Happy Birthday to me! 25 years old and I am not above eating cake for dinner.
This tres leches cake has been made for many birthdays and parties in my life. My fiance, my soon to be mother in law, my cat (it’s her favorite since it has a lot of milk products)…uhh, anyway, this actually wasn’t made for my birthday. But I’m baking my cake as I type this, so I’ll post about that later.
My lovely boy excitedly asked me what I would be baking for my birthday, and when I replies “a type of spice cake” he shouted: “you always make such weird cakes on your birthday”! Now what he doesn’t seem to realize is that it’s MY freaking birthday, and I want a damn spice cake and if you poo poo my cake choice, then you can’t have any! I assume he’ll eat two helpings and ask for more for breakfast…boys.
This cake is unreal. A top contender for my favorite cake ever so I’m super excited to share this with you. Shall we get started?! YES!
To start, preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spray a 9 x 13 inch pan liberally until coated. Combine flour, baking powder, and salt in a large bowl.
Separate eggs. Have you seen this method?! So. Freaking. Cool.
Beat egg yolks with 3/4 cup sugar on high speed until yolks are pale yellow. Stir in milk and vanilla. Pour egg yolk mixture over the flour mixture.
Stir very gently until combined.
Beat egg whites on high speed until soft peaks form. With the mixer on, pour in remaining 1/4 cup sugar and beat until egg whites are stiff but not dry.
Fold egg white mixture into the batter very gently until just combined. Pour into prepared pan and spread to even out the surface. Don’t worry that it looks weird. This is normal!
Bake for 35 to 45 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean. Turn cake out onto a rimmed platter and allow to cool.
Combine condensed milk, evaporated milk, and heavy cream in a small pitcher. This is the magical stuff.
When cake is cool, pierce the surface with a fork several times.
Slowly drizzle all but about 1 cup of the milk mixture—try to get as much around the edges of the cake as you can.
It’ll look like this:
Allow the cake to absorb the milk mixture for 30 minutes. To ice the cake, whip 1 pint heavy cream with 3 tablespoons of sugar until thick and spreadable. Spread over the surface of the cake. Decorate cake with maraschino cherries or toasted coconut. Cut into squares and serve.
Happy Baking!
Tres Leches Cake
Recipe from The Pioneer Woman
Ingredients:
1 cup All-purpose Flour
1-½ teaspoon Baking Powder
¼ teaspoons Salt
5 whole Eggs
1 cup Sugar, Divided
1 teaspoon Vanilla
⅓ cups Milk
1 can Evaporated Milk
1 can Sweetened, Condensed Milk
¼ cups Heavy Cream
Icing
1 pint Heavy Cream, For Whipping
3 Tablespoons Sugar
Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spray a 9 x 13 inch pan liberally until coated.
Combine flour, baking powder, and salt in a large bowl. Separate eggs.
Beat egg yolks with 3/4 cup sugar on high speed until yolks are pale yellow. Stir in milk and vanilla. Pour egg yolk mixture over the flour mixture and stir very gently until combined.
Beat egg whites on high speed until soft peaks form. With the mixer on, pour in remaining 1/4 cup sugar and beat until egg whites are stiff but not dry.
Fold egg white mixture into the batter very gently until just combined. Pour into prepared pan and spread to even out the surface.
Bake for 35 to 45 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean. Turn cake out onto a rimmed platter and allow to cool.
Combine condensed milk, evaporated milk, and heavy cream in a small pitcher. When cake is cool, pierce the surface with a fork several times. Slowly drizzle all but about 1 cup of the milk mixture—try to get as much around the edges of the cake as you can.
Allow the cake to absorb the milk mixture for 30 minutes. To ice the cake, whip 1 pint heavy cream with 3 tablespoons of sugar until thick and spreadable.
Spread over the surface of the cake. Decorate cake with whole or chopped maraschino cherries. Cut into squares and serve.