Tres Leches

For my Instructables project, I am going to be making Tres Leches. Tres Leches is a milk cake. It's basically a soft sponge cake infused with three different types of milk, whole milk, evaporated milk, heavy cream, and sweetened condensed milk. The cake can be topped with an array of things, mine will be topped with whipped cream, strawberries, and chocolate chips!

TO MAKE TRES LECHES YOU WILL NEED:

1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 cup unsalted butter
1 cup white sugar
5 eggs
1/2 teaspoon of vanilla extract
2 cups whole milk
1 can (14 ounce) sweetened condensed milk
1 can (12 ounce) evaporated milk

TOPPINGS

1 cup of heavy whipping cream
1 tablespoon white sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Strawberries
Chocolate chips

TOOLS

9 x 13 inch baking pan (any pan the batter will fit in)
2 Large mixing bowls (one for dry ingredients, one for wet ingredients)
Electric Mixer / Whisk
Parchment paper
Measuring cups / Measuring spoons
Fork / Toothpick
Something to pour the milk over the cake with (ladle, jug, etc.)
Sifter
Angled Spatula

To prepare for this delicious cake, you have to preheat the oven to 350° Fahrenheit (175° Celsius). Now, line the parchment paper and then grease your 9 x 13 inch baking pan and set aside. After you have done this, sift together your all purpose flour and baking powder in a bowl and also set aside for later use.

Now, take another bowl and whisk your butter until light and fluffy. Gradually add the sugar and vanilla extract. Mix together the butter, sugar, and vanilla extract until they're all well combined. Lastly, add the eggs one by one and beat it together. Do not over beat the eggs or it will lose it's fluffiness.

After you have combined all your wet ingredients, slowly add your flour mixture that you set aside before. Tablespoon by tablespoon will work perfectly, you don't wanna leave a flour mess in your kitchen!

Pour your tres leches batter into your pan and put it into your preheated oven at 350° Fahrenheit (175° Celsius). Bake your cake for about 30 minutes.

After 30 minutes of baking, insert a toothpick inside your cake. If it comes out clean, that means that your cake is ready to get out of the oven. When your cake is out of the oven, leave it out to chill or put it in the refrigerator after an hour of being exposed to room temperature (if you're lazy like me). Then when your cake is all cooled down, flip it upside down and start poking holes in it with a fork. The holes in the cake will help absorb the milk mixture inside the cake!

After your cake is poked and has FULLY cooled, combine your evaporated milk, condensed milk, and whole milk together in a measuring cup or jug. Pour this over the cake, and let the cake soak up all the milk. It's best to let the cake do this overnight, but it's your choice!

Before you serve this amazing cake, you have to make it look presentable! To make the whipped topping, whip the heavy whipping cream with the extra one cup of sugar and teaspoon of vanilla extract until the cream has a nice and fluffy consistency. Take an angled spatula and lather the whipped topping over the cake. For this recipe, I also added strawberries and chocolate chips to make my tres leches cake look more appealing, but you can add whatever you prefer!

BE SURE TO REFRIGERATE THE CAKE AFTER IT IS MADE, AS IT IS A MILK CAKE AND NEEDS TO BE COOL.

Now that all the work is done... sit back, relax, and enjoy your work of art!