Milk Cake (Tres Leches)
on Feb 22, 2023
Milk Cake is a delicious sponge cake dessert soaked in a sweet mix of three milks. Our recipe results in a rich, moist, and authentic Tres Leches Cake!
Three milk cake sometimes called Tres Leches is a popular Latin American / Mexican dessert that is so tasty. In fact, I find it to be a drool worthy dessert. You will often see it included in the menu of many high end restaurants. There’s a reason for this trust me!
Who doesn’t love a moist and sweet cake? I know I do! Cinco de Mayo is just around the corner and this Three Milk Cake recipe will be outstanding for dessert. This is a from scratch, Authentic Tres Leches Cake Recipe, just like you would find when visiting Mexico. But, I need to mention it is so EASY to make!
Authentic Tres Leche Cake is made with no butter or oil in the batter. The result is a light sponge cake texture. After baking the cake is riddled with holes just like a poke cake. A three milks mixture consisting of heavy cream, evaporated milk, and sweetened condensed is then poured evenly over the cake. After the mixture soaks in, it is then topped with homemade whipped cream.
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This is the BEST Tres Leches Cake Recipe if you ask me! The result is a moist cake that is both rich and creamy. It’s light and sweet but not too heavy.
Why you will LOVE Tres Leches Cake
- Every single bight of this cake has a light flavor. It’s moist and delicious. Since the sheet cake is made ahead of time, it’s perfect for holidays, birthdays, potlucks, and even for a elegant dinner party.
- This is an Easy Tres Leches Cake Recipe. The ingredients and process are very straight forward. It’s quick to make.
Three Milk Cake Ingredients
For making milk cake, you’re going to need the following…
- Flour – All purpose flour will work here but feel free to use some cake flour if you have any on hand. It has less gluten- which will make softer cakes- and usually absorbs more liquid and sugar to make super-moist cake!
- Baking Powder – Not baking soda!
- Salt
- Eggs – We’ll be separating the egg whites and yolks.
- Sugar
- Pure Vanilla Extract
- Milk
After that, you’ll need the following for our three milk mix…
- Evaporated Milk
- Sweetened Condensed Milk
- Heavy Cream – If you can’t find any heavy cream for whatever reason, half and half will work in a pinch. Your final cake might not be as creamy, though.
You’ll also want to save some of that heavy cream and sugar to make a whipped topping. A garnish of berries like strawberries is also a good addition!
How to Make Authentic Milk Cake
Making milk cake can be intimidating but once you get the hang of it, it can be pretty easy! If you keep messing it up, you could also try buying sponge cake and skipping to the final part of the recipe. If you’re making sponge cake from scratch for our recipe, here’s all you have to do:
- Combine flour, baking powder, and salt and whisk together. Separate egg whites and yolks. Beat yolks with sugar before adding milk and vanilla. Beat whites until they reach soft peaks.
- Mix egg yolk mixture with flour mixture until combined. Gently fold beaten egg whites into mixture until just combined. Transfer to prepared casserole dish, level out, and bake at 350 degrees for 30-35 minutes. Allow to cool.
- Use a fork to poke holes across the top of the cake before pouring milk mixture evenly over cake. Beat remaining cream and sugar into whipped topping and spread over top of cake. Optionally garnish with berries and let refrigerate for at least 1-2 hours before enjoying a slice.
Variations for Tres Leches / Three Milk Cake
- Consider adding a a couple teaspoons of cinnamon to your cake batter. This could add a whole other layer of flavors.
- Make this a Strawberry Tres Leches Cake by adding strawberry in place of the whole milk called for in this recipe. The top with a Strawberry Whipped Cream.
- How about a Coconut Tres Leches Cake for a tropical feel. Add coconut milk in replace of the whole milk. then top with shredded coconut.
FAQs about Tres Leches Cake
There are quite a few theories for the origination. Many note that tres leches cake was created by Nestlé way back in the 1940s to promote their evaporated milk and condensed milk products. Others say that the dessert originated in Nicaragua in the 1980’s. Everything points to this being an old-fashioned cake.
Yes, go ahead and make the Tres leches cake ahead of time. It will taste better after allowing the milk mixture to soak in for a few hours or even overnight. Use plastic wrap or a lid to cover it tightly and refrigerate it until you’re ready to serve it.
You can freeze milk cake but, I do not recommend it. The texture will be quite different. It is best to refrigerate and enjoy within 5 days.
