Tres Leches ??

[Bayou]

Anyone have a good recipe for the Latin American "Tres Leches" cake?

[momoreg]

That's ironic, because I was just thinking of asking the same question today. I tried a few recipes for that last year, and wasn't totally satisfied. I would love to try it again.

[Shimmer]

That's COMPLETELY weird, because I had never heard of it, and there were samples of it at the supermarket today.

No recipe, sorry, but isn't it weird that so many people would be thinking about this cake TODAY!?!?

~~Shimmer~~

[W.DeBord]

I wasen't familar with this item either until Martha featured this as her "recipe of the month" a couple issues ago (maybe March?).

I saved the article, do you want me to post it? I'd bet it was good (she's been right on the money with her baking recipes the last couple years).

[momoreg]

Sure, I'd love to see it. Maybe I still have one of the recipes I tried, and we can compare and contrast.

[angrychef]

Here is a simple formula for tres leches:

1 10" sponge cake or genoise.Do not use a butter cake.
1 C. milk or heavy cream(I use cream)
14 oz. can condensed milk or cajeta(caramelized goat's milk found in Latin American stores)
1 C. evaporated milk

Mix 3 milks and pour slowly or brush onto cake until it soaks it all up. Let cake sit overnight so all the liquid seeps into cake and spreads out.
I have seen this cake frosted with a meringue frosting which is then torched, but I usually like to frost with whipped cream or just leave it plain.

[mudbug]

Bayou,

Here are many sources for Tres Leches Recipes (more pages of results at the bottom). Enjoy!

[W.DeBord]

"Cake with three Milks", dessert of the month from the March 2001 issue of Martha Stewart....

8 tbsp. melted butter (plus extra to coat your pan)
6 eggs, seperated
1/4 tsp. soda
1/4 tsp. salt
1 c. sugar
1 c. flour
2 1/2 c. milk
12 oz. evaporated milk
14 oz. sweetened condensed milk

Optional: fresh coconut and whip cream for garnish.

350 oven...use a buttered GLASS 9x13 pan.
Whisk whites, soda, salt until soft peaks. Add yolks and beat until combined. With mixer running add sugar slowly. Fold in butter then sifter flour.

Bake until golden aprox. 20 min. Before cake is done whisk together the 3 milks. As soon as cake is removed from the oven pour the milks over the cake...this should absorb within 5 min. When cool cover and refridgerate at least 5 hours before serving. She uses fresh coconut and whipped cream to accompany.

I have NOT made this so I can't attest to it's quality. But I've had great success with Marthas baking recipes.

[lynne]

Here's my favourite version!

Pastel Tres Leches Aldaco


3/4 c Flour
1 ts Baking powder
1/2 c Plus 2 tb sugar
A pinch salt
3 lg Eggs
1/2 c Milk
1 ts Vanilla
Milk mix:
12 oz Evaporated milk
14 oz Sweetened condensed milk
1 cn Whole milk
= use empty condensed milk
-can
1 ts Vanilla
1 ts Rum; (1 to 2)
Chopped pecans
Or cinnamon to sprinkle on
-top

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Lightly grease a 9-inch round
cake pan. Mix together flour, baking powder, sugar and
pinch of salt in medium bowl. In another bowl, stir
together the eggs, milk and vanilla lightly. Mix with the
dry ingredients and stir well. Scrape into the cake pan and
bake for about 20 minutes or until the top is light golden
and springs back when touched in the center. Take cake out,
cool 15 minutes, then remove from pan so cake doesn't
stick. Let cool completely.
When cake is cooled, cut it in half horizontally with a
long-bladed knife.

To make the milk mixture: put the evaporated, condensed and
whole milk, and vanilla and rum, if desired, into a large
mixing bowl or blender and blend well.
Lift the top half of the cake off and set aside. Put the
bottom half of the cake onto a larger serving dish with a
rim (to catch any excess milk). Slowly pour enough of the
milk mixture onto the bottom half of the cake to saturate
it well. Replace the top half over the soaked bottom half
and carefully pour more of the milk mixture over the top.
This procedure should be performed slowly and you may have
to wait a bit for the milk to soak into the top half, then
pour some more.

The cake should be allowed to soak and chill for at least 2
hours in the refrigerator. (It is even better left to soak
in the milk overnight.) Cut into pie-shaped wedges and
garnish the top of each serving with chopped pecans or a
sprinkle of cinnamon. If there is milk left over that the
cake didn't soak up, pour into a small pitcher and serve
alongside the dessert.

From Aldaco's restaurant in San Antonio, Texas. Absolutely
delicious!

[Bayou]

Lynne, sounds like a great recipe. Is San Antonio into Fiesta yet ??

[lynne]

Fiesta kick-off was this weekend (not a B&B room left in town!) The River Parade is tomorrow night (one hour before the Spurs playoff game) -- town should be rockin'!

For my part in Fiesta, I volunteer at NIOSA (Night in Old San Antonio) -- a festival sponsored by and for the San Antonio Conservation Society. They have food boothes of every nationality. Usually my family works the Eggroll booth, but this year I'll be found painting faces in Clown Alley!

I love this time of year!

Fiesta lasts through next Sunday, we're fully booked and ready to direct people to the Fair!

[lynne]

Worked my time at Fiesta, thought of you all as we sampled Tres Leches!

Also sampled by our group: gyros, ranchero chicken, queso fundo, escargot, eclairs, knockwurst and sauerkraut, beignets, fried jalapeno slices, rangoons, japanese "apple pie" (cinnamon apple wontons), bunuelos, peche melba...not all at once or even one day.

Could have gone on to have baklava, tacos and quesafdillas of every kind, meatball sandwiches, pizza, gelato, bloomin' onions, cotton candy, funnel cakes, fried chicken, calves fries, frog logs and the list could go on.

It was a blast, with everyone having fun. The river parade was rained out on Monday but the Spurs were playing and won! so everyone's spirits flew high!

The Fair and 2 more parades are yet to come, coronation was last night and the carnival runs for the length of Fiesta!

Here's hoping everyone has gorgeous weather and a wonderful Spring weekend!

[Svadhisthana]

This recipe was in Cooking Light magazine (last month?). This was the first time I had ever heard of it. I tried it and it was dee-lish. I even froze some of it as an experiment.....yummm on a warm day.


Svadhisthana