Tres Leches cake
Growing up in Italy, I’d never heard of Tres Leches. I tried it for the first time in the U.S.A. and then decided to learn how to make it because it’s delicious.
What is Tres Leches?
Tres Leches is a traditional Latin American cake.
It’s made of sponge (sometimes butter) cake that is perforated and then soaked in three different milks: condensed milk, evaporated milk, and whole milk. It’s then topped with heavy cream or meringue. The milks combined create a creamy syrup that gives the cake a sweet and fresh density.
People from South America grow up having this cake often at birthdays, weddings, quinceañeras, graduations, and all kinds of celebrations. It’s one of their most popular cakes.
Meaning of the name
In Spanish it’s called ”Pastel tres leches,” and literally means “three milks cake.”
It can also be called “Torta de tres leches,” “Bizcocho de tres leches,” and “Pan tres leches,” which means “three milks bread.”
Origin and history
Normally we think of it as a Mexican cake, but many historians agree that the Tres Leches cake was born in Nicaragua. We don’t really know if it originated in Mexico or Nicaragua, but it is an important cake in many Latin American states, like Mexico, Nicaragua, Panama, Puerto Rico, Guatemala, Cuba, and Costa Rica.
Guanajuato, Mexico 
San juan del sur in Nicaragua
The idea of soaking a cake comes from the medieval times in Europe. Some examples of this are “Tiramisu’” from Italy, which is soaked in coffee, and the “British Trifle,” which is soaked in wine and custard.
In the 19th century, Europeans traveled to Latin American areas and introduced soak cakes.
In the 1930s and 40s, around the time of World War II, condensed milk was very popular. It was a great way to store milk.
The company Nestlé opened up new offices in Latin America and included the Tres Leches cake recipes on the labels of their condensed and evaporated milk cans. This helped advertise the uses for this kind of milk.
The Nestlé recipes are some of the first Tres Leches cake documentations and played a big part in making the cake well-known in the Latino states.
The cake is very popular right now in the U.S.A. and many variations of it can be found in bakeries. The Tres Leches is also popular in the Caribbean, Canary Islands, and with some variations even on the other side of the globe, notably Albania, the Republic of Macedonia, Turkey, and other parts of Europe.
Other kinds of Tres Leches
In Albania and Turkey it is called “Trilece” and is often topped with caramel. It can also be found made of literally three different milks: cow milk, goat milk, and buffalo water milk.
There is a theory which says that since Brazilian soap operas have always been very famous in Albania, Albanians were exposed to the Tres Leches cake for the first time through one of the episodes. But we don’t know which soap opera or episodes, so we can’t know for sure.
Other versions of the tres leches are available now, called quatro leches, cinco leches and seis leches cake, depending on how many different milks are used.
In the “seis leches”, besides the original 3 kinds of milk, is added coconut milk, condensed coconut milk, and dulce de leche on top.
Tres Leches cake
Ingredients
- 1 and ¼ cup all purpose flour (155 g)
- 2 tsp baking powder
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 6 large eggs
- 1 cup sugar 225 g
- ½ cup whole milk 90 ml
- 2 tsp vanilla extract
- ¼ orange peel
- 1 cinnamon stick
3 milks mixture
- 14 oz sweetened condensed milk 396 ml
- 1½ cup evaporated milk 338 ml
- ¾ cup whole milk 148 ml
Topping
- 2 cups heavy whipping cream
- 3 tbsp powdered sugar
- ½ tsp vanilla extract
- powdered cinnamon (optional)
- 12 straberries (optional)
Instructions
- Combine the egg yolks and ¾ cup (150g) of sugar
- Add milk and vanilla extract and mix
- Sift and add flour, salt, and baking powder. Combine together, but do not overmix.
- Beat egg whites and ¼ of sugar (50 g) with an electric mixer for five minutes until it becomes fluffy.
- Add the foamy egg whites to the cake mix and gently fold them into each other, cutting in the middle with the spoon and folding in the mixture. Gently mix until the whites are incorporated into the mix. Don’t beat it too much, otherwise you will end up with a flat cake.
- Butter a 9×13 pan and add the cake mix.
- Bake the cake in a 350 ℉ oven for 30 to 35 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.
- Add the three milks, one stick of cinnamon, and ⅓ of an orange peel in a pot and simmer for a few minutes. (This is optional: you can simply mix the milk without simmering it with cinnamon and orange.)
- Let the cake and milk cool completely.
- Make a lot of holes throughout the whole cake by using a fork and pour the milk mixture over the cake.
- Pour the milk mixture over the cake.
- Let the cake soak in the fridge for about 4 hours. If you refrigerate it overnight, it will taste even better.
Whipped cream topping
- Pour the heavy cream in a clean bowl and whisk with an electric mixer.When it’s fluffy, add powdered sugar and vanilla extract.
- Place the whipped cream on top of the cake. Sprinkle powdered cinnamon on top and add fresh fruit of your choice. Let the whipped cream set for at least a half hour before serving.