Yes, there are quite a few eggless tres leches cake recipes that use flax eggs or applesauce as a substitutions. I have not tried them but I assume the texture will be a bit different. Give it a try if you should choose, it should still be light, full of moisture and delish!
Tips for Making this 3 Milk Cake
- Consider lining the baking pan with parchment paper for an easy cleanup. Less mess is always pleasing.
- Poke and pour the three milks over the cake after it has cooled completely. Use a fork or wooden screwer.
- Allow the milk syrup to soak for a few hours. The longer the milk soaks into the cake, the better it becomes.
- Top the cake with whipped topping just before serving. Whipped cream can collapse and melt over time.
- Consider dusting the cake with cinnamon and a sliced strawberry for a garnish. This will make the cake a bit prettier as well as adding flavor.
- Serve 3 milk cake when it is cold.
- Store the Tres Leche in the fridge for up to 5 days.
Other Delicious Cake Recipes
- Poke cake is an easy way to get that delicious moist texture you get in our Tres Leches Cake- and one of our favorite poke cakes is the Boston Cream Poke Cake. Using some yellow cake mix, vanilla instant pudding mix, and some store bought frosting, you can make a tasty cake with almost no effort! It’s the perfect summer dessert and is great for parties and BBQs.
- Another delicious cake you can make from scratch is our Peanut Butter Cake. This old fashioned cake recipe has always been a go-to for me: what’s not to love about moist peanut butter cake with a peanut butter frosting on top? Very easy to make and perfect for feeding a crowd.
- For all the chocolate lovers out there, I’d be doing you a disservice if I didn’t recommend our Chocolate Fudge Brownie Cake! This has always been one of my favorite tricks to getting rich and moist chocolate cake: one box of chocolate cake mix and one box of brownie mix. Mix up with some eggs and butter for the best chocolate cake you’ve ever had!
Did you make this recipe? If so, be sure to rate with a star rating and drop a comment below.
Milk Cake (Tres Leches or Three Milks Cake
Ingredients
- 1 cup Flour
- 1 1/2 tsp Baking Powder
- 1/4 tsp Salt
- 5 Eggs, (large)
- 1 1/8 cup Sugar, divided
- 1 tsp Vanilla Extract
- 1/3 cup Milk
- 12 oz Evaporated Milk
- 9 oz Sweetened Condensed Milk
- 2 1/3 cup Heavy Whipping Cream, divided
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350.
- Grease a 9×13″ casserole pan with butter.Set aside.
- In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder and salt.
- Separate egg whites and yolks into two bowls.
- Beat egg yolks with 3/4 cup sugar on high speed using hand mixer about 2 minutes (until yolks turn pale).
- Stir in the milk and vanilla. Set aside.
- Beat egg whites on high speed until soft peaks form (about 1 minute).
- While continuing to beat, add in 1/4 cup sugar and beat until stiff peaks form (about another minute).
- Use a spatula to add egg yolk mixture to the flour mixture and combine.
- Add stiffened egg whites to this batter and fold in until just combined.
- Pour batter into prepared pan and spread to level.
- Bake at 350 for 30-35 minutes until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.
- Allow to cool.
- In a bowl or large measuring cup, combine 1/3 cup heavy whipping cream, evaporated milk and condensed milk.
- Stir until blended.
- When the cake has cooled, use a fork to poke holes across the whole top of the cake.
- Slowly pour milk mixture evenly over the cake.
- In a large bowl combine remaining 2 cups cold heavy whipping cream and remaining 2 tbsp sugar and beat on high until thickened (about 2 minutes).
- Spread over the cake and garnish whith berries if desired.
- Allow to refrigerate at least 1-2 hours.
Notes
- Consider lining your cake pan with parchment paper for an easy cleanup. Less mess is always pleasing.
- Poke and pour the three milks over the cake after it has cooled completely. Use a fork or wooden screwer.
- Allow the milk syrup to soak for a few hours. The longer the milk soaks into the cake, the better it becomes.
- Top the cake with whipped topping just before serving. Whipped cream can collapse and melt over time.
- Consider dusting the cake with cinnamon and a sliced strawberry for a garnish. This will make the cake a bit prettier as well as adding flavor.
- Serve 3 milk cake when it is cold.
- Store the Tres Leche in the fridge for up to 5 days.
I love tres leches cake but I have never tried to make it but have always wanted to. Thanks so much for sharing! I have pinned and will be making it soon!!