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Easiest Tres Leches Recipe

 Easiest Tres Leches Recipe


This easy Tres Leches recipe dessert is sure to be a hit at your holiday gathering. You don’t have to be a professional baker to make this famous Latin American dessert. I’ll make it easy as I share with you my baking hacks and family secret recipe to ensure people will be begging for you to make this again!

What You Need to Get Started

o   2 large mixing bowls

o   Handheld mixer

o   A 9x13 baking pan

o   Betty Crocker Super Moist Yellow Cake Mix (Hack)

o   1 ½ cup heavy whipping crème

o   1 can sweetened condensed milk

o   1 cup of regular vitamin D milk

o   2 cans of evaporated milk

o   1 cup of sugar

o   1 teaspoon for vanilla extract

o   1 cup of water

o   1/3 cup of butter softened

o   3 eggs


LET’S Cook

My hack for this recipe is that I use a boxed cake mix because why make your life harder when you don’t have to.

 

1.     1. Make the Betty Crocker Cake Mix as instructed on the box

2.     2. Once the cake is cooked and cooled you are going to remove the very thin top layer of the cake by scraping it with a butter knife.  Watch the video to see how:



3. Combine the cans of evaporated milk, sweetened condensed, and vitamin D milk, mix together and pour over the cake evenly.

4.   Whip the whipping cream with the sugar and teaspoon of vanilla extract until thick. Spread over the top of the cake. Refrigerate 24 hours and then enjoy!

You can watch a video on how to mix the milks and soak your cake here:

 


The Hacks

While baking together, my mother-in-law and I decided that we should switch the recipe to two cups of evaporated milk instead of doing the traditional one cup of evaporated milk. When we tried the cake with the switch up in the recipe, it became an instant hit and a secret family recipe.

Another hack I’ve used in this recipe is instead of poking holes like most recipes advise doing. I remove the top layer of the cake. I find that poking holes in the cake leaves it dry in some areas and does not get the entire cake moist. The whole cake gets soaked and fills with flavor by removing the top layer.

Lastly, because I try to make cooking as easy as possible, using Betty Crocker’s Super Moist Yellow Cake Mix is my hack to cutting my grocery list in half and making the baking portion of the recipe as easy as possible. 


A bit of history on Tres Leches cake

          


  Tres Leches Cake is an airy cake made dense by the three kinds of milk it soaks up; the three types of milk are also where the cake gets its name from; Tres Leches means three milks. The origins of this cake are largely disputed, as it is trendy in all of Latin America (Stradley). 

 

The cake's origins are connected to when condensed milk became available in the 1850s in Central and South America and the Caribbean. Canned milk became very popular in the metropolitan cities of these countries since refrigerated milk was tough to distribute. Evaporated milk was easy to keep since it didn't need to be refrigerated, and it could be boiled when opened and used. Because of the milk's availability and popularity, it is believed the Tres Leches Cake became a typical dessert made with the kinds of milk around the early 1900s. 

 

Also, Nestle opened a factory in Mexico in 1935, and as part of a marketing technique to boost their sales during the Second World War, they started printing recipes on the label of the evaporated and condensed milk cans ("Tres Leches Cake: A Soaked Pudding Straight from Latin America"). One of the recipes that Nestle printed on its labels was the famous Tres Leches recipe. However, many believe that Nestle stole and took credit for the recipes they published on their can's labels from local bakers and cooks.  

 

Today the cake is still famous, and a beloved dessert in all Latin America, and every country has added its special touches and created its ways of making it. Many chefs have also added their personal touches and online searches render a plethora of different ways to make this famous cake. Some of the more popular searches that stray from the original recipe include a dulce de leche Tres Leches or a caramel Tres Leches. Whatever recipe you decide on trying, one thing is sure this is a trendy cake; knowing how to make it is a flex.

 


Picture of my family celebrating my daughter's 10th birthday. She requested Tres Leches cake and I was happy to oblige.


 

References:

Stradley, Linda. "Tres Leches Cake History and Recipe." What's Cooking America. N.p., 2017. Web. 19 Dec. 2021.

"Tres Leches Cake: A Soaked Pudding Straight from Latin America." Spectator.co.uk. N.p., 2021. Web. 19 Dec. 2021.

 







 

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