Festive Tres Leches Cake
Festive Tres Leches Cake
A beautiful finish to any festive Cinco de Mayo celebration. Tres leches means three milk – so this translate to “Three Milk Cake.” This actually blends the idea of a three-milk cake from Latin American tradition with a rum cake from Puerto Rican tradition.
 |
FOR THE CAKE:
¼ cup plus 1 TBS extra virgin coconut oil
¼ cup plus 1 TBS unsalted butter
1 ⅞ cup sugar
2 large eggs
2 ¾ cup all purpose flour
2 ½ tsp baking powder
1 tsp Kosher or sea salt
1¼ cup whole milk
1½ tsp pure vanilla extract
THREE-MILK MIXTURE:
1 cup heavy whipping cream
1 cup whole milk
1 14-ounce can sweetened condensed milk
⅓ cup rum (or 1 TBS rum extract plus enough water to equal ⅓ cup)
FOR THE TOPPING:
1 cup heavy whipping cream
2 TBS rum or 1 tsp rum extract
½ tsp pure vanilla extract
½ cup chopped pecans
 |
Measuring cups/spoons
mixing bowl for cake
chilled mixing bowl for topping
mixer/beaters
rubber spatula
13″x9″ cake pan
fork
sharp knife and cutting board for pecans
 |
Preheat oven to 350° degrees F (120° degrees C).
Grease and flour cake pan.
 |
Cream together coconut oil, butter, and sugar until fluffy. Add the eggs one at a time and beat until thoroughly combined.
Sift together the flour, baking powder, and salt.
Mix together the milk and vanilla for the cake.
Add about one-third of the flour mixture to the sugar mixture. Mix until combined. Add about one-third of the milk and vanilla mixture. Mix until combined. Repeat until you have added all of the flour and the milk.
Pour into the greased and floured pan.
Bake about 30-35 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Remove from oven.
Using a fork, poke holes in the cake.
Mix together all of the three-milk items : rum, milk, heavy cream, and sweetened condensed milk:
Slowly pour over the cake.
Cover and refrigerate at least 3 hours.
For the topping, in a chilled bowl, mix together the whipping cream, rum, and vanilla.
Beat on high until the cream thickens and forms stiff peaks.
Spread on top of cake.
Top with chopped pecans.
 |
12 generous slices
-OR-
15-20 less than generous slices
 |
~*~ | |
| Low in sodium |  |
|
| ~*~ | ||
 |
Keep refrigerated.
Please note that the alcohol is not cooked out of this recipe.
I would love to hear any feedback about this recipe. Did you make it? Did you enjoy it? Did you make any adjustments to it?
Hallee
I’m so grateful for your visit, today.
You would bless me if you added me to your 
feed reader or subscribed 
via email.
You can also become a fan on 
Facebook or follow me on 
Twitter. I would love to see more of you!
Pin It
love tres leche…actually am working on the cupcake equivalent and trying to make it a wee less messy…LOL :) Thanks for your recipe :)
You could thicken the milk up – heat it then use cornstarch and make it more like a pudding filled cupcake. Maybe.
I have always loved this cake but never made it myself. Well, I needed to make a dessert for a family dinner and really wanted something different. I left out the pecans because of my son’s nut allergy. Well, the only word to describe this is……….YUM!!!!!!!!!!
I don’t have any coconut oil. What could I use as a substitute?
Double the butter. Or you can use shortening.
I didn’t have enough heavy cream for both the 3-milk sauce and the topping, so I substituted condensed milk for the heavy cream in the 3-milk sauce. Since I still topped with whipped cream, I figure I made a cuatro-leches cake. :)
…I mean I substituted evaporated milk for the heavy cream…
Hallee – THANK YOU for posting this amazing recipe. I’ve never baked a cake from scratch but you inspired me to try and this cake is my first. It’s delicious !!!!!