Baking & Desserts

Easy Tres Leches Cake Completely From Scratch

Sure, tres leches (which translates to "three milks") is an ultra moist cake, but what if we made everything from scratch AND introduced a fourth "milk"? Call it Cuatro Leches.

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Prep
15 minutes
Cook
2 hours plus overnight resting time
Total
2-12 hours
Serves
12
people
Easy Tres Leches Cake Completely From Scratch
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Ingredients

Cake:

  • 6 eggs whites and yolks separated
  • ¾ cup (165g) granulated sugar, plus ¼ cup (55g), divided 
  • ¾ tsp (2g) vanilla extract
  • ½ cup (120ml) whole milk
  • 1.5 cup (225g) all purpose flour
  • ½ tsp (3g) fine sea salt
  • 1.5 tsp (7g) baking powder
  • Cooking spray for greasing
  • 14 oz (400ml) sweetened condensed milk
  • 12 oz (350ml) evaporated milk
  • 1 vanilla bean, optional
  • ½ cup (120ml) heavy cream

Dulce De Leche:

  • 4 cups (1 L) whole milk
  • 1.25 cups (270g) granulated sugar

Whipped Cream:

  • 1 cup (240 ml) whole milk 
  • 1 Tbsp granulated sugar
  • Ground cinnamon for dusting

Directions

  1. Preheat the oven to 350℉
  2. In a medium bowl, crack in the eggs then separate the yolks into a large bowl.
  3. Beat the egg yolks using an electric beater on high speed. Slowly add in sugar and beat in vanilla extract with whole milk.
  4. Separately with the egg whites, beat on high speed until frothy.
  5. Add sugar in batches while continuing to beat until stiff peaks. Fold both mixtures together.
  6. Separately mix together flour, sea salt, and baking powder. Once mixed add to egg mixture and fold until combined.
  7. Prepare a 9 x 13 baking pan by generously greasing it with nonstick cooking spray.
  8. Pour the sponge cake batter into the pan and toss into the oven for 25 - 30 minutes then cool completely.
  9. In a medium size bowl, combine sweetened condensed milk, evaporated milk, vanilla bean, and heavy cream. Whisk together.
  10. Using a fork, poke holes across the cold sponge cake and pour on the milk mixture across the whole cake. Cover with plastic wrap and fridge for 1 hour to overnight.
  11. For the dulce de leche, combine milk with sugar. Simmer over medium heat. Reduce to medium-low once simmering. Heat and stir often for 90 minutes until thickened and cool at room temperature.
  12. Remove the sponge cake from the fridge, cover evenly across the top with the dulce de leche.
  13. Whip heavy cream with granulated sugar until a fluffy whipped cream. Spread across the cake and sprinkle with ground cinnamon.

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