My new favorite cake: Tres Leches!

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Tres Leches is officially my new favorite cake to eat and bake! 🙂

Got the recipe from the amazing Pioneer Woman, and her blog posts are awesome to view using the iPad. It definitely beats any recipe card! 😉 I baked this cake twice over the weekend. The first time was for Alfred’s mom’s surprise birthday party. I had never made it before then, and didn’t get to taste it before show time, so I was so relieved and happy that all who got a piece of it were happy with every bite 🙂

It was so moist and yummy that I decided that we had to make another batch the next day so my parents could have it too. The next photos are from Sunday’s baking session.

Tres Leches cake is so easy to make! Preparation doesn’t take too long and there’s not too much to measure. The mixture was so light and fluffy that it won’t stress you out mixing 🙂

I used to be afraid of separating egg whites from the yolks, but I didn’t do so bad. Specially on this second go. It was part of the fun! The real feat? Not getting any of the shells in the cake! haha 🙂 Anyway, the whites had to be separated from the yolks because they needed to be dealt with differently. First went the yolks, beaten until it doubled in volume and turned a pale yellow. Vanilla and some sugar was added in too. I mixed it lightly with the flour mixture first.

Next went the egg whites, this was another fun part even though the mixer pretty much did the work. Beat at high-speed with some sugar, until soft peaks form. Fold it in with the flour and egg yolk mixture. Even back in high school, folding mixtures was my favorite part of the baking process.

As soon as it all combined, I plopped the entire mixture onto one greased pan, and baked it in a 350-degree oven for 35 minutes. Alfred’s my tester, so he’s the one doing the toothpick test on the cakes.

The mixed three milks are then poured all over the cake as soon as it cools. It’s a sponge cake so it’s meant to absorb liquids. Of course, because there’s  a lot of liquid to hold in, some of the milk spilled over to the sides of the cake. Not to worry, because in as little as 30minutes later, all that would be gone, re-absorbed by the sponge.

No photo here, but my favorite part is making the icing and putting it on the cake. I hadn’t made icing like that before and it is so easy (both to make and to apply). While waiting for the cake to cool, and then again for the milk to be absorbed, I chopped the maraschino cherries that went on top of the cake. The red is such a nice contrast to the white frosting. We also had some canned strawberries to add variety.

Just as in the previous night, this cake was a hit. It’s all gone now. 🙂

To view the full recipe, check out The Pioneer Woman.