting ingredients into a mixing bowl and mix until soft peaks form. A bit of patience is required with this step as whipping the frosting will take a few minutes. It'll be worth it, I promise.

Once your frosting is ready, I poured it out onto the cake directly and dispersed it over the cake with a spatula. You can add berries if you'd like as well - I did not, yet. Then, voila, you're done! Let the cake rest in the fridge before serving. 

ENJOY!

RESULTS

This recipe was impressively easy to read and follow. The ingredient list is short and easy to find - which is always a bonus. The cake looks delicious and tastes just as good. There are no dry spots throughout and there was plenty of milk for the entire cake. As far as homemade Tres Leches goes, this is an A+ in my book. 

Credit for the recipe goes to:

Scattered Thoughts of a Crafty Mom

All photos used throughout are original images taken during the baking process by the author.