Tres Leches Cake

I made a Tres Leches cake for Cinco de Mayo. For anyone who doesn't know, "Tres Leches" is Spanish for "Three Milks" because the cake is soaked in three different kinds of milk, but more on that in a minute. This cake always reminds me of the time my family had gone out to dinner, had a nice meal and then wanted to look at the desserts. This cake was on the menu so my dad asked the waitress for "tres leches" and instead of a piece of cake the waitress brought three glasses of milk back. We looked at her in confusion and she explained we ordered "tres leches". We got it straightened out but we have no idea why the waitress thought we had ordered milks in Spanish when we are clearly not Latino at all. Maybe she thought we were bilingual? But that's giving us way too much credit. My dad once ordered "polo" in a Mexican restaurant. ("Pollo" is Spanish for "chicken", but it is pronounced "poyo")(Love you, Dad ;) )

Anyway, Tres Leches cake is a Mexican cake that is dense and eggy and then soaked in a mixture of three milks and frosted with whipped cream. Basically, this is a lactose intolerant person's worst nightmare. But for those of us who can digest lactose, it is a sweet, moist, tasty cake.

Start the cake the day before you want to serve it.

Make the cake batter by creaming butter and sugar together, adding eggs and then the dry ingredients. Spread into a pan and bake. Let cool completely.

Once it is cool, mix together a can of sweetened condensed milk, a can of evaporated milk, and some half n half together in a bowl. Poke the cake all over with a fork. Then pour the milks on the cake and refrigerate overnight. It looks like too much liquid but it will all soak in nicely.

The next day whip up some cream and frost, then serve! I added a cherry on top only because a white piece of cake is kind of boring looking and it needed some color. Plus I really love maraschino cherries. Once when my Girlscout troop went to a dinner theatre, I discovered a large dish of maraschino cherries at the dessert bar and since I was lacking in direct parental supervision I ate a whole bowl of just maraschino cherries for dinner. True story.

I digress. Like I said, I served the cake for Cinco de Mayo and it was a big hit! People went back for seconds. It is so moist it is almost wet, so I'm not sure how long the leftovers will last before it gets mushy but I'll keep eating it until then.


TRES LECHES CAKE
Adapted from the Great Alton Brown

Note: Alton Brown likes to give measurements in weight so I used my kitchen scale, but you can convert the weights to simpler measurements if you don't have a scale.


6 3/4 ounces cake flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
4 ounces unsalted butter, room temperature
8 ounces sugar
5 whole eggs
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract

For the glaze:
1 (12-ounce) can evaporated milk
1 (14-ounce) can sweetened condensed milk
1 cup half-and-half

For the topping:
2 cups heavy cream
8 ounces sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

For the cake:

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Lightly oil and flour a 13 by 9-inch metal pan and set aside.

Whisk together the cake flour, baking powder and salt in a medium mixing bowl and set aside.

Place the butter into the bowl of a stand mixer. Using the paddle attachment, beat on medium speed until fluffy, approximately 1 minute. Decrease the speed to low and with the mixer still running, gradually add the sugar over 1 minute. Stop to scrape down the sides of the bowl, if necessary. Add the eggs, 1 at a time, and mix to thoroughly combine. Add the vanilla extract and mix to combine. Add the flour mixture to the batter in 3 batches and mix just until combined. Transfer the batter to the prepared pan and spread evenly. This will appear to be a very small amount of batter. Bake on the middle rack of the oven for 20 to 25 minutes or until the cake is lightly golden and reaches an internal temperature of 200 degrees F.

Remove the cake pan to a cooling rack and allow to cool for 30 minutes. Poke the top of the cake all over with a skewer or fork. Allow the cake to cool completely and then prepare the glaze.

For the glaze:

Whisk together the evaporated milk, sweetened condensed milk and the half-and-half in a 1-quart measuring cup. Once combined, pour the glaze over the cake. Refrigerate the cake overnight.

Topping:

Place the heavy cream, sugar and vanilla into the bowl of a stand mixer. Using the whisk attachment, whisk together on low until stiff peaks are formed. Change to medium speed and whisk until thick. Spread the topping over the cake and allow to chill in the refrigerator until ready to serve.

Read more at: http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/alton-brown/tres-leche-cake-recipe.html?oc=linkback