Tres Leches Cake

• servings: 12 servings

Ingredients

1 , (14-ounce) can sweetened condensed milk

1 , (12-ounce) can evaporated milk

1 cup, heavy cream

1 teaspoon, vanilla extract

2 cups (10 ounces/283 grams), all-purpose flour

2 teaspoons, baking powder

1 teaspoon, salt

1/2 teaspoon, ground cinnamon

8 tablespoons (1 stick), unsalted butter

1 cup, whole milk

4 , large eggs, room temperature

2 cups (14 ounces/397 grams), sugar

2 teaspoons, vanilla extract

1 cup, heavy cream, chilled

3 tablespoons, light corn syrup

1 teaspoon, vanilla extract

Directions

Recipe Instructions

For a light and fluffy cake we used room-temperature eggs. If you can't wait an hour for eggs to come to room temperature on their own—just put whole eggs in a small bowl of warm water (about 110 degrees) for about 5 minutes. If you don’t have a microwave, simply pour the sweetened condensed milk into a 9-inch pie plate, cover the plate with foil, and set it in a roasting pan. Carefully add enough boiling water to the roasting pan to reach halfway up the side of the pie plate and bake in a 425-degree oven. In just 35 to 40 minutes, the milk mixture will be the right texture for our Tres Leches Cake (and after about 1 hour and 20 minutes, you'll have a dark, thick dulce de leche that's perfect for pouring over ice cream). The cake becomes more moist and dense as it sits.

For the milk mixture: Pour condensed milk into large bowl. Microwave, covered, at 10 percent power, stirring every 3 to 5 minutes until milk is slightly darkened and thickened, 9 to 15 minutes. Slowly whisk in evaporated milk, cream, and vanilla until incorporated. Let mixture cool completely.

For the cake: Adjust oven rack to middle position and heat oven to 325 degrees. Grease and flour 13 by 9-inch baking pan. Whisk flour, baking powder, salt, and cinnamon together in bowl. Heat butter and milk in small saucepan over low heat until butter is melted; remove from heat and set aside.

Using stand mixer fitted with whisk attachment, whip eggs on medium speed until foamy, about 30 seconds. Slowly add sugar and continue to whip until fully incorporated, 5 to 10 seconds. Increase speed to medium-high and whip until mixture is thick and glossy, 5 to 7 minutes. Reduce speed to low, slowly add butter-milk mixture and vanilla, and mix until combined, about 15 seconds. Add flour mixture in 3 additions, mixing on medium speed after each addition and scraping down bowl as needed, until flour is fully incorporated, about 30 seconds. Transfer batter to prepared pan. Bake until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean, 35 to 45 minutes, rotating pan halfway through baking. Let cake cool in pan on wire rack for 10 minutes.

Using skewer, poke holes at 1/2-inch intervals in top of cake. Slowly pour milk mixture over cake until completely absorbed. Let sit at room temperature 15 minutes, then refrigerate uncovered for at least 3 hours or up to 24 hours.

For the topping: Thirty minutes before serving, remove cake from refrigerator. Using stand mixer fitted with whisk attachment, whip cream, corn syrup, and vanilla on medium-low speed until foamy, about 1 minute. Increase speed to high and whip until soft peaks form, 1 to 3 minutes. Spread topping evenly over top of cake. Serve. (The assembled cake can be refrigerated for up to 3 days.)

Test Kitchen Techniques

Nutrition

• Calories: 617
• Total Fat: 30 g
• Saturated Fat: 18 g
• Unsaturated Fat: 8 g
• Trans Fat: 0 g
• Cholesterol: 149 miligrams
• Sodium: 375 miligrams
• Total Carbohydrate: 78 g
• Total Sugars: 61 g
• Protein: 11 g